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Are you applying to a college or a scholarship that requires a community service essay? Do you know how to write an essay that will impress readers and clearly show the impact your work had on yourself and others?
Read on to learn step-by-step instructions for writing a great community service essay that will help you stand out and be memorable.
What Is a Community Service Essay? Why Do You Need One?
A community service essay is an essay that describes the volunteer work you did and the impact it had on you and your community. Community service essays can vary widely depending on specific requirements listed in the application, but, in general, they describe the work you did, why you found the work important, and how it benefited people around you.
Community service essays are typically needed for two reasons:
#1: To Apply to College
- Some colleges require students to write community service essays as part of their application or to be eligible for certain scholarships.
- You may also choose to highlight your community service work in your personal statement.
#2: To Apply for Scholarships
- Some scholarships are specifically awarded to students with exceptional community service experiences, and many use community service essays to help choose scholarship recipients.
- Green Mountain College offers one of the most famous of these scholarships. Their "Make a Difference Scholarship" offers full tuition, room, and board to students who have demonstrated a significant, positive impact through their community service
Getting Started With Your Essay
In the following sections, I'll go over each step of how to plan and write your essay. I'll also include sample excerpts for you to look through so you can get a better idea of what readers are looking for when they review your essay.
Step 1: Know the Essay Requirements
Before your start writing a single word, you should be familiar with the essay prompt. Each college or scholarship will have different requirements for their essay, so make sure you read these carefully and understand them.
Specific things to pay attention to include:
- Length requirement
- Application deadline
- The main purpose or focus of the essay
- If the essay should follow a specific structure
Below are three real community service essay prompts. Read through them and notice how much they vary in terms of length, detail, and what information the writer should include.
From the Equitable Excellence Scholarship:
"Describe your outstanding achievement in depth and provide the specific planning, training, goals, and steps taken to make the accomplishment successful. Include details about your role and highlight leadership you provided. Your essay must be a minimum of 350 words but not more than 600 words."
From the Laura W. Bush Traveling Scholarship:
"Essay (up to 500 words, double spaced) explaining your interest in being considered for the award and how your proposed project reflects or is related to both UNESCO's mandate and U.S. interests in promoting peace by sharing advances in education, science, culture, and communications."
From the LULAC National Scholarship Fund:
"Please type or print an essay of 300 words (maximum) on how your academic studies will contribute to your personal & professional goals. In addition, please discuss any community service or extracurricular activities you have been involved in that relate to your goals."
Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas
Even after you understand what the essay should be about, it can still be difficult to begin writing. Answer the following questions to help brainstorm essay ideas. You may be able to incorporate your answers into your essay.
- What community service activity that you've participated in has meant the most to you?
- What is your favorite memory from performing community service?
- Why did you decide to begin community service?
- What made you decide to volunteer where you did?
- How has your community service changed you?
- How has your community service helped others?
- How has your community service affected your plans for the future?
You don't need to answer all the questions, but if you find you have a lot of ideas for one of two of them, those may be things you want to include in your essay.
Writing Your Essay
How you structure your essay will depend on the requirements of the scholarship or school you are applying to. You may give an overview of all the work you did as a volunteer, or highlight a particularly memorable experience. You may focus on your personal growth or how your community benefited.
Regardless of the specific structure requested, follow the guidelines below to make sure your community service essay is memorable and clearly shows the impact of your work.
Samples of mediocre and excellent essays are included below to give you a better idea of how you should draft your own essay.
Step 1: Hook Your Reader In
You want the person reading your essay to be interested, so your first sentence should hook them in and entice them to read more. A good way to do this is to start in the middle of the action. Your first sentence could describe you helping build a house, releasing a rescued animal back to the wild, watching a student you tutored read a book on their own, or something else that quickly gets the reader interested. This will help set your essay apart and make it more memorable.
Compare these two opening sentences:
"I have volunteered at the Wishbone Pet Shelter for three years."
"The moment I saw the starving, mud-splattered puppy brought into the shelter with its tail between its legs, I knew I'd do whatever I could to save it."
