<p>I'm a junior right now and I've done practically no community service. What if I work my butt off from now until senior year with volunteer hours? My friend said that colleges know that you are trying to catch up and will look down upon it, but I wanted a second opinion...</p>
<p>college know that everyone bulks up comm svc hours because they fear that without them, they're doomed. Frankly it's common knowledge that many of these are rather "fluffy" and it's the very few whose community service involvement get them noticed. From the 60K or so apps to HYP, I wonder how many of them had "library volunteer", "tutor" or "hospital volunteer" on them? 55K?</p>
<p>Seriously. </p>
<p>Do you need to bulk up? Can't hurt but you should really try to get involved in items you think you can really help others or learn from yourself. It's not an absolute essential -- some of your peers have to work or take care of siblings and have few ops for voluntarism.</p>
<p>Will it be looked down on? I can't see how considering it's not viewed that highly to begin with given its common occurance across the board, IMHO. It's like saying you were on the "honor roll".</p>
<p>Just do some easy volunteering and put it on your application to show that you are not completely apathetic towards helping the community. </p>
<p>That being said, the usual volunteering activities help very little at the top schools.</p>
<p>But what if you are volunteering because you are truly passionate about something? If that passion comes across in recs/essays wouldn't the volunteering be a good ec?</p>
<p>don't do it unless you're passionate about it</p>
<p>otherwise focus on other things</p>
<p>I agree with lolcats4. Volunteering is relatively minor compared to your other ECs.</p>
<p>Most high schools have service requirements, so volunteering won't necessarily make you stand out. I advise you to do something more productive/fulfilling over the summer than volunteering (maybe on the side). Take some credit-granting college courses, research, travel, etc.</p>
<p>better to start now then never....</p>
<p>i just help out with a 6-8th grade lacrosse team and its not bad at all. by senior year ill have put in 150 hours and its not even that bad.</p>
<p>I think I can offer some insight here. My main passion is volunteering my time to tutoring. I TA'ed and tutored Algebra 2 classes in my sophomore year, I am holding afterschool review sessions for the Civics & Economics kids, and I am starting an afterschool tutoring program for my local middle school kids to help pass their end-of-course examinations in critical reading and mathematics skills. I actually enjoy doing this and it is something I am passionate about. I plan on becoming a teacher or a professor, so I think this plays into my goals fairly well. Sure, a lot of other college applicants write down "tutoring" as something they did, but they didn't really have the heart into it. That is why it doesn't matter. There was no passion for it. My other extra curricular involves my intense dedication to my Quiz Bowl team. I have been captain since my freshman year. Organizing your EC's into a coherent substance, I believe, is the most important. Given my situation, I don't think my volunteering in tutoring has been "fluff". It is my passion.</p>
<p>colleges like awards and recognitions 100x more than 100 hours of volunteer.</p>
<p>it will seem pretty obvious if you start spring in junior year</p>