<p>I don't have any registered volunteer hours (and the hours that I did were mostly scattered through the year), and it's actually gotten me a little worried because I have friends who have 150+ hours last year alone. It's likely that I won't get much or even any hours by the time I reach senior year because I usually don't volunteer for things unless I'm actually interested in what I'm doing.</p>
<p>So... how much do colleges really look at your volunteer hours?</p>
<p>Colleges want you to be involved in something. It doesn’t have to be volunteering. If you do sports, school newspaper, music or any other ECs you are fine.</p>
<p>
It’s not an issue if you’ve been busy with your other activities. Admissions Officers understand that many high schools require students to have 50 or 100 hours of community service hours in order to graduate. So, those kinds of EC’s are really discounted unless a student did something extra special and has a gazillion hours. My kids, for example, didn’t have any community service or volunteer hours on their EC list, and it didn’t stop them from being admitted to many top schools. </p>
<p>That’s a huge relief, thank you! My school doesn’t require hours, but they do require 40 hours per year (plus a club) if you want to get the school’s certificate (it’s not require to graduate, it’s just a little extra thing), so I don’t exactly look good against the other over-enthusiastic overachievers in my school, haha.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your school profile will reflect the norms at your school, and that you will be compared to your peers. Also, there are some schools for which community service is important, so think about what you want in a college now, so that you can make sure you cover your bases. </p>
<p>There are more ways to do service than kids typically consider - if you explore your passions, you’ll find opportunities to do many things.</p>
<p>It depends on what else you do. My daughter, for example, was in 5 plays and musicals that her school put on every year. She was also a flyer for her cheerleading team for the football and basketball seasons. So, between rehearsal, performance and practices, there wasn’t much time for volunteering. My son had the same situation as he played fall baseball, had winter workout practices, spring training in Florida and then a 30 game spring season.</p>
<p>I’m currently in my school’s film/video production club and planning on joining my school’s literary magazine next year. I’m hoping to get on the badminton team next year, but I’m incredibly bad at sports so I’m not sure if I’ll get on the team. So I’ve done nothing special… sadly. I’m going to be a sophomore next year, so hopefully I’ll get my act together before I start freaking out in junior year :P</p>
<p>Comparing me to other students in my school will make me look really bad, though, since I go to an incredibly competitive high school and I’m not nearly as dedicated as some of the other students.</p>
<p>^^ That’s what colleges do . . . they compare you to other college bound students, both academically and extracurricularly, to see how well you’ve taken advantage of the resources available to you. EC’s don’t have to be exotic, but you must demonstrate that’ve you’ve been doing more than just vegging on the couch.</p>
<p>There are a ton of schools where ECs count for next to nothing, they’re really only an issue at super competitive elite schools. Just do something and you’ll be fine at most places, even some very good schools.</p>
<p>I’m not planning for any of the major elite schools, so I guess that’s probably a good thing.</p>