How important is it to a high stat kid who is shooting for admission to tippy top schools to rack up volunteer hours, especially if they have extracurriculars that are time-intensive?
It really depends if this kid goes to private school in nyc or is attending an inner city public school, etc. if you look at your profile you want to make sure you do not come across over privileged and you want to show you are engaged in your community. Community can be high school, church, near by city, etc, but some level of engagement shows good character.
If you child is NHS, they will have some minimum number of hours of community service required.
If one if volunteering solely to “rack up” hours, then the other volunteers who are there for a purpose would probably prefer that one stay home.
Getting back to the question, Volunteering is an EC. For college admissions, it is no better and no worse than any other EC. As a general statement, one should do an EC for enjoyment, skill development, team development, or any number of other reasons other than trying to impress college admissions teams.
I think, only as a consumer of the college admission service and not a member, what you need to show is a passion. If the individual is passionate about volunteering, then that will stand out. If a student is passionate about something else that will also stand out. What you don’t want to look like is a student who has a checklist and is looking for resume ornamentation. If they are passionate about helping with homeless people it will show in their list of ECs and in their essays. I think AOs are looking for students who can clearly convey who they are in the admissions process.
That being said, you may have a hard time if your passion is video gaming and potato chip eating in your spare time. I think the other thing you need to do in your application is show how your passion might make this great spinning rock a better place when they are done with it. So how important is Volunteering? If it is what you are passionate about, it is the most important thing.
Thank you for all of your replies. I had a conversation with a GC from a local high school and she emphasized the importance of volunteering. I think that she was suggesting this for probably those reasons you listed, @stemmmm. But, as a parent, I have a hard time recommending volunteering to my child, especially if is done out of guilt (I should be saving the world) or just because the GC said they need to in order get into college.
If it is just another EC, this is a great relief–then it’s on par with science olympiad or the student newspaper–and if pursued, it can be done out of a genuine desire to help. BUT, if it is a new standard in the ever-shifting college admissions game and a kid can’t get into a top 30 school without 300 hours, my kid better figure out how to fit those hours in (in the most genuine way possible, of course). 
When you go to most college websites, there are always statements on “community” and “contribution”. Indeed there are essay questions that center around community and interacting with others in many college and scholarship applications. I think people then jump to the conclusion that you have to volunteer for a “cause”. Certainly if the applicant can demonstrate real dedication and tangible contribution to a cause, it will factor in his/her favor, but if it is obviously part of a checklist and the only thing that can be demonstrated is a relatively shallow degree of participation, it’s unlikely to help and may well hurt. IMO what the schools are looking for is if the applicant is a person who makes the whole group better, who gives back as much or more than he/she takes. This could be sharing intellectual, artistic or athletic talent; it could be effort, dedication or leadership in a group effort. This does not have to be demonstrated only in the context of a “cause”.
It’s subtle, but one other consideration is to make sure if the app lists something as “volunteering” the activity is actually being done for the benefit of someone or something other than the applicant. We’ve seen students come on and list very self-serving things as volunteering - shadowing a doc, presenting findings to a foreign medical association are two examples that stick in my mind - and that seems a risky way to categorize the activity. Might rub an AO the wrong way if one is implying that simply gracing others with one’s presence or doing an activity that is clearly for self benefit is somehow volunteering.
Our kids school (public K-12 Charter school) requires 40 hours per year for the high school students, so all students come out with at least 160 hours. There are many opportunities to meet these requirements but most of the kids find their passion and gain their hours that way. My senior has over 800 hours since freshman year and the bulk of them are done through tutoring.
I think the role volunteering has in admissions varies. If you are looking at specific schools, check the CDS. From the brief look I did (HYPS, a few other non-Ivy privates, a few top LACs), most of them listed volunteer work as a component of an application that is “considered”. The exceptions were Notre Dame and Georgetown, where it was listed as “important”, so it depends on what schools you are looking at specifically.
Volunteering and community services done with willingness shows a good character of a student. Doing it with consistency shows commitment.
My D volunteered a her elementary school helping students after class (she liked helping them learned). She did it one hour a week for throughout her school years from 9th - 12 grade. Nothing fancy but with commitment, consistency and enthusiasm…
That, together with all other factors that admission took into consideration, she got accepted at her top choice, a highly selective college.
I had 2 kids get into Northwestern without volunteering as a separate EC, because they took the toughest course work and played varsity sports, so no extra time. One of them called an admissions counselor about this very point, who told them that colleges do understand time constraints, so don’t worry about it. However, they both helped out in the community through some of their other EC.s, like NHS, and tutoring at school.
Key Take Home Point - and basically what I told my kids - with shout-out to @skieurope:
Also look at the Common Data Set for the college and see how important ECs are at all.
When my oldest was a freshman, I told him he needed to choose some ECs and do some volunteering so he’d have something to put on his college applications. He said that sounded wrong to him and refused to participate. He had things he was interested in and enjoyed during high school - mainly schoolwork, basketball (not a recruited athlete, but good, a team leader, and has won some awards), and some non glamorous work at our church twice a month that is essential to our church’s function. He did a few other little things here and there.
Now, he’s a junior. We asked a friend to look at his resume, and he lamented the lack of service. “You gotta get some service hours!” I found the comment laughable as ds is the oldest of 7 and has literally been serving daily since he was 6 years old. Haha!
Then, we went to a one time visit with a college consultant who told us basketball didn’t count as an EC if not recruited, the church stuff wasn’t impressive, and suggested we find ways to embellish his resume.
I was kinda irritated with ds and actually said, “I told you so!” But he just kinda shrugged it off and said it is what it is.
He hasn’t started the application process yet, but he did apply to some free, selective summer programs. His application, essays, resume, letters of rec, etc. painted a true picture of who he is, and he just heard today that he got into a really great program. Still waiting to hear from a few others.
Anyway, I guess it all depends on whether or not you’re willing to play the game and whether or not you’ll be okay with the outcome. My son is the type who wasn’t willing to play and was fine with it. (He is not applying to tippy tops, though.)
My children recently volunteered at a Christmas event they were truly interested in, and one thing they told me when they were done is that the majority of teens were just standing around doing nothing and were clearly just there to collect hours. My dd volunteered to help at an easter egg hunt for children with special last weekend and said there were 5 “volunteers” who sat under a tree and talked the whole 5 hours, not even coming into the building where the event was being held until it was time to get their forms signed.
I just wonder what message we are sending kids about ECs and volunteering.
My dd will be a freshman next year. She is way more active than my oldest, and would probably be willing to play the game, but I have changed my tune and told her to do just things she sincerely enjoys.