<p>What type of volunteer work should I be doing? I heard that doing something that might involve your future is a good idea, but I'm still not sure what I want to major in.</p>
<p>Should I just do any type of volunteer work or do you guys have any tips on what I should be doing?</p>
<p>Volunteer work is about taking one of your strengths and sharing it with your community. That way you can actually care about what you're doing, and people will actually benefit.</p>
<p>If you're doing it for colleges, don't volunteer at a library or a hospital, everybody and their freakin' brother does that.</p>
<p>well if you would like to volunteer at the library because you enjoy reading or for a concrete reason (not just for college apps) then go right ahead!!</p>
<p>College admissions people ALWAYS know when you aren't passionate about something that you do. Its like a 6th sense of theirs, probably developed after reading thru piles and piles of BS every year. Volunteer doing something that you like, otherwise you'll absolutely hate volunteering. Plus, when you end up writing about your experience volunteering on your college applications, you want to come thru as someone who is passionate about what they do. It shows in your essay and it grabs the admissions rep's attention. They know when you're just doing volunteer work to get into college or NHS. </p>
<p>I started out volunteering at the local hospital, and I HATED it. I made charts for 4 hours a day, every other day. Soooo boring. I did it because I wanted to be a doctor and I thought it would show me what the medical world was like. It didn't. So I stopped volunteering there and started volunteering at an animal shelter 45 minutes from my house. Far away but totally worth the drive. I ended up volunteering more than 300 hours there my senior year. I stopped recording my hours at the end of the school year. Now I still go, even though I've graduated, and spend about 4 hours there every day. So, moral of the story is: do something you like to do. If you like animals, work at an animal shelter. If you like making patient charts, then work at the local hospital.</p>
<p>Longgggg Posttttttt.... lol</p>
<p>PS: If you end up doing college interviews, they'll usually ask about volunteer work. 8 out of 8 of my college interviewers asked about it. I could talk about the animal shelter forever, lol, which shows just how much I like it and that I'm not doing it do pad my resume.</p>
<p>I'm volunteering at the local Council on Aging, which probably sounds very cliched... but I really enjoy it. Half of the time, I have to stuff envelopes and type up newsletters... but the other half of the time, I get to sit with the members and talk with them. One of my biggest fears used to be becoming "old," retiring, and essentially becoming obsolete. Talking with these really dynamic men and women, though, completely ameliorated my fears. They're all so funny, involved with the community, and generally fun to be around. Just as you shouldn't just volunteer in order to pad your application, you shouldn't let other people discourage from you from volunteering just because that activity is "cliched." (that last comment wasn't directed at any of the posters in this thread, by the way!)</p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys. I'm thinking about doing this walking/running volunteer work It is only for one day I believe so I'm not getting as many hours I want from it, but it shouldn't be bad. I'm just worrying about not being able to finish. :P</p>
<p>Anyways when I do volunteer work, how should I record my time spent?</p>
<p>I volunteered at the humane society. Basically I would just walk the dogs around outside, play with them, sometimes clean their kennels (that was the worst). The girls there usually handled the cats and kittens. Overall it was a rewarding experience though, definitely the way to go if you like animals, and they're always looking for people to help.</p>
<p>I think it doesn't really matter where you volunteer, as long as you do. If you have over 100 hours somewhere, obviously you didn't hate it; no one would put themselves through that. I wouldn't worry too much about it, although if you have an idea what you want to do with your life, try to volunteer there (but most high school kids have absolutely no clue so...).</p>