I was wondering how important volunteer work is to colleges? I only have about 15 hours, the majority being from concession stand work. I have a lot of extra curriculars so it’s hard for me to find time. I have done other volunteer work, but did not receive credit from my high school for it because I did not get a paper turned in. (Most things were last minute and I did not have time to get me approval forms in). I’m a junior and I really want to get into a good school. My grades are good, and I have good SAT scores I’m working on improving. Should I be worried and find some things to do or not?
It’s no better and no worse than any other EC.
@skieurope this
Technically, extracurricular and volunteering should be considered equal in weight. As long as you’re not wasting your time playing games and sleeping all day and you’re making an impact at something then you’re fine. Some people are just more sports, clubs, or internship related than volunteering.
A follow up question to @skieurope - how many hours of volunteering (during entire high school) is considered decent enough to put it on the application? Considering limited space that an application has and say a student has multiple extracurriculars (avg EC’s without any positions or high-profile achievements in them) and volunteering for xx hours. At what xx is volunteering start to look good and at what xx maybe we can start highlighting it more?
I agree, they are fine ECs…but I would worry about picking some ECs that you invest time in
If you are academically eligible for National Honor Society, then service hours are often needed for that too.
Some HS require service hours for graduation.
@hs2020kid If you have too many ECs to have one on a line, then you could combine them:
"Community Volunteering: Band Concession Stand, Church Vacation Bible School, Special Olympics
I’m not sure that there is a hard and fast rule. Personally, if I were the OP with 15 hours, I would not mention it at all. If I were forced to give an answer, I would say that any EC, whether volunteer work or other, that does not have a time commitment of at least an hour or two a week, on average, is probably not worth mentioning. Just because an application has room for 10 ECs does not mean they all need to be filled in.
Okay. I’m a student leader of a performance group thing and help organize/lead meetings, I’m in NHS (was just inducted), play varsity field hockey, I’m section leader in chorus, I’m in band, jazz band, chorus, select choir, a member of rifle squad (I’m back up captain if anyone drops that), and this is my second year with a lead in the school musical. I am also in French club, take Vocal lessons, piano lessons and give piano lessons once a week. I participate in all county and area all state every year, (fingers crossed for all state next year), I have been in a professional show as a chorus member, go to Music camps, and that’s not even all of it.
I don’t do one year of things, everything I have been doing for at least the last three years. Hence, why I don’t do a lot of community service, I just don’t have the time and there aren’t very many opportunities at my school.
I read so much about volunteer hours being important or even more important than extra curriculars and it makes me nervous.
Just as an FYI, ECs, including volunteer work, do not have to be school sponsored.
Unless a specific school says in writing on its webpage or marketing materials, “Volunteer hours are more important than ECs” (and I welcome anyone to show me a college that says this), don’t believe everything you read. “If It’s On The Internet, It Must Be True” is a fallacy, as I hope you know. 
Some outside scholarship applications do have separate sections for the extracurricular activities and volunteer hours. You need to keep a list of your volunteer work (organization name, date, times, supervisor or contact person) even if you did not turn it in. My student made a spreadsheet to keep it organized.
What do you do with your summers? My student worked and was very involved in activities as well but managed to get in around 100 volunteer hours during the summer and weekends. As already mentioned, volunteering does not have to be through the school. Mow a senior citizen’s lawn or call your local Salvation Army or food bank - they always need help.
Do colleges look at the number of hours you do, or where you volunteer at?