hmmmmmmm

Would you say for top universities, 150 hours volunteering at a thrift store to provide affordable merchandise to the needy and 400+ hours of voluntary peer tutoring will be adequate enough to make a difference?

Also, is it more of an impact to volunteer through an organization?; because all of my hours have been independently gained...

5150grl

I am a four year varsity player (starter) in two sports, varsity captain of one--I also play club in one sport and tournaments in the other in off (hs) season. Being "looked at" by some D1, 2 and 3 schools. Years of acting, some professional experience (SAG member) and private voice lessons, scholarship recipient my freshman year for special opera training, perform in recitals. When did I have time for volunteer work? My college planners are telling me I need this. I think it will just look like a shallow effort if I all of sudden start doing volunteer work, unless I can do something related to music or one of my two sports. Will I be rejected by a lot of schools just because I don't have volunteer/community service hours? I have done some volunteer/community service but not a regular basis. B+ student, mediocre test scores. Do I need to build up a community service resume?

torunamuck

Hey, this is in the book Acing the College Application by Michele A. Hernandez. lol, I was just reading it 10 minutes ago. =]

IBfootballer

5150:

no, not really. you demonstrate ample personality already.

nycsatboy

I know I am four years late, but as I sit here writing my college essay, the original post helps me SO much. Thank you!

tokdoc

We need to fire up this thread again. I think it's the most important admissions toptic on CC.

tokdoc

Have you guys gotten anything published or won any writing contests?

livesinnewjersey

5150-- If an opportunity presents itself can you perform at a nursing home, community fair, or impovished nursey school program? whether it be using your athletics or arts -- it is always nice to have the answer "why yes I did volunteer/community service by doing this w/ my team, etc" a 1 or 2 time experience fills a gap rather than saying "NO never volunteered!" Sounds cold... and I know your not!

cincikid

i'm concerned that i don't have enough extracurriculars -
i have about 250 hours volunteering at the zoo, i'm in the national honor society, and i'm the editor of my school's literary magazine.
i've also entered a writing contest (but i don't know the results yet) and i've had artwork displayed in a ton of shows.
does the art/writing count even though it's through school? and are my two main things - the lit mag and the zoo - enough for ivy leagues (i'm assuming my grades and test scores are up to par).

ufcollins

How do my EC' look?

Extracarricular
**Track-named best male sprinter by coaches 11-12
**Football 10-11
**Youth Group-inudes numerous mission and service projects. As , I participated in ND Vision and am a leading member in my youth group's leadership team- 9-12
**NHS 10-12 *
**Boy Scouts 9-11
**Prom Committee-11

Community Service
**Soul in the City-a nmission trip to Orlando where, with my youth group, I helped a school in the poorest part of Orlando prepare for the upcoming school year by doing things such as landscaping and mulching the outside and well as preparing classrooms for teacher- 300 hours
**God's Katrina Kitchen-a mission trip to mississippi where I helped in drywalling and tiling houses which had been devastated by hurricane Katrina. -75 Hours
**Habitat for Humanity-consisted of sodding the lawn of a home that habitat for humanity had recently built-6 Hours
**Soup Kitchen-includes serving and preparing food to the local homeless and poor-15 Houra
**Eagle Projects-projects included renovating a local baseball parks storage shed, builiding a wooden walkway at a local basball park, building picnic tables for a local school, and my own eagle scout project which included renovating my sisters local daycare-100 Hours
**Book-Sale set up-helped a local school prepare for the coming school year-15 Hours

quiddity

I'm worried about my extra curriculars, to be honest.
By senior year, it'll be something like this (hopefully; the sports may not work if I'm not good enough, but I'm always doing my best to improve)

Varsity Volleyball, Varsity Basketball, Varsity Lacrosse, Classical and Acoustic Guitar for 6 years, Piano for 9 years, Model Congress (leadership), School Newspaper (higher ranks), Choir or Radio Station [I have not yet decided] for three years, Acrylic and Oil Painting, Teaching Children at Church About God, Personal Research Projects, and possibly Acting School if we can afford it by then.

