Is volunteer work really important for applications? I don't think I have enough?

[aceshigh1]

<p>I have been recently volunteering at a hospital on an air force base two days a week. But I have computed that by the end of the summer I will only have 56 volunteer hours. I know this is way below the standard. </p>

<p>But to counter that I have played football for 3 years which has taken at least 600+ hours of my time. </p>

<p>And I also have had a job since April which I have worked around 100+ hours and counting. </p>

<p>I know 56 volunteer hours look puny. But is that OK since I have football and a job to counter that?</p>

[juillet]

<p>There is no “standard” for volunteer hours; if you compare yourself to the students on CC you’re skewing the comparison. I would wager that the majority of college aspirants don’t have any volunteer hours.</p>

<p>Volunteering isn’t about racking up hours. It’s about doing some good and learning from the experience. What’s most important is what you’re doing and what you’re learning, and whether you can connect that in your personal statement to the college. If you have other activities that make you a well-rounded individual, you should be fine.</p>

[Lagging]

<p>What juillet said pretty much sums it up. There is no standard and generally ECs are considered more important than volunteering. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about it too much.</p>

[Sikorsky]

<p>From a blog post, dated August 2011, by an Associate Director of Admissions at MIT:</p>

<p>

Have you ever considered how community service became the de rigueur activity that everyone needed to do in order to look good for college? I imagine it went something like this. At the end of another very competitive admissions cycle, a journalist made calls to admissions offices fishing for an interesting bit of information that might make a good story. From that fishing expedition, an admissions officer recounted how there was this one kid that was really memorable, because she saw a need in her community and took action because somebody needed to. Her actions inspired others, and the community came together and made a significant difference. She wrote about her experiences in her college application essay because those experiences were a big part of who she had become. The journalist wrote a compelling story, which got picked up by a number of other outlets, because in addition to being a positive human-interest piece it also represented the discovery of a formula for success in the admissions process that could be replicated by virtually anyone.</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong. I think kids doing community service is great, but if all they get from their experience is a tally of hours, or they have to travel half way around the world to discover that there are poor people, they are missing the point.

</p>

<p>See more at [Esse</a> quam videri | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/esse-quam-videri]Esse”>Esse quam videri | MIT Admissions).</p>

<p>Community service is a good use of one’s time–as long as one is actually making good use of one’s community-service time–but it’s got very little to do with college admissions.</p>

[T26E4]

<p>Don’t be a justin
[Soup-Kitchen</a> Volunteers Hate College-Application-Padding Brat | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source](<a href=“http://www.theonion.com/articles/soupkitchen-volunteers-hate-collegeapplicationpadd,1422/]Soup-Kitchen”>Soup-Kitchen Volunteers Hate College-Application-Padding Brat)</p>