The Miscommunication

There have, ever since the beginning of the college admissions game, been very long-standing disputes about what actually matters in the college application process. “What really gets students into Harvard?” “Will I get into UC Berkeley if my scores are lower than average?” “I played the piano!”

Many parents and even other teachers and college admissions consultants have spread misinformation like wildfire.

For this article, we are going to be discussing one very important detail in the college admissions process that will save you a lot of your time: community service.

Aside from earning the necessary above-average grades and marks, as well as writing essays that can beat out the rest of the competition, students are told that they somehow need to shoehorn as many community service hours into their application as humanely possible. All of these responsibilities make it difficult for students to understand just exactly WHAT and HOW important certain factors are to the admissions process.

Here’s the short answer: community service for college admissions is not as important as most people think. With that said, here’s a few things to keep in mind.

Schools do not require community service hours.

Note: Some high schools require a certain amount of community service hours in order to graduate and receive a diploma.

Universities do not require service hours; they certainly are a small boost to the admissions process (depending on how you demonstrate its worth) but are not mandatory. They are, however, mandatory for some schools. Check with your school’s policy to determine whether they are necessary.

There is at least some truth to the importance of community service for college apps, though. Having community service hours makes an applicant look like a person with noble intentions and a result-oriented mindset. They have a vision for what the world should look like and they go out of their way to make it so. That’s a good impression to college admission officers.

There are, however, plenty of applicants who have earned no community service hours in their lifetime and still made incredible schools like upper level UC schools and Ivy League schools.

So, what should be the conclusion from that? Well, it means that you should keep in mind that though community service hours can leave a good impression for college admissions officers, it doesn’t mean it is vital for acceptance. The real strategy is to use the STORY that comes with your service hours as LEVERAGE in your application.

Don’t Do It This Way

As a result of general misinformation about college admissions, many students, and many of our clients as well, have come to think of community service as a numbers game. Cram in as many hours stacking books in the library as possible. Pick up as much bird poop in the local arboretum. Feed as many homeless people at the local shelter as possible.

What happens when students spread their activities into a wide net is that they catch an array of fish; they become a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none.

By only worrying about the amount of service hours they’ve made, they have not developed the necessary connection to the service that they are providing to begin with. That’s exactly what its for: to demonstrate to the admissions office that they have a passion that they feel engaged in. They don’t make for impressive displays of character in the college application and, more importantly, become useless when using them as topics for the college application essays.

Don’t do that. Don’t spread yourself out so thin that you can’t have an identity that stands out. Do it this way.  

Do It This Way

Community Service @ One Place > Community Service @ Many Places

That’s it.

Typically, you want to minimize your range of interests in community service as much as humanly possible. If you have too many different places you dedicate your community service to, you will appear to have no sense of dedication or direction. That’s exactly what the college admissions officers do NOT want.

Take into consideration President Kingman Brewster’s quote on the future admissions process for Yale in the Yale page:

“I am inclined to believe that the person who gives every ounce to do something superbly has an advantage over the person whose capacities may be great but who seems to have no desire to stretch them to their limit.”

Roughly speaking, Yale prefers students who choose to put their efforts into mastery over an arbitrary multitude of talents.

You cannot make a worthy college essay that demonstrates your “stretching your limits” if your application contains an array of dedications to nothing in particular. How will college admissions officers know what exactly you want to do if you were dividing your time between piano lessons, swimming practice, and speech and debate club meetings?

There is no demand or requirement, however, for community service hours. So remember: community service can work to make a great story for your application and college essay, but it’s not mandatory.

Even if you did engage in community service, make sure that you are the student who had invested their time in one type of service rather than a salad of arbitrary services with no aim.  

Unsure about the strength of your extracurriculars? Afraid that you may be lacking in the “passion and community contribution” department? Give us a call and we’ll set you up with a free background analysis to determine your next steps!