Parents often ask me how much community service their child will need on their resume when they apply to their colleges.  When I hear this, I immediately think that these parents have been either browsing on College Confidential (a “gossip internet site” for parents or students that often has a lot of misinformation) or they have been talking to too many parents at the water cooler at work!  

Let me explain.....

I met with admissions officers at Stanford University last month while in the Bay Area and amongst other topics I discussed with them, I wanted to put to rest this myth of needing community service once and for all. Do students really need to clamor for getting community service hours to "beef up" their resumes? If not, what are admissions officers at highly selective schools really looking for? 

In a word, passions.

According to Stanford, highly selective colleges want to see what passions the student has, how they have explored those passions, and how those passions might contribute to the university community to which they are applying. 

The activities a student chooses should demonstrate the expression and exploration of these passions by how they are spending their extra time. This can be community service, of course.  But their passions could also be creative writing, sports, robotics or a computer science related field.  I have also seen kids express their passion by involving themselves in research at OHSU, or volunteering at the local hospital holding babies because they want to be a Pediatric nurse.  I have seen kids involved in art clubs, and volunteer with a local real estate agent making flyers while taking IB Art and Design classes because they want to major in Graphic Design in college.  

A thirst for knowledge and the extra-curricular activities a student participates in shows their true passions and what they are drawn to.  It is these things that highly selective schools wish to see. These activities will be described on the “Activities” section of their college applications.

The second best way students can “distinguish themselves from the herd” is through their application essay(s).  The Stanford admission representatives that I met with confirmed that they take the essay portion of their application very seriously and that it can weigh up to even 30% of the overall consideration in the application. Again, the essay "tells a story" about who the student is, what they care about, and how they, therefore, might contribute to the university community.  

As I write this, I have seven of my rising seniors in the other room working on a rough draft of their Common Application essay.  I hold aCommon Application and Essay Boot Camp every year for my rising seniors. It’s a great way to get a bulk of their application work done prior to the craziness of school starting in the fall. It also helps them to understand how important the essays are in  “showcasing” themselves and demonstrating their passions.  With so many kids competing for spots at selective schools - and since most of those kids look fairly similar as far as GPA and test scores - the essay is one of the best ways to stand out.

My overall takeaway from talking with Stanford admissions: The best way for a student to stand out is to understand, pursue and articulate what their passions are all about, both through their extra-curricular activities and through their essays.