If you want to do community service—any kind for any amount of time—do it. There’s no right or wrong way to offer help to people who need it. But I often get questions about the value of community service in the college admissions process. So here are five community service thoughts for high school kids as you consider how and where to allocate your time:
1. Don't fake it.
There are plenty of reasons to do volunteer work. Adding it to your college application really shouldn't be one of them. Students who’ve padded their resumes just to reference how many hours they’ve volunteered are easy to spot during the college admissions process. And they’re rarely the kind of students who’ve made a real impact on the people and organizations where they’ve spent time. Volunteer because people need you, because you want to help, and because it’s the right thing to do. If you don’t feel that sense of commitment, do something else that will make you happy. Don’t fake it.
2. Think globally but act locally.
Traveling to build homes in Costa Rica for a week over the summer is valuable and certainly makes for interesting story telling, but there’s no need to go to a remote land to help people. Every local community has disadvantaged populations that will gladly accept your time and energy. And when you get involved with your own community, you can sustain that help for a longer period of time, which brings me to…
3. Make a long-term commitment.
There’s a big difference between serving food to the homeless one weekend and doing so every weekend for 2 ½ years. Both are important, but someone with a real passion to help doesn’t just clock out at the end of one shift, never to return. Find an organization or cause that you care about and are willing to make a commitment to.
4. Get close to the source.
When medical schools evaluate applicants, they look for evidence of “patient contact.” An applicant who’s interacted directly with patients knows more about working in medicine than a student who simply observed a doctor working. This is a good way to approach any volunteer efforts. As your commitment increases, try to work directly with the people you’re helping. You’ll gain a better understanding of what they need and how you and your organization can help. Here’s a past post with some examples.
5. Learn from the people you’re with.
It takes a special kind of person to dedicate his or her professional life to helping people. So learn as much as you can from those in charge. Pay attention to what they do and how they do it. Ask the director of the non-profit, the manager at the soup kitchen or the case worker at the shelter how they got there. What choices did they make during and after college that brought them to this job? What are the joys and challenges of their work? Whether or not you see yourself in a career of service, make your experience even more valuable by learning from someone who’s chosen this path.