The first sentence is a very general, bland statement. The majority of community service essays probably begin a lot like it, but it gives the reader little information and does nothing to draw them in. On the other hand, the second sentence begins immediately with action and helps persuade the reader to keep reading so they can learn what happened to the dog.
Step 2: Discuss the Work You Did
Once you've hooked your reader in with your first sentence, tell them about your community service experiences. State where you work, when you began working, how much time you've spent there, and what your main duties include. This will help the reader quickly put the rest of the essay in context and understand the basics of your community service work.
Not including basic details about your community service could leave your reader confused.
Step 3: Include Specific Details
It's the details of your community service that make your experience unique and memorable, so go into the specifics of what you did.
For example, don't just say you volunteered at a nursing home; talk about reading Mrs. Johnson her favorite book, watching Mr. Scott win at bingo, and seeing the residents play games with their grandchildren at the family day you organized. Try to include specific activities, moments, and people in your essay. Having details like these let the readers really understand what work you did and how it differs from other volunteer experiences.
Compare these two passages:
"For my volunteer work, I tutored children at a local elementary school. I helped them improve their math skills and become more confident students."
"As a volunteer at York Elementary School, I worked one-on-one with second and third graders who struggled with their math skills, particularly addition, subtraction, and fractions. As part of my work, I would create practice problems and quizzes and try to connect math to the students' interests. One of my favorite memories was when Sara, a student I had been working with for several weeks, told me that she enjoyed the math problems I had created about a girl buying and selling horses so much that she asked to help me create math problems for other students."
The first passage only gives basic information about the work done by the volunteer; there is very little detail included, and no evidence is given to support her claims. How did she help students improve their math skills? How did she know they were becoming more confident?
The second passage is much more detailed. It recounts a specific story and explains more fully what kind of work the volunteer did, as well as a specific instance of a student becoming more confident with her math skills. Providing more detail in your essay helps support your claims as well as make your essay more memorable and unique.
Step 4: Show Your Personality
It would be very hard to get a scholarship or place at a school if none of your readers felt like they knew much about you after finishing your essay, so make sure that your essay shows your personality. The way to do this is to state your personal strengths, then provide examples to support your claims. Take some time to think about which parts of your personality you would like your essay to highlight, then write about specific examples to show this.
- If you want to show that you're a motivated leader, describe a time when you organized an event or supervised other volunteers.
- If you want to show your teamwork skills, write about a time you helped a group of people work together better.
- If you want to show that you're a compassionate animal lover, write about taking care of neglected shelter animals and helping each of them find homes.
Step 5: State What You Accomplished
After you have described your community service and given specific examples of your work, you want to begin to wrap your essay up by stating your accomplishments. What was the impact of your community service? Did you build a house for a family to move into? Help students improve their reading skills? Clean up a local park? Make sure the impact of your work is clear; don't be worried about bragging here.
If you can include specific numbers, that will also strengthen your essay. Saying "I delivered meals to 24 home-bound senior citizens" is a stronger example than just saying "I delivered meals to lots of senior citizens."
Also be sure to explain why your work matters. Why is what you did important? Did it provide more parks for kids to play in? Help students get better grades? Give people medical care who would otherwise not have gotten it? This is an important part of your essay, so make sure to go into enough detail that your readers will know exactly what you accomplished and how it helped your community.
"My biggest accomplishment during my community service was helping to organize a family event at the retirement home. The children and grandchildren of many residents attended, and they all enjoyed playing games and watching movies together."
"The community service accomplishment that I'm most proud of is the work I did to help organize the First Annual Family Fun Day at the retirement home. My job was to design and organize fun activities that senior citizens and their younger relatives could enjoy. The event lasted eight hours and included ten different games, two performances, and a movie screening with popcorn. Almost 200 residents and family members attended throughout the day. This event was important because it provided an opportunity for senior citizens to connect with their family members in a way they aren't often able to. It also made the retirement home seem more fun and enjoyable to children, and we have seen an increase in the number of kids coming to visit their grandparents since the event."
The second passage is stronger for a variety of reasons. First, it goes into much more detail about the work the volunteer did. The first passage only states that she helped "organize a family event." That really doesn't tell readers much about her work or what her responsibilities were. The second passage is much clearer; her job was to "design and organize fun activities."
