How important are volunteer hours for baruch?
There is no such thing as “required volunteer hours” for Baruch or indeed, any college in this country. It’s a myth.
If it is required, it is not volunteer. 
You guys know what I mean. How many would be good enough for baruch? And pretty sure rarely anyone volunteers in high school because they really want to volunteer. Its more so that they “have” to volunteer.
You speak for yourself. My kids volunteer because they want to help others. It is all about passion. If you are filling up volunteering hours for college application only, you have a mentality issue. Lastly, it is not just the number of hours, it is also the content (quality and quantity). It is very easy for the adcom to spot padding activities. Having 500 hours on multiple different things may not be as good as just 100 hours but focus on one thing. So there is no fixed hours “required” for volunteering even for college application.
Interesting theory.
I wonder if it is correct.
Baruch is wondering if you’re a hermit or not. If you have half decent ECs, can be moderately sociable and not be some pariah – that’s what they’re concerned about. Voluntarism is simply one aspect which can soothe them. My kiddo had about ten in her four yrs. Hurt her not a bit. She was an eight season varsity athlete and a martial arts instructor (2nd degree black belt), webmaster for a writer’s forum, got IB diploma at at top-ten in USA high school – and is now studying computer engineering. Vol hours meant nothing to her colleges.
ECs are only considered. Your essay and recs are more important than that. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/ir/documents/CDS_2014-2015_C.pdf
Where did this myth of the ‘required’ volunteer work come from? Our school district requires kids to do 60 hrs in order to graduate - but it’s not the colleges that are asking for this. Those that want to see your ECs are asking so they can 1) get to know you better and 2) see what you can contribute to campus life. Volunteering is an easy EC because the ‘barriers to entry’ are very low - you just have to show up. But that doesn’t make it required.
“You guys know what I mean.”
Not really-- the way you asked the question was really unclear.
If the only reason you volunteer is to look good for college that’s a little sad, but you can’t make sweeping statements that no one volunteers in high school because they want to. I (and most of my friends) love volunteering and have been doing so since before I was even thinking about college. I think that, in general, when you just do things to look good it will show through on your application.
^ That’s right. my D’s volunteered when they were in middle school too. Obviously, that is not for college application.
Are you talking about Extracurricular Activities or specifically Volunteering?
Baruch, as shown in the Common Data Set Link above, only “Considers” ECs…so if you have some strong ones that are not volunteering then you are fine. If you don’t ahve any ECs…colleges may look at you and someone else that has the same grades/ GPA and say “The other one will be more involved in campus life that you” and they may choose them.