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Early Decision Notification Dates for the Class of 2025
A guide to early application decision notification dates for the Class of 2025.
Community service is an excellent way to help people and improve your community. It can also help you gain skills and experience to include on your resume and college applications.
Community service is precisely what its name says; services you perform to benefit your community. Community service can be done by an individual or by several people that help others.
Community service can improve the lives of different groups of people like troubled children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, sometimes even injured animals, and save the environment. Community service is usually organized through a local group, like a church, temple, school, or non-profit organization. However, you can also start your community service projects.
People join community service because they enjoy helping others and improve their surroundings and community. Many students take up community service to graduate from high school or get particular honors. Sometimes adults are also ordered by a judge to complete several community service hours.
Volunteering is a crucial part of preparing students to take authority as open-minded, civilized citizens in a global community. While performing community service, students have the opportunity to observe in real life how much their work can have a positive impact on the world. Students volunteering locally at food shelves, retirement centers, animal shelters, and orphanages get to interact with people who have immensely different backgrounds learn patience and empathy as they develop a whole new perspective of the world.
Community service provides students a considerable opportunity to explore academic interests in the real world.
Volunteering can help students learn more about how certain things function; for example, clean up drives, recycling waste, etc., can help students learn more about environmental issues firsthand.
We have found that when students connect what they are learning in school to real-life issues that matter, they throw themselves into learning. Studies show that students who give back to the community perform better in university, especially in math, reading, and history. Moreover, students who participate in community service are also more certainly to graduate from high school.
As admission to elite universities is becoming more and more competitive, volunteer experience can be a massive advantage in college admission. This is the reason many students start doing community service projects. However, students who start earlier have a distinct advantage because their span of experience allows them to step up to leadership positions within organizations quickly.
Those extra years of volunteering give students an advantage while applying for scholarships—usually, scholarships are planned to reward community service participation. The relationships students build with other volunteers also make their advantage when it comes time for college applications, letters of recommendation, and scholarships.
Volunteering looks impressive to employers and shows that the student is responsible and cares about their community. Also, volunteering can serve as an unpaid internship. Employers are often not ready to hire people without experience, and volunteering is an easy way for students to gain experience in various fields.
Students who want to get into a particular field can use community service to network with other industry experts. As a volunteer, the students can learn about new job or internships. Students can also help some of their friends’ volunteer for references and advice on finding a career in the industry.
“Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy”. -Gautama Buddha
Indeed, volunteering is a peaceful experience internally. Studies show that people who help others are happier individuals. Students can become more comfortable through volunteering, and they can learn new skills that help them succeed.
By learning communication skills and managing the books, students can pick up skills to grow. Students pay thousands of dollars every year for their schooling. Instead of spending more money on the school to learn a skill, students may pick up the same ability through volunteering. This will help students develop a great resume and network with professionals.
A recent study shows that volunteers enjoy remarkable health benefits. Compared to non-volunteers, volunteers are likely to efficiently deal with stress, anxiety, and depression and have lower mortality rates. While older individuals had the most health benefits, young students also enjoy the health benefits.
Also, people who spend over 100 hours helping in services each year show excellent positive health outcomes. From health benefits to a better resume, students who undertake community services can gain exceptional benefits.
Community service allows students to show leadership, creativity, compassion, understand, and come to terms with the real world. Colleges do not just want students who will perform well in class – they want students who will also engage outside of the school and positively impact campus and the world.
We have covered more than one hundred community service examples. The list is organized by category, so let’s say if you are specifically interested in working with senior citizens, children, or animals, you can easily find community service activities related to your interests.
You can look for projects that are similar to your interests. You may also want to perform particular community service that allows you just enjoy, like baking, cleaning or acting,
Many community service work can help you gain skills. These skills include yoga, teaching, medicine, internet skills, CPR, construction, and many more. If there is a particular skill you'd like to learn for future classes, jobs, or just out of personal interest, you may want to see if there is a community service activity that helps you understand that skill.
We have put together a list of community service project examples to get you started.
Extracurricular activities are activities that typically take place outside a classroom. According to the Common App, extracurriculars are activities that include arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, etc.