The second passage also explains the event in more depth. A family day can be many things; remember that your readers are likely not familiar with what you're talking about, so details help them get a clearer picture.
Lastly, the second passage makes the importance of the event clear: it helped residents connect with younger family members, and it helped retirement homes seem less intimidating to children, so now some residents see their grand kids more often.
Step 6: Discuss What You Learned
One of the final things to include in your essay should be the impact that your community service had on you. You can discuss skills you learned, such as carpentry, public speaking, animal care, or another skill.
You can also talk about how you changed personally. Are you more patient now? More understanding of others? Do you have a better idea of the type of career you want? Go into depth about this, but be honest. Don't say your community service changed your life if it didn't because trite statements won't impress readers.
In order to support your statements, provide more examples. If you say you're more patient now, how do you know this? Do you get less frustrated while playing with your younger siblings? Are you more willing to help group partners who are struggling with their part of the work? You've probably noticed by now that including specific examples and details is one of the best ways to create a strong and believable essay .
"As a result of my community service, I learned a lot about building houses and became a more mature person."
"As a result of my community service, I gained hands-on experience in construction. I learned how to read blueprints, use a hammer and nails, and begin constructing the foundation of a two-bedroom house. Working on the house could be challenging at times, but it taught me to appreciate the value of hard work and be more willing to pitch in when I see someone needs help. My dad has just started building a shed in our backyard, and I offered to help him with it because I know from my community service how much work it is. I also appreciate my own house more, and I know how lucky I am to have a roof over my head."
The second passage is more impressive and memorable because it describes the skills the writer learned in more detail and recounts a specific story that supports her claim that her community service changed her and made her more helpful.
Step 7: Finish Strong
Just as you started your essay in a way that would grab readers' attention, you want to finish your essay on a strong note as well. A good way to end your essay is to state again the impact your work had on you, your community, or both. Reiterate how you changed as a result of your community service, why you found the work important, or how it helped others.
Compare these two concluding statements:
"In conclusion, I learned a lot from my community service at my local museum, and I hope to keep volunteering and learning more about history."
"To conclude, volunteering at my city's American History Museum has been a great experience. By leading tours and participating in special events, I became better at public speaking and am now more comfortable starting conversations with people. In return, I was able to get more community members interested in history and our local museum. My interest in history has deepened, and I look forward to studying the subject in college and hopefully continuing my volunteer work at my university's own museum."
The second passage takes each point made in the first passage and expands upon it. In a few sentences, the second passage is able to clearly convey what work the volunteer did, how she changed, and how her volunteer work benefited her community.
The author of the second passage also ends her essay discussing her future and how she'd like to continue her community service, which is a good way to wrap things up because it shows your readers that you are committed to community service for the long-term.
What's Next?
Are you applying to a community service scholarship or thinking about it? We have a complete list of all the community service scholarships available to help get your search started!
Do you need a community service letter as well? We have a step-by-step guide that will tell you how to get a great reference letter from your community service supervisor.
Thinking about doing community service abroad? Before you sign up, read our guide on some of the hazards of international volunteer trips and how to know if it's the right choice for you.
Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.
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Through your college applications process, you’re likely to come across the term “community service” many times. In fact, you may be asked to write an essay about it. This post will cover the specifics of a community service essay and how to go about writing one, including what to cover and common mistakes to avoid.
What is a Community Service Essay?
You may encounter the community service essay as you’re writing your supplemental essays for college. These are school-specific prompts that only go to the college that requests them, unlike the personal statement , which goes to every school you apply to. Not all schools require community service essays, but several do. It’s also a common requirement for scholarship applications, especially if it’s a school-specific merit scholarship.
The community service essay is an essay that describes the initiatives you have taken outside of the classroom to benefit your community. In a 2018 survey of 264 admissions leaders across the US, 58% said that community service is a tie-breaker between students who are otherwise equally qualified. The community service essay offers you the opportunity to shine light on the work you have done to make an impact on the world and people around you, and is an additional way to help you stand out among other applicants.
Approaching the Community Service Essay
Understand the essay requirements .
