I do not have any volunteer hours and I am now a high school senior! My grades aren’t the best, I do run a club and I have good SAT, ACT and AP scores. I also run a blog (which is not much) and take many advanced classes. How bad will the lack of actual community service ( I am very low-key volunteering at a religious center, but it it doesn’t amount to much or have any volunteering significance) affect my application? (I can add some more in the next semester, but I feel it’ll not look genuine.)
Google the common dataset and see what each school of interest lists as being important in their application review. Many state schools only consider GPA and test scores for admission purposes while other colleges will look at the whole application including volunteering/community service.
What schools are you targeting? Having some volunteering experience on your application is better than nothing.
I am a fan of volunteering for many reasons, but I don’t think it will hurt you that much, if at all (other than for certain scholarships here and there, but that’s different from admissions). It may or may not look fake to start now, again depending on what you do and how closely it relates to your field of study or other ECs. At this point, though, I wouldn’t worry about it. At certain colleges, character counts, though. You’ll then have to get creative and find another way to show you have those positive traits they’re seeking.
It sounds like your biggest problem will be your GPA. Seek out plenty of match and likely schools.