Most well-known and top-rated colleges receive applications from incredibly accomplished students for mostly the same number of spots. How do applicants set themselves apart? How do admissions officers decide which student is the better investment?
Note - Before we get into extracurricular activities, I would just like to say that nothing can replace your high school grades and the results of your standardized tests (ACT/SAT). Your grades are still important- an excellent extracurricular profile will just make your application look good and make it stand out from the rest of the applicants. Do not take your grades lightly. You must enroll in challenging courses and do well in them if you aspire to attend top schools. Easy course loads, as well as low grades or test scores, cannot be overcome by developing a standout extracurricular profile.
However, it’s equally important to emphasize that doing well in challenging courses and on standardized tests like the SAT or AP Exams is not enough to get into elite universities. To stand out from the competition, you must pursue interesting activities in a focused way to demonstrate expertise, initiative, leadership, impact, and other positive qualities.
Most applicants are highly accomplished, and they have excellent stats while participating in various extracurricular activities. Therefore, a unique extracurricular profile will help the admissions officer pick you.
Typically, colleges would prefer a student with an average score of 85% and a lot of involvement in extracurriculars as compared to a student with an average score of 90% with no involvement. Also, colleges would rather admit two students from the 99th percentile in a particular field than admitting two students from the 80th percentile in various fields.
Colleges believe that what you do before college reflects what you will continue to do in college. College administration officers like students who are active and are contributing to the community. They believe that there is a good chance that applicants who are active and involved in the community will continue to do so in college. Therefore, extracurriculars can help you get into good colleges. But, how do you decide when to focus on schoolwork instead of extracurricular activities?
Colleges understand that not all students will get time for traditional extracurricular activities. Sometimes, obligations to family or financial constraints might restrict a student from taking up extra activities. Therefore, any way you use your time in a constructive or valuable manner will be acceptable by the college. For example, taking care of the family or working a part-time job are responsibilities that display maturity. This will show colleges that you are capable of being responsible and making serious commitments.
A study in the US showed that students taking up extracurriculars have a better chance at scoring well in exams. The logic behind this study was that sometimes extracurriculars help you feel better about yourself, which in turn helps you get better grades. Think about it this way- playing a sport makes you smarter than watching TV/movies. If you like watching movies, you can form a club for movies and increase the number of members of this group. This will also be considered an extracurricular.
When admissions officers see a list of extracurricular activities that is very common, it becomes difficult to differentiate between applicants. Thus, while looking at applications, colleges are looking for students who are specialists in their chosen fields and have a deep and interesting reason for engaging in it.
Colleges care less about “what” activity you do and care more about “why” and “how” you do. No activity has more importance over the other, as long as your reason behind it is strong enough. There are three main things that colleges are looking for: Passion, Leadership, and Impact. The “why” and “how” define these three points.
Passion – Colleges believe that your passion is something that will create a drive in you to accomplish great things. They believe that this passion will most likely continue to drive you in college as well. Therefore, make sure your activity is not only for fun but also for passion.
Leadership - Leadership experiences include any time that you have been responsible for a project or for guiding, motivating, or instructing others. Many schools – especially the most selective ones – want to see students who exhibit leadership skills because they are hoping that their students will someday go on to be leaders who make differences on a larger scale in academics, business, or research. Therefore, showing that you have the desire and sense of responsibility that a leader needs can be very attractive to admissions officers.
Impact - One of the reasons that passion is so important is because admission officers want to see that you have made a significant investment in activity over an extended period of time. Though you’ll probably experiment with several different activities when you're younger, once you settle on the one you're most passionate about, officers are going to be looking for how you've made a difference in the activity and how you've changed because of it. Admission officers want to know about you, who you are, and what made you like this.
Listed below are some of the extracurricular activities that universities look for in applications and which you should consider pursuing so that it positively enhances your university applications.
Students who stand for elections and are elected from the Student Government on campus. Typically, the student government’s functions can include:
Everything listed in the extracurricular activities of the Student Government aims to hone the leadership skill in a student. By being part of Student Government, you will become:
The most salient takeaway of being part of the Student Government is that it infuses you with leadership skills. Extracurricular activities at colleges where Student Government is an option have additional functions like being part of the honor council that is responsible for the university’s honor code as well as being on the judiciary board to hear and pass verdicts in disciplinary cases.You can participate in extracurricular activities at colleges such as Student Government only if you have done so in the past and exhibited leadership qualities.