I'm not amazing enough at any one thing to win major awards and whatnot. But I am relatively good at most things, and I tend to like everything, which is why I have so many extracurriculars. I would not be able to easily write about just one of my ECs in a deep way, but I could certainly write a great essay on how all of them have affected me so much.
Is that a problem? I don't want them to think I'm trying too hard to impress them. I really am not. All of these things represent my interests--sports, music, art, debate, extra learning, communication mediums and singing, religion, helping children, drama...but I'm afraid it all looks like a big slop of "I'm going to enroll myself in everything so that I can get into college!!!" Especially since I'm not the best at any one thing.
Do you think that Adcoms would see it that way?

(I am an incoming freshman worrying far in advance, yes...)

alexandrafitzmor

Okay...so I have a question: I love to cook (obsessively, gourmet cooking, I've never used a mix). It's a passion of mine. Not so much the eating part, but the cooking. There is something so incredible about creating something: layering the flavors and textures and making something truly delicious. It takes not only precision but science as well.

Thanks to the Food Network, most people get that. But I don't even have a television, so that is just hearsay. ANYHOW. I've always wanted to spread the word for this somehow and get younger people to start cooking, too. I've decided to start an entirely nonprofit cooking class (after school/Friday nights/summers) helped with my own money, donors, and small fees to cover ingredients. I want EVERYONE to be able to enjoy this: I'm not even interested in making money, as I come from a family with no money at all, I know what its like to be unable to experience things because of a lack of funds.

I don't want to go to cooking school- I want to be able to travel, educate myself, and learn a LOT more before I decide upon my career. So I want to go to a great liberal arts school- Oxford, Princeton, Bowdoin, etc, and then go from there. However, this program I'm starting is going to absorb A LOT of my time and energy. Is it worth it? I want to be able to experience a top college and explore these opportunities as well. Will these colleges see it as a good thing or bad thing?

I've had a really really rough time the last four years, and I'm really working to turn my life around. Is this sort of activity demonstrative of that?

carpeveum

Have you considered majoring in Food Science? UC Davis has a great program. Do what you love and you will love what you do. A suggestion might be to expand the purpose of why you teach culinary skills....yes you want to spread the word that cooking is amazing, but perhaps you could combine that passion with a cause....teach others to cook and volunteer time cooking for the homeless for instance.

alexandrafitzmor

Interesting- I like the idea of cooking for the homeless. I love the idea of all being able to access good food.

I actually spent a CTY summer in Food Science- I found it fun, but I don't think its something I'll end up spending my life on. Too often food scientists end up working for McDonald's and whatnot. Also, I have NO INTEREST in staying in California for college.

My dream schools are in the leagues of Bowdoin, Smith, and possible Amherst or Princeton. I'm not looking for name brands- I like that type of education.

disneygal

The original post is fantastic, I'm glad to have read it. Although it seems to me that the EC standard has increased a lot compared to 4 years ago. I skimmed a few pages and a lot of people are worried if they have enough ECs, but they list entire paragraphs.

Well, that makes me really worried! I am not involved in nearly half the amount of ECs as many people are worried about. The most things I could think of are:

-After 5 years of violin, I quit right before HS.
-Freshman year was the first year my school opened, and we only had 1 counselor that did absolutely nothing to help. There were plenty of clubs and sports that I didn't join either. Regrettably wasted year...
-Sophomore year:
+Joined Pink Ladies Club, only attended pointless meetings and didn't go to marathons. The club was extremely disorganized from the start and also a disaster/ joke; they lost more money than they made during fundraisers.
+Joined our unofficial CSF (California Scholarship Federation) chapter/club. Also very disorganized for its 2nd year, they still didn't get certified. I only volunteered the 10 required hours, but enjoyed every minute of it!
+Attended a SWE Engineering Awareness Program that lasted a day. Very fun! Me and my partner won the hovercraft competition lol.
-Travelled to places around the world.
-Working on scuba diving certification.

So that's my 2 precious years gone with not much done. I don't attend church, dislike sports, and dropped my longest commitment before HS started. Am I doomed? Only during the past few months have I become more aware how important ECs are, so I hope to make next year better and be more proactive. Would my application look fishy if I suddenly got more EC activities, along with my first year of taking AP classes, during my junior year? I don't want to spread myself too thin either.