As with any essay, it’s important to first understand what is expected of your essay. For a start, elements to pay attention to include:
- Length requirements
- Focus or subject of the essay prompt
- Organization of the essay
Although all community service essays ultimately have the same purpose of having you describe your local service activities, they can come with different types of prompts. Below are three sample prompts. Note the differences in topic specificity, length requirements, and breadth of the prompt.
From the CGCS – Bernard Harris Scholarship Program:
Please describe a meaningful volunteer or community service experience, including what you learned from participating.
From the University of California Application :
What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? (350 words).
From the Equitable Excellence Scholarship:
Describe your outstanding achievement in depth and provide the specific planning, training, goals, and steps taken to make the accomplishment successful. Include details about your role and highlight leadership you provided. Your essay must be a minimum of 350 words but not more than 600 words.
Brainstorming for your community service essay
Once you have an understanding of what is required of the specific you are to write, the next step is to brainstorm ideas for a specific topic. If you have various community-engaged service experiences under your belt, consider the following before you finalize your decision.
The best topics:
Are substantial in length and scope. It’s better to cover a long-term commitment than a one-off afternoon at the food pantry or animal shelter.
Are transformative or inspiring. Although community service is “others”-oriented, colleges are looking to learn more about you. The ideal community service essay topic should be an experience that changed or challenged your perspective, and was ultimately fulfilling.
Illustrate personal qualities or passions that you want to highlight. Given the specific prompt, and taking the rest of your application into consideration, which personal interests do you want to highlight? Which activity illuminates the personal quality that you want to bring attention to?
These are all elements to consider before you begin writing your essay.
Tips for Writing Your Community Service Essay
1. include anecdotes.
Anecdotes are a great way to begin your essay, not only as a way to grab your reader’s attention, but by launching right into the experience of your service activity. You can start with a line about a particularly busy afternoon at the orphanage, or a morning cleaning up the streets after a storm, or the sense of accomplishment you felt when you watched a dog under your care at the animal shelter get adopted.
2. Show, don’t tell
We’re sure you’ve heard this axiom of general writing before, but it applies to college essays just as much as with any other piece of writing. Opt for evocative examples over plain explaining whenever possible. Take this sentence: “There was a lot of food waste at our school cafeteria.” It’s not nearly as powerful as this description: “I peered into the tall, gray trash cans to inspect the mountain of Styrofoam trays and discarded food. There were countless pizza crusts, globs of green beans, and unopened cartons of milk.”
Anyone could write the first sentence, and it’s not a unique experience. In the second description, we’re shown the scene of the writer’s lunchroom. We get a peek into their perspective and life, which makes the writing more vivid and relatable. Aim to bring your reader into your world as much as possible.
3. Share your responsibilities and accomplishments.
The more tangible your community service activities feel to the reader, the more powerful your essay will be. Concretize your work by stating the basic details of what kind of work you did and what your duties involved, where it was based, when you began working, and the amount of time you spent working.
Be sure to quantify your work and accomplishments when possible; it’s better to say your fundraiser yielded 125 books than “a large number” of books. It’s important to also elaborate on why the work you did matters. Why was it important? Did the books you collected or purchased after the fundraiser expand the library of the local orphanage that they already had, or did it offer the children easy access to books that wasn’t available previously? Be specific and detailed.
4. Highlight what you learned and how you’ll use those lessons moving forward.
Towards the end of your essay, you’ll want to share how you benefited from the community service work you did. This is an important part of the essay, because it shows how you are able to distill your experiences to applicable lessons in your own life.
Think of this section in two potential parts: skills you learned, and personal development. Did you gain any hard skills, such as public speaking, poster design, or funds management? Then think about how you developed as an individual. Are you more empathetic or patient now?
Things to Avoid in Your Community Service Essay
1. don’t list out everything that happened..
You want to keep your essay well-structured and concise. This isn’t a résumé, or a play-by-play of the entire experience. Stick to the most telling details and anecdotes from your experience.
2. Avoid using a pretentious or privileged tone.
Humility goes a long way, and entitlement can be smelled from afar. The purpose of this essay is not to paint yourself as a savior of any kind, but rather to show what’s important to you in your non-academic life, and how you approach solving real-world and interpersonal problems.
