How important is volunteering?

Northstarmom
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:33:39 +0000

“Northstar: I think admission to HYPS type schools is really about “playing the game”. My cousin who is an alum of Dartmouth undergrad and Harvard law completely agrees. I know that a lot of people truly want to contribute to society, but I really don’t.”

Take a look at this website for the Harvard community service organization, Phillips Brooks House and ask yourself whether Harvard students are playing a game by participating in this organization.

In general, graduate and professional programs don’t care about one’s ECs. What they care about is one’s grades and scores, so Harvard students aren’t involved in this organization to decorate their resumes.

The Harvard alum I know do some kind of community service. For instance, I’m on one nonprofit board, the executive committee of my political party, and I chair two other local organizations. What I get out of doing these things is the good feeling of helping out my community.

Here’s info about Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association, and a link so you can take a look and see what students do – for the pure pleasure of giving back.

"PBHA is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community. PBHA is often called “the best course at Harvard.” For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism, simultaneously developing real, meaningful community partnerships. Every year over 1,400 volunteers participate in over 85 PBHA programs each year. With professional staff support and advice, PBHA is a unique manifestation of college students’ idealism, energy, and initiative. "
[Phillips Brooks House Association](http://pbha.org/)

“Among its accomplishments, PBHA volunteers were pioneers in working with the mentally ill in the 1950s - PBHAers testified before Congress on those issues, and later, the Mental Health Committee, which partnered college students with patients in mental health facilities, was a model for President Kennedy’s VISTA. Around the same time, PBHA developed a volunteer teacher’s project in Africa that was studied in the creation of the Peace Corps (Project Tanganyika). PBHA’s Undergraduate Teachers Program (UTEP) was one of the first attempts to utilize student volunteers to support understaffed schools, and PBHA continues to innovate in the relationship between students and public housing communities, particularly through the Summer Urban Program, or SUP.”