College Admissions Tips: Making The Most of Your Community Service
Posted by Erin Lewis at 9:00 am
Most applicants are aware that community service is an important component of any extracurricular resume. The extent to which these experiences weigh in your favor depends on how you approach your service work and present it in your college application. If you want to make your service work count for you, here are a few suggestions to help bolster its impact on your college application:
1. Demonstrate leadership.
Selective colleges aim to attract student leaders to their campuses. Community service projects can provide terrific opportunities for you to showcase your leadership talents. Be sure to keep an accounting of the ways in which you’ve helped an organization or project grow, as these can make good talking points for interviews and essays. Simply founding an organization that is a reflection of your interests can also be perceived as leadership. So if you’re having trouble finding an opportunity that is a reflection of your interests, create one!
2. Discuss the experience in an essay.
Even if you did not found a community service organization or play a leadership role within one, writing a thoughtful piece about the experience can turn what appears to be a run-of-the-mill resume item into a compelling part of your application package.
3. Use your letter of recommendation.
The letter of recommendation can sometimes be used to your advantage in ways that may not be apparent to you. If the admissions office discourages the use of addenda, simply ask your recommenders if they would feel comfortable including their thoughts about your service work in their letters to colleges. Explain why this is important to you and offer them a resume detailing your service. Ultimately, it is up to the person writing the recommendation whether or not they will include this information, but taking the all important step of helping to craft this thread of your life story into your admissions application should bode well for you.
4. Consider the rest of your application.
Finally, keep in mind that all of this will be considered in the context of your entire application. If it is apparent that you have very a strong interest in music, offering free lessons at your local community center will not only help to support a theme that is already developing in your application, but will give your application some depth and dimension. If you pick a service project at random to highlight, it may or may not have a similar effect. Reading an application from an introverted student who also tutors disadvantaged youth in her spare time can help an admissions officer envision a student on campus who is capable of interacting with others and contributing to her college community.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: application essay, community service, letters of recommendation, resume