3. Avoid clichés.
It may be tempting to quote famous people, but doing so can easily seem like a shortcut, plus it shows little of who you are. Try also to steer clear of trite and vague life lesson lines such as “I learned that people can be happy with so little,” or “I learned the importance of giving back.” Not only do they carry a tone of privilege, they are also sweeping general conclusions and don’t convey anything specific of what you learned.
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Importance of Volunteerism Essay
Need to write an essay about volunteering? Community service is a truly hot topic! This argumentative essay about the importance of volunteerism contains everything necessary to inspire you!
Introduction
Importance of volunteering.
It is so disappointing that many people within our societies do not know, understand or value the importance of services in the community by volunteering. Serving society is very important in helping to solve many problems, especially those that have been neglected by the government and other social programs.
Volunteering to serve the community is not only beneficial to the individuals involved, but it is necessary in creating better societies for all. For instance, community members may volunteer to clean up a town near them or feeder roads.
This way, all members benefit by living in a clean environment that is free from illnesses related to sanitation. By cleaning the compounds surrounding them, society members help promote the health of their young ones who are always playing, during which time they can eat anything on the ground which would have otherwise caused them serious infections.
Community work does not always revolve around environmental work, but it is equally important for the fortunate members of society to help those who are less fortunate. Community members may volunteer to offer gifts and other services to help the less fortunate ones.
For example, people may contribute goods such as clothes and food to help the street children who have no homes or take them to children’s homes from where they can be provided for. This way, the members of society will have helped others live a more and better comfortable life.
Especially young children will feel the love that they never got from their parents. This is essential in the growth and development of a child, and the assistance and love they receive from society will surely help them grow to be better adults in society (Landry 1).
Volunteer work in our societies basically involves sharing and friendship through which people can find out what others need so that they can work on assisting them in all ways possible. Through volunteer work, many people’s lives are changed, be it through words or material assistance.
For instance, a community may volunteer to help young people addicted to drugs where they organize meetings with them, and doctors or psychiatrists volunteer to talk to them about the effects of drugs as the community helps them avoid the vise by giving them jobs to keep them busy.
Being responsive to the needs of other people makes us realize and appreciate humanity and spiritual being, as well as feeling good for changing someone’s life. This can even help shy people gain self-esteem. Volunteering in society work helps in promoting and building our social obligations as human beings.
Through community volunteer work, people are able to respect each because they work together without any discrimination. Volunteerism can be thought of as a social capital where everyone is concerned for the well-being of others. It also helps create trust and confidence between society members and brings society together (McHenry 1).
A society where people volunteer and work together always faces fewer problems since all the members tend to get along well and support each when they are in need.
The security of society is also improved, especially through the rehabilitation of street children and drug addicts who are more likely to cause insecurity in society. By supporting each other, society members can live in harmony and be happier than those societies that do not work together.
Importance of Volunteering: FAQ
- What Is Volunteer Work? Volunteering is unpaid work done by a person to benefit the community. In other words, volunteering means that someone is giving their time to help an individual, a group of people, or a non-profit organization.
- Why Is Volunteerism Important? Volunteer work develops and improves the community. Besides, it is helpful for the one who deals with it. Volunteering can improve one’s mental health, reduce stress, and give meaning to their life.
- How Does Volunteerism Benefit the Community? Volunteering is related to the need for people to participate in their community and be important to others. Imbued with such values as reciprocity, solidarity, and mutual trust, it significantly improves the quality of life.
Works Cited
Landry, L. “The importance of volunteering.” 2002. Web.
McHenry, W. “ The Importance of Community Service . ” 2000. Web.
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- Chicago (N-B)
IvyPanda. (2018, May 23). Importance of Volunteerism Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-volunteerism/
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1. IvyPanda . "Importance of Volunteerism Essay." May 23, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-volunteerism/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . "Importance of Volunteerism Essay." May 23, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-volunteerism/.
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Blog > Application Strategy , Common App , Personal Statement > 4 Questions to Ask Before Writing a College