<p>My tio owns a small business and for about the past few months he's been telling me that his business is struggling to stay alive. He's had to cut some of his employees and cut the salaries of the ones he decided to keep and I feel that I should step in and help. I'm considering working for him part time for minimum wage but I was also considering applying my talents with languages, I speak 6, by volunteering as a translator at a local emergency room where a large minority of the patients don't speak any English. I really don't know what to do, I'm about evenly split between helping my tio and helping my community. To me it really comes down to which looks better on a college application, which yes may sound shallow but honestly I'm helping people either way so this is a sort of tie breaker. So my question is this, which in your opion will help my college application.
By the way I would be volunteering about two hours a day at the emergency room seven days a week or about four hours a day four days a week at my uncle's business.
My thanks to anyone who can lend a helping voice to my problem.</p>
<p>I think helping out your family and working is more important, and both things would be valuable on your applications.</p>
<p>What year in school are you? Any chance you could do both?</p>
<p>depending on what year you are in, you could do both. I worked the summer after my sophmore year and volunteered after my junior year.</p>
<p>I'm going into my junior year and I just don't have enough time in the day to do both.</p>
<p>But could you help out your tio this year and then next year do the volunteer work, when he's hopefully back on his feet?</p>
<p>volunteering/work are both nice things. I think helping out your family is more important though.</p>
<p>Of course, helping your family is what you should do, and that's also how admissions officers would see things. I don't think they'd be impressed by a person who'd choose to help strangers when they could be helping a family member who's in need. Admissions offices particularly would be turned off by someone who chose to volunteer instead of helping a family member in need because the student wanted to polish their resume. Frankly, I'm turned off to hear that's how you think. How could you consider standing back while your uncle struggles with saving his business when you could be helping him?</p>
<p>Working a job also is considered impressive by admissions officers. That's particularly the case when one is working to help one's family. Working a job indicates that one isn't pampered and doesn't view oneself as too good to work.</p>
<p>helping your family is like volunteering :-)</p>
<p>you could work with your uncle and not get paid (then you get job experience, and your helping out)</p>
<p>isn't four hours four days a week too much (especially if you go to a harder school in Ahwatukee like DV) ?</p>
<p>This makes me shake my head. Your uncle probably has ulcers, is facing the possible impending end of a business for which he's devoted years. If it fails, what will he have to show for it? He'll look around at others who weren't entrepreneurs and say "look what I could've done". It's completely devastating. He may not show it but....</p>
<p>And what's on your mind is the thin marginal scenario of how it would "look" to same nameless adcom. (BTW, neither is better than the other in their eyes).</p>
<p>Shallow: yep, you named it.</p>
<p>Okay wow there were some really emotional posts bashing my character and honestly there's a lot of dirty laundry between myself, my tio, and my mom, who is his younger sister, that I simply won't share on the internet so I'll leave it there. Oh and to spiral cloud I actually do go to DV and yes working four hours a day four days a week would be a lot of work especially with my course load at Desert Vista but I would be willing to lend a helping hand. By the way I think I've made up my mind, my uncle needs me and I'm going to let old wounds heal and I'm going to give him the help he needs. Thanks for the healthy dose of guilt!
But seriously thanks for opening up my eyes, sometimes I just get so obsessesed with my future that I ignore those I love and their problems. I nearly betrayed the very core of my latino and human heritage, family, so I thank all of those who helped move my mind in the right direction.</p>
<p>well, I'm glad you made a decision (the right one...in my opinion)
wow, I totally guessed right...well I guess DV is the major school in Ahwatukee, but still...</p>