<p>for freshmen year, most people didn't volunteer because everyone was new to H.S.
Now, I'm considering volunteering in soph. year because it seems decent since junior year, will be the busiest year for me, and all other students. </p>
<p>I don't really plan on volunteering during my junior year because i want to save time for preparation for the SAT. </p>
<p>my profession? I plan to go into finance. I don't really know what or who to volunteer for. An accountant seems like a decent job, but I have no experience whatsoever, and I'm not sure if i'll do a good job anyway. </p>
<p>Secondly, who should i volunteer for? I'm going to be a soph. in sept. and i have no ideas about volunteering! :D </p>
<p>anyone can lend me a few tips? its greatly appreciated. thanks.</p>
<p>From your post, it’s clear that you view volunteering/community service as nothing more than a college app booster. That totally misses the point of community service.</p>
<p>Don’t do things to pad your resume. Be yourself; you’ll be happier in the long run.</p>
<p>You don’t need to do community service to get into a great college.</p>
<p>Volunteering isn’t something to simply check off on a “to do” list. It is a way to enrich your own life while helping others, to get involved in something that you are interested in doing because you WANT to do it, not because you simply want to impress a college.</p>
<p>Besides, the adcom people want to see what kind of person you are and what interests you. </p>
<p>That being said, speak with your school or church or area social service agencies to see what opportunities are available that might interest you. Who knows? You might develop a passion for something and decide to stick with it. Commitment over a longer period of time might impress adcom people.</p>
<p>Is volunteering or community service a graduation requirement for your school? In that case you do need to volunteer to graduate and go on to college. If so, sophomore year is a great year to start. (Freshman year, middle school, or elementary school would have been great options too). You may just find that you love it, and want to continue, or you might fill your hours and be glad to be done. If it ends up that the latter then I think that’s kind of too bad, but you’re right that your sophomore year will probably be less full than junior year so it’s a sensible thing to fit in then.</p>
<p>Here are some things that my son has done or plans to do that yielded community services hours. This is just to give you some ideas.</p>
<p>-- Working at polling places on election day.
– Serving as a juror in a diversion/alternative sentencing program for teens
– Helping set up, direct people, give out lunches, etc . . . at a teacher training program at his middle school.
– Helping at museum, handing out fliers for a program
– Environmental volunteering – e.g. pulling invasive weeds, cleaning up a stream
– Helping handle the dogs from a local rescue when they do community adoption events.
– Soccer referee (he does this for pay, because he has less money than community service hours, but they can choose whether to do it for pay or for hours).
– Volunteering as an assistant instructor with an organization to teaches snowboarding and skiing to wounded vets and others with disabilities.
– Building sets and running lights for school productions, and productions with a community theatre.<br>
– Programming interactive whiteboard lessons for elementary school teachers. </p>
<p>I think that a good approach is to try different things and see what clicks. Then go back and do more of that specific thing.</p>
<p>@bartelby, great piece of advice, even though what you say is a cliche in the CC community. Do what you love. yes i understand that. but most of my colleges I’m planning to go to don’t really pay attention to volunteering. </p>
<p>My H.S. requires every student to complete 50 hours of community service. thats why I’m just putting it on my “to do list”.</p>
<p>Well, okay, I guess. But given that you posted this question in the “College Admissions” forum, can’t you see how Bartleby jumped to his (or her?) conclusion?</p>
Are you trying to make the point that the “volunteering” is merely to fulfill a high school graduation requirement? As Sikorsky pointed out, this thread is in the “College Admissions” forum. Based on the location of the thread, it’s quite reasonable to assume that you intend your “volunteer experience” to bolster your college app.</p>
<p>On a related note…
50 hours of community service. That’s setting the bar rather low, don’t you think?</p>
<p>@Bartleby, I’m doing half half (half of my volunteering is on the to-do list, and half is to gain experience/ do what I love). I’m planning to major in finance, so I’ll probably volunteer as an accountant, and NOT a hospital worker OR a librarian<---- easy job. get my point?</p>
<p>oh and yes i totally agree with you that 50 hours is setting the bar way too low. I think my school should require students to do 120 at least, but they can’t force us if we don’t have the time to, so that’s why the amount is so small (50 hours)</p>
<p>@sikorsky, ya i know, i was just saying so he could be in a better view of what position i am in.</p>
thats why I’m just putting it on my “to do list”.</p>