Watch this video about the merits of extracurricular activities in Student Government:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKGk9R8E_M
Watch this video of extracurricular activities at colleges:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4rVtUrHeHw
By participating in extracurricular activities pertaining to sports, there are many qualities that you will refine. Sports will display your
All colleges look for such qualities in applicants so when you have demonstrated these qualities in extracurricular activities, colleges are bound to be interested in your application. There are many universities in the US like Stanford University, University of Florida, and the University of California, Los Angeles, – to name a few, who are reputed for athletics. By choosing athletics as one of your extracurricular activities, and studying at a university that further hones your talent, it could well pave the way for you to become a professional athlete. An added incentive in choosing sports is the possibility of getting financial aid to pursue your studies while participating in the university’s sports/athletics team.
For more information about getting financial aid for extracurricular activities in sports:
https://educationusa.state.gov/athletic-scholarships
Watch this video of Stanford University’s extracurricular activities at colleges:
https://www.youtube.com/user/stanfordathletics
If you love conversations and putting forth your point of view about current matters, become a part of the debate team. All extracurricular activities are meant to challenge you but this one does so from the moment you decide to participate in a debate.
By participating in debates you will be:
With such qualities in extracurricular activities that are demonstrated and not simply mentioned in your personal statement, your college application will be high up in the pile of applications. If you have the qualities of being good at debating, it can well present you with career options – you could become a lawyer, politician, broadcast analyst, etc.
For information on extracurricular activities in debates at Indian schools:
http://indianschoolsdebatingsociety.com/
Watch this video of extracurricular activities at colleges:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2m75o414c
When you choose to intern as one of your extracurricular activities, it immediately signals that you are focused and intent on achieving your academic and career goals. By doing an internship, you are willing to work for free if necessary to gain experience.
What an internship says about you when mentioned under extracurricular activities is that:
All colleges look for such qualities in applicants and the college will be further assured that you will be willing to take on tough study programs and challenge yourself.
While choosing an internship, ensure that it is related to the major that you wish to pursue at college. In doing so, your efforts in enhancing your extracurricular activities will have direction and purpose.
For information on extracurricular activities in an internship in India:
https://internshala.com/internships
By choosing to do volunteer work and community service, you demonstrate your desire to do what you can to make a difference to your community or the larger world. By becoming involved in local groups or international organizations, you can participate in such extracurricular activities.
Volunteer Work and Community Service will make you:
When Volunteer Work and Community Service is mentioned under extracurricular activities in your application, every college admissions office will place you a few notches higher than other applicants. The experience you gain with such extracurricular activities is what colleges look for in students to make their college a better place.
When you initially choose to volunteer or offer community service in an area that you love, e.g., something related to the environment, helping stricken animals, etc., it may influence the study program you choose and may even lead to various career options. An added advantage of volunteering can be in getting selected for a job because you already have working experience.
Watch this video about extracurricular activities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4LCe9uiGj0
Watch this video about how volunteering can help in finding employment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBLIuDTvrxs
Letters of recommendation - You can share your project with teachers and guidance counselors who, in turn, can write about the projects in their recommendation letters.
Common App Essay (i.e., personal statement) or supplemental essays - If a project took substantial time to complete, it may be worth writing about it in a reflective matter. You can also mention how you came across this project and what you learned from it.
Common App Additional Information Section - Unlike an essay, the Additional Information section is optional and should not be written in an essay form. It should simply provide a brief explanation—about a paragraph long—of the project.
Interviews - Although not every school requires one, an interview is an excellent time to share the details of an unusual project.
What you are waiting for, start volunteering! You can withdraw from small projects that you can complete on your within a short time; then, eventually, you can take up much larger projects that will take more time and people. If you find anything interesting and are willing to do it, you can start on your own.
If you want to take up a large project, you will need more resources or people, and you can check around your community and get help or check if a similar program already exists that you can join.
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