How important is volunteer and extra-curricular?

[allenh98]

I have the bare minimum volunteer hours and i have yet to submit them. How important is extracuriculars and volunteer hours for applying to universities?

[rdrake]

It's more important when applying for scholarships, not necessarily for applying to the school itself. The only exception I can think of is Waterloo's AIF.

Do you have the 40 hours required to graduate?

[StealthArcher]

As rdrake said, it will become more of a useful piece for you when doing scholarship applications. I had 200+ hours, mostly due to volunteering I did in Yellowknife when in Grade 9.

[allenh98]

Yeah i have 40 hours, but i haven't handed them in yet. If i dont have a lot of extra-curricular activities, does that hurt my chances of getting into Waterloo's CS/CE?

[jernst]

I agree that the volunteer hours are important for scholarships and would like to also add that some co-op programs (eg laurier) require lots of volunteer work. I was doing some volunteer work when I applied to coop there and already had a placement but apparently was not doing enough volunteer work (they said some ppl were managing 10+ hours a week on top of school and part time work) .

Also I've noticed at job fairs and interviews and such that many employers are impressed with volunteer work.

I would suggest doing open source volunteer work if possible since your getting both the volunteer time and some experience with computer work at the same time.

[Tony]

I think the thing about volunteer work is that it's something to distinguish yourself from everybody else who have pretty much the same "done highschool; am taking first year classes" CV.

jernst hits an excellent point -- if you can get away with claiming open source contributions as volunteer work; that would be awesome.

[Zeroth]

Eh, I think something employers would be even more impressed with is if you've made a full, delivered application to spec. That shows a lot more than volunteer contributions that have no relation to the job itself*.
Personally, I'd prefer to hire well-rounded people, that have shown they care about the job... and this is critical to me, something else other than the job. It means they did something, pursued a hobby that has no relation to their earning power. Too many people only do stuff because "it'll look good on the resume." I can't speak for employers here, but that is my personal view. Do stuff because you want to, not because it'll get you a better job. Getting that job is maybe one month to six months, and if it is something /just/ to get that job, and you are at the job for say six years, thats a waste of your time. Whereas something you do because you find it fun, with no care as to how it benefits your job value is much more valuable to you during those six years. That, again, is my personal view.

Besides, I've always been able to get good jobs with minimal volunteer experience. Its all in how you sell yourself.


*Of course, unless your volunteer contributions are in open source. Thats a completely different matter.

[allenh98]

What does open source volunteer contributions mean?

[jernst]

allenh98 @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:30 pm wrote:

What does open source volunteer contributions mean?

Helping to develop,document or contribute in some way to free software where the source code is open for anyone to modify and use. ex stuff like google summer of code projects, linux etc

[[Gandalf]]

Open source volunteer contributions.

*edit* jernst beat me to a real answer... Also, while editing this post I got a BSOD, gg Windows.

[Pockets]

Maybe this is the flowery philosophy-major-wannabe in me, but I think volunteering is important to one's development as a human being. It's a great way to contribute to your community, and an important learning experience. There's a lot of charities out there that desperately need help, and by extension, there are a lot of people out there that might be a little better off because you donated a few hours of your time. It taught me just how lucky I was to have a place to sleep every night and to have all my vital organs in good working order. It was a sobering experience, and my only regret is that I didn't do more of it.

Doing the bare minimum shows admissions officers that you did it because you had to. Doing more than that shows them you did it because you want to. It identifies you as mature and compassionate. These are generally more desirable members of the student body, and administration will then, in turn, be more willing to accommodate you over someone with similar grades and/or financial standing. Your racked-up hours on a little sheet of paper may not benefit you once you get your foot in the door, but avid volunteering changes you as a person. It is almost always a change for the better, and it can benefit you well beyond your years at University.

I'm not going to get into the ethical implications of forcing youth to volunteer, nor of people volunteering solely for personal gain, because that's straying off topic. On to extracurriculars!

Extracurriculars aren't something you should be considering as activities you -have- to do. They're things that you enjoy doing. Participation in extracurriculars show admissions that you're more likely to contribute positively to campus life once you're inside. Most universities don't want PCP (Parking-Class-Parking) students who merely go to university to attend lectures. From a purely utilitarian perspective, the more fun you have on campus, the more fun a campus appears, and this has a not-insignificant affect on future enrolment. Yes, your university -wants- you to have fun.

In that vein, I'd go on to say that volunteering and extracurriculars are very important, yes, but they're more important once you get accepted. Jernst hit the nail on the head, there. 10 hours a week of volunteering are fine and dandy for a laid-back high schooler, but they become a big sacrifice when you're doing it alongside a heavy double-major. Volunteering on campus is a great way to meet people outside your major and get some recognition from the administration, so it isn't all hard work with no payoffs. I'm not sure about Waterloo, but my university hands out certificates of recognition for people who put in 150 hours or more into volunteering, and those can go a long way when you're applying to those coveted research programs and specialist positions.

[Dan]

From what i have seen extracurriculars and volinterying work are only counted in admissions when you are close to the cut off point of getting in or not. Also some university's will acecpet students with grades below there min on academic probation if they can prove they are able to learn.

Also as Ontario forces every student to do at least 40 hours of volunteer work it does not realy stand out that much unless it is somting relvent to the feild or realy stands out.


I think open source contributions as a fourm of volunteer works is a rather intresting consecpt. I wonder if this could count towords the 40 hours you are forced to do as part of high school.

[Tony]

I don't know about high school volunteer hours, but contributions to an open source project (and active participation on the project's forums) has landed me a reference from one of the lead developers, which (as a technicality) ended up being the only viable reference for the job interview I had for my current position.

(One company had a corporate policy about not giving out references to students. Another boss has quit shortly after I finished my workterm. Yet another was in a world of his own and couldn't say much about me.)

[nike52]

They're not that important for applying to university unless specified or highly recommended by the program you want to get into. As long as you are near the average cutoff, preferably a little higher than the cutoff for a margin of safety, you have a good chance of being accepted.

[allenh98]

Where and how can i start doing open source volunteering?