Your volunteer programs give you that extra edge over the competition

Universities look at your extracurricular activities to give them an idea of how committed you are to your community and, ultimately, your future. Having these activities can feel like a burden because it does take away some valuable time that could be spent studying. This is especially true if you are a student who works part-time. However, having these volunteer hours is crucial to getting accepted to the college of your dreams. In addition, there are ways in which you can have fun while volunteering without feeling forced to do something you don’t want to do.

Choosing the right extracurricular activity is the key to ensure that your time and effort don’t go to waste. There are some important factors you should consider before you sign up for any volunteer program. These are: type of organization/club and type of volunteer work. In general, there are two types of clubs: academic and social. Some clubs can be both but don’t choose ones that are purely social (e.g. mountain climbing clubs etc.). There also two types of volunteer work: general and specialized.

Note: These are my own categories and are not to be taken as professional opinion.

These factors must have quality and value that are relevant to your ultimate goal of getting accepted to your academic program of choice. On the other hand, having diversified programs may also help.

Now, I will discuss these factors through a detailed example from my own experience. Be sure to check out the tables to see which factors are satisfied by the volunteer program.

When I realized that I needed some extracurricular activities in order to make my college application more competitive, my first stop was the “join a club fair.” Most schools have these but if your school doesn’t, your student body organization usually has an office wherein you can get information and sign up for clubs in your school.

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The first club I joined was the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society. Honors societies usually have a GPA requirement in order to be a member. In my case, one of the requirements was a GPA of 3.0 and above (if you are unsure about a requirement, ask somebody from the organization to see how strict or lenient their requirements are). I was able to do several different activities while I was a member of this club. We had activities such as helping out at the homeless shelter and local church fund raising, delivering food to the elderly or disabled, and participating in other fund raising activities for the school.

You may think that the activities I just mentioned are boring but they are not. You can chop away those volunteer hours and still have fun. For instance, the honors society went to Hollywood to watch a live studio taping of a pilot t.v. show. We were able to see some celebrities and at the same time the group was able to raise money since the studio paid each person who went to the taping. Also, if you like the people in your organization, every activity will feel like your just hanging out with your friends.

Being a member of a well-respected and widely recognized organization is a great way to satisfy the ‘quality’ factor. In addition, your experience is diversified since you were able to participate in various activities. In order to add more value to your college application, you may get a more specialized experience that is relevant to your academic major. This is what I will discuss next.

Because I wanted to major in animal science, I needed some animal experience. My goal was to eventually apply to veterinary school with a specialty in small animals. Naturally, I started looking at animal shelters and veterinary hospitals. This step is more difficult because you would have to do some research and use outside resources in order to find organizations. In this case, I had to contact local animal shelters and veterinary hospitals to see if they are taking any volunteers.

I eventually volunteered with the Los Angeles County Animal Shelter for about 3 months. After getting some experience there, I was able to find a part-time job at a veterinary vaccine clinic. When you first start to volunteer, you should keep in mind that you may be performing maintenance types of work such as sweeping floors and/or assisting other employees with their tasks. If you stick around long enough, you may qualify to apply for a job in that organization or other ones you set your sights on. This will give you some financial benefit in addition to enhancing your application with a new set of skills.

By far, this mentor program was the most rewarding volunteer experience I ever had. Mentors are usually people who have gone through the things that you are currently going through. As a result, you would have to be at least a sophomore to volunteer as a mentor. The mentors' job is to guide you toward the right direction so that you will make as little mistake as possible and show you where the most important resources are. They can also help you with homework, class choice, teacher choices, campus orientation etc.

This experience was rewarding for me because I developed a close, friendly relationship with my mentees (the student(s) you are mentoring). Both mentor and mentee get some emotional benefit from this relationship which makes this a great choice for any student. In addition, students who are attracted to these programs tend to succeed with only a little help and motivation because they already recognized their need for some guidance. Studies have also shown that students who have mentors tend to finish their schooling because of the support that they are getting. Because these programs show very promising results, it will definitely show the admissions committee how much you care about your fellow students When you put this experience in your college application.