Volunteer vs extra curricular activities

[CTmom]

My sophomore son has 2-3 activities that he spends a lot of time on. He is an assistant director in the drama club, he plays the cello for a youth orchestra, he has a movie reviews blog that he writes. But nothing much for volunteer hours or community service hours.

 

Is there anything in the college application process or scholarship applications that will ask for specific hours of volunteer work?? Our school doesnt have a minimum volunteer hours requirement. 

 

I just dont want to get to senior year and find that we missed something. He doesnt have much interest in national honor society but he would try to make the national merit semi finalist or finalist. Do they need specific number of volunteer hours for that? I dont see it in the website in their requirments

 

thanks

 

 

[Jenny in Florida]

I don't know anything about National Merit Scholar requirements. But, yes, several of the admission and scholarship applications my son has filled out have asked about volunteer/community service experiences.

 

Edit: For what it's worth, volunteering doesn't need to be a terrible chore. My son is very busy with a variety of activities. He sings with a fairly rigorous choir, participates in a church youth group, is dual enrolled nearly full-time at the local community college and is a competitive dancer (spending an average of about 20 hours a week at the dance studio). Over the last three years, though, he's logged nearly 300 community service hours. About half of those were done during two summers, assisting with day  camps at a local children's theatre. The rest he's done volunteering one or two days a month at the local science museum during the school year. He's genuinely enjoyed both activities.

[CTmom]

Thanks Jenny. He will have to find something to work on then. For the past two summers, he worked as production crew for the high school drama club. This was a summer camp that was offered through the continuing ed and open to students from other towns also. The actors had to pay a fee for the camp but the production crew was voluntary and he easily put in 80 hours each summer. But now the guidance counselor tells me that since he works with the drama club during the school year, the summer work he did would also be considered as an extra curricular activity and not as volunteer hours. 

[bettyandbob]

I think what your guidance counselor is saying is odd. Is it just a policy at your school? Lots of kids volunteer in the same field of interest where they also do extracurricular work. This is because the extracurricular work gives them some depth to offer in a volunteer capacity. I think volunteering in a specific field consistently has value in that it shows a focus, rather than random accumulated hours . 10 hours weeding for nature center, 25 hours at vacation bible school, 15 at library -- doesn't suggest anything about a student except they have extra time and a requirement to fill. It is my understanding that when admissions look beyond numbers (test scores, gpa, types of courses) they like to see some focus in activities not stuff that looks like you are getting boxes checked. 

 

Now, for National Honor Society there is a requirement for volunteer hours. If your ds pursues membership in NHS he will need to check what the sponsors at his school will accept to fulfill that requirement. 

 

Additionally, some high schools are requiring volunteer hours for graduation, so you may want to figure out if this is requirement for the type of diploma your ds is pursuing. 

 

So, I don't think you need to worry about the volunteer hours for college application, but you may have other reasons to clear up volunteer requirements. 

[Jenny in Florida]

 For the past two summers, he worked as production crew for the high school drama club.

 

 

Lots of kids volunteer in the same field of interest where they also do extracurricular work. This is because the extracurricular work gives them some depth to offer in a volunteer capacity. I think volunteering in a specific field consistently has value in that it shows a focus, rather than random accumulated hours .

 

I think, in this case, the issue may be not that CTmom's son is participating in the same field but that he is doing the same kind of activity with the same organization in which he is also involved extracurricularly.

 

For example, my son sings with a choir, which we list as an extracurricular activity. If his choir participated in a choir festival with a bunch of other choirs, even though it took place outside of regular rehearsal times and involved other groups, we would still count it as part of his normal participation with that same group.

 

Or a better example might be: In addition to taking classes and participating on the competition team, my son assistant/co-teaches three classes a week at his dance school. He does so without being paid. However, we still consider it part of his extracurricular involvement, because the activity primarily benefits the studio of which he is already a member.

 

He has also done a lot of community and youth theatre, which, again counts in our world as an extracurricular. Separately, he volunteers as a junior counselor for theatre-themed day camps. We count those hours as community service, even though they are still theatre related, because he is doing a completely different kind of task in support of a different goal. He is not in any way involved in putting on a production, but is acting as a classroom assistant for an educational program.

 

Similarly, my son is active with a church youth group. During the year, they do a variety of projects and fund-raisers. Some of them mostly benefit the church, itself, and we count those as extracurricular involvement. But they do a couple of projects each year that are hosted by the church and run by the youth group that benefit outside organizations. One is the annual supply drive for a local shelter for LGBT teens. Another is the variety show they put on, proceeds from which go to Standing on the Side of Love. Both of those count as community service, because they benefit causes or organizations separate from the church.

 

So, if CTmom's son spent a few weeks each summer running tech for a children's theatre program across town, those might count as volunteer hours, because they benefit an organization other than the one to which he otherwise belongs. I can't be sure, but I suspect that may be the distinction the guidance counselor was making.

[Lori D.]

Those are good extracurriculars!

- assistant director in the drama club (shows leadership/responsibility)

- cello for a youth orchestra (shows personal interest, perseverance, competition to make that spot, etc)

- movie reviews blog that he writes (shows initiative, creativity)

 

National Merit Scholars / Finalists are based only on test scores. To reach that level, students usually have to hit about 98-99%.

 

Yes, some scholarships really do require volunteering/community service. It would look best and count better towards scholarships if your student can get volunteer hours through a very different organization or in a very different field than that of the extracurricular. That shows more diverse interests, plus involvement in the community.

 

Esp. good to count for volunteer/community service are these two avenues:

 

1. working with/mentoring youth

(tutoring younger students at the library's tutoring program or a high school peer-tutoring program, summer camp counselor, sports referee/umpire for younger kid teams, teaching or leading younger students in some way, etc.)

 

2. or volunteering for certain kinds of community organizations and/or nationally recognized groups

(food banks, pet shelters, groups that help the homeless, Red Cross, YMCA, etc.)

 

 

It's fairly easy to build up hours to show long-term commitment to service: schedule 1-2 hour a week, or 4 hours for one Saturday a month, or, 1 week out of the summer.

 

 

The nice thing about extracurriculars done in high school -- they often can turn into volunteer hours during college, because a lot of scholarships like to see you volunteering even WHILE in college. For example, your son participating in a high school community theater group, he comes back in a support role in college as an adult volunteer! :)

[Pawz4me]

The type of volunteer activities that really seemed to interest the admissions officers DS has spoken with have been his activities that are totally separate from extracurricular school activities.  I think they were noting that he likely had to take the initiative to find some of his volunteer activities, that they weren't just announced at school (or church) and he said "Oh, that's a good way to build some volunteer time for my college resume so I'll do it."  They were things he had to go out and find on his own.  And also things that he consistently committed time to over the course of his high school years.  I don't know for sure, but I think they look at long-term participation a little more favorably than doing ten volunteer hours at this thing, eight at that thing, etc.

[CTmom]

Thanks everyone, some very good points to chew on. 

 

He wants to continue volunteering on areas that he is interested in. I have sent him a list of the local childrens summer camps that he can reach out to as well as the senior center to see if he can arrange a movie night etc. There is a youth film festival that seems to be in disarray due to lack of interest, so thats something he is going to look into also. Last year he did a few hours ushering at the local play house, so he will have to find more of that type of stuff...

 

>>For example, my son sings with a choir, which we list as an extracurricular activity. If his choir participated in a choir festival with a bunch of other choirs, >>even  though it took place outside of regular rehearsal times and involved other groups, we would still count it as part of his normal participation with that >>same group.

 

LOL, there goes half the meager hours that he has :-)  at least I think he still has time to catch up...

 

[CTmom]

 

1. working with/mentoring youth

(tutoring younger students at the library's tutoring program or a high school peer-tutoring program, summer camp counselor, sports referee/umpire for younger kid teams, teaching or leading younger students in some way, etc.)

 

 

only unpaid ones would count right? In his freshmen year, he worked as the umpire for the younger kids baseball teams, but he got paid for it, so I wasnt thinking of them as volunteer hours. 

[bettyandbob]

only unpaid ones would count right? In his freshmen year, he worked as the umpire for the younger kids baseball teams, but he got paid for it, so I wasnt thinking of them as volunteer hours. 

 

volunteer =  unpaid

 

You also need to make sure the organizations where he volunteers are qualified for your requirements. 

 

--I know a young lady who had to fight to have certain hours she did at her church count toward National Honor Society requirements

 

--my school specifies volunteer time must be done with a nonprofit or government entity

 

If your ds is doing the hours to fulfill a requirement, you may want him to clear with whoever reviews the requirement that hours with XYZ group will count. 

[Gwen in VA]

Just to prevent anyone from getting tied in knots over volunteer hours --

 

My older three did ~1000 hours each of documnted volunteer work. They listed it on college apps and they received some positive feedback about their work in various interviews.

 

Dd2 has literally about 30 hours of volunteer work, period. It's not her fault -- people keep paying her for what she would otherwise do for free! (I'm seirous!) She accompanies a choir -- and gets paid. Mu older kids were in a music group that did performances at a national park; dd is in a similar group but she gets paid....etc., etc., etc. Dd2 is incredibly involved in the community, but people pay her, so she has only those few measly volunteer hours. We were afraid that that might cause a problem in the admissions process, but from the feedback we have received so far, no one much cares. She even made it to the finalist round in some national scholarship competition focused on community service!

 

Takeaway from dd2's experience -- I think that "volunteer work" may be college admissions code for "involved in the community"!

[Lori D.]

only unpaid ones would count right? In his freshmen year, he worked as the umpire for the younger kids baseball teams, but he got paid for it, so I wasnt thinking of them as volunteer hours. 

 

 

It wouldn't count as volunteer hours, but it makes a GREAT activity to include on his list of activities, because it is a leadership position AND it is working with younger students. So be sure to include this when listing activities and accomplishments for college admissions and on scholarship applications! (Like Gwen in VA's experience in the above post.)

[MBM]

Last night my son's high school had a panel of college reps speak to parents of juniors about the admissions process. The reps were from community colleges, LACs, large public and private universities and selective schools.

 

All of them said that in regard to volunteering, they did not want to see students who volunteered merely because the student felt it was what the school wanted. They would rather see students who are doing ECs and/or volunteer work that genuinely reflects the student's interests. Sometimes students cannot fit volunteer work in when the ECs, academics or after school jobs are too time-consuming and they understand.

 

I think to be absolutely sure, you might want to check the university websites that your child might attend or some of the sites that offer general information about universities.

[angela in ohio]

All of them said that in regard to volunteering, they did not want to see students who volunteered merely because the student felt it was what the school wanted. They would rather see students who are doing ECs and/or volunteer work that genuinely reflects the student's interests...

This. My dd has volunteer work in two areas, but they both are obviously something she does because she is invested in them. I have heard time and again from admissions counselors that they don't even look at the random few hours here and there that were obviously just to check off the box. Your guidance counselor is misled (so many GCs know little about college admissions.)

 

Yes, most of the applications for admission and scholarships have had a place to put volunteer work, paid work, and extracurriculars separately.  My dd's all sort of run together, but we separated them out. I don't count orchestra as volunteering, though they have community performances. I have never heard of that.  I do count the times her flute studio goes to play at a retirement home as volunteer hours.

 

I will tell you what my dd has done, and then what I would do with your son. This will be too long, because I have a passion for students volunteering in high school.

 

My oldest has been volunteering since she was in middle school with special needs students. She works one day a week in the classroom, and then she works at summer camps. When she hit high school, she became interested in computer science and robotics, so she did a science fair project which would help this population of students. She also won a community award for her volunteering. Then she started volunteering with younger robotics students, too. Dh helped her figure out how to get funding to start her own teams, camps, etc. She started training other high school students and then teachers, coaching and teaching coaches. She has five teams, a series of summer camps she plans, and two trainings a year for coaches/mentors. Then she won an award for the robotics volunteering. The feedback she has been getting (in awards, interviews, admission, etc.) has been that the way she combined her volunteering with her interests and the way she went out and started her own thing rather than the typical "show up when they tell you to clean up the park" are the winning combination. Now, she did them because she loves them, which I don't think you can fake :D, but it has been great for her. Well-rounded is out, and it sounds like your GC is behind the times. The tie between her awards, her volunteering, her paid job, and her extracurriculars have been what is attractive, from what we hear.

 

For your son, I would count the drama camp as volunteering. I would have him work toward starting a program of his own. There are some under-served populations he could reach out to: drama workshops/days at a children's hospital, drama camp for special needs students, etc. He can partner with another organization easily.  He could teach cello lessons. What about movie nights at a library or school where he does a talk about them?

 

Honestly, some of my dd's biggest growth as a person has come from the skills she has learned as a volunteer (dealing with people, managing a project, navigating planning and funding, etc.,) and if it opens doors for her, even better. :) Volunteer work (especially the work with special needs students) has changed the way she thinks about the world and her place in it. She is not get-a-job-make-money focused. She sees needs and wants to meet them. That comes from learning a habit of giving to others.

[In The Great White North]

 

 

National Merit Scholars / Finalists are based only on test scores. To reach that level, students usually have to hit about 98-99%.

 

Sadly, no, not any more.  They have a whole application process AFTER the PSAT now, but I don't remember volunteer hours being involved.

 

 

 

Or a better example might be: In addition to taking classes and participating on the competition team, my son assistant/co-teaches three classes a week at his dance school. He does so without being paid. However, we still consider it part of his extracurricular involvement, because the activity primarily benefits the studio of which he is already a member.

 

I would list this separately, either as volunteer hours, or as paid work if he gets reduced class/team fees for it.  I doubt that anyone expects teaching younger kids to be part of taking a dance class yourself. My dd's classes (dance, music) certainly didn't, nor did participation on the competitive swim team.

[Jenny in Florida]

I would list this separately, either as volunteer hours, or as paid work if he gets reduced class/team fees for it.  I doubt that anyone expects teaching younger kids to be part of taking a dance class yourself. My dd's classes (dance, music) certainly didn't, nor did participation on the competitive swim team.

 

Well, he did list it separately, in that it went on its own line. However, it was still an extracurricular, not volunteering/community service.

 

He did list and/or refer to the teaching when any admission or scholarship applications asked about leadership experience. And he wrote a couple of his essays about teaching, too.