My Community Service Story

shutterstock_236961268When I was in high school, I was president of the Key Club, which was my high school’s community service group.  I’ve always enjoyed helping others and was ecstatic to have been voted president by my peers.  From the college admissions perspective, I was thrilled that I could showcase my leadership skills through giving to the various communities from which I belonged.  During the school year, I worked with young children in the public school’s after school program, and over the summers, I volunteered delivering flowers to patients at the New England Medical Center (renamed as Tufts Medical Center) in Boston’s Chinatown.  Through this experience I learned about myself and even met my first college roommate as we both applied, got accepted, and decided to room together!  I’ve always valued community service and am glad to know that colleges will be paying even more attention to it now.  Earlier this year, a Harvard University report pointed out problems with the American college admissions process, that the focus is too much on personal success and achievements and not enough on caring about others.  There is now a movement toward making the college admissions process more thoughtful and less stressful by asking students about community service and how they are giving back to society.  There is a focus on quality instead of quantity.  Taking fewer A.P. courses to pursue a personal passion is encouraged.  High school students are told to be more purposeful about extracurricular activities and to choose ones that they really care about as opposed to having a laundry list.  Here are some web links to understand what this new change all means :

New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/rethinking-college-admissions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT_nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1

Harvard University professor interviewed:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/college-apps-should-emphasize-passion-not-accomplishments-says-harvard-report/

News video about two students going through the process:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/college-admission-standards-chan

 

 

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