<p>I am planning on volunteering abroad next summer (either in Peru or Thailand) for three to four weeks, and I was just wondering if anyone had any insight on how that looks on college apps? (I am still going regardless of whether colleges care--I am really looking forward to it for the experience, but I was just wondering if it would benefit for colleges).</p>
<p>When it comes to the top colleges (and those are the ones that weigh ECs most heavily because they have such an overabundance of candidates whose stats make them extremely well qualified for admission), spending the same amount of time volunteering in your home town would probably be more impressive.</p>
<p>Why? </p>
<p>You're likely to be able to have more of an impact in your hometown since you know the language and culture. You're also much more likely to have lined up the experience yourself instead of relying on relatives or some organization that you paid to have the abroad experience.</p>
<p>With 3 months of fulltime effort in one's hometown, a highly motivated teen with good social skills can probably have a major leadership role in organizing a program -- one that the student also can continue to help out with throughout the school year. </p>
<p>That's unlikely when you go abroad. Even people with programs like Peace Corps may spend a year just getting to know the people and culture well enough to be able to help organize any kind of program.</p>
<p>If, however, you happen to have been studying Peruvian or Thai cultures a great deal and you're also doing something like earning the $ to pay for your experience abroad, what you're doing indicate that you're pursuing a passion, and that could impress the top colleges. Otherwise, if your main goal is to impress colleges, you'd be better off doing community service at home.</p>
<p>If, however, your main goal is to have the most interesting experience, and you long to go abroad, then certainly pursue the options you're considering. Whether or not what you do greatly impresses colleges, you'll learn a lot about yourself and the world by doing that service abroad.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight, Northstarmom. I do also volunteer locally on a regular basis, although not full time. I sort of expected that it wouldn't wow colleges (or at least not the ones I'm thinking of), especially after reading most of that huge featured EC post on here, but my main motive is to see other cultures and help people there (I think helping in a Peruvian or Thai orphanage would be far more rewarding than my regular volunteer job at the aquarium telling people about horseshoe crabs). Thanks again (and by the way, your posts on that EC thread are incredibly helpful).</p>
<p>atlantic:</p>
<p>Mexico's closer and cheaper to get to and still quite needy. As NSM says though, there are plenty of places to volunteer closer to home that would probably be more effective. The colleges know that many of the people who volunteer abroad are able to do it abroad simply because their parents can afford it.</p>
<p>A reverse volunteer abroad - my D did a study-abroad program in Scotland and one of the Scottish guys she met is currently in the US volunteering helping inner-city kids in New Jersey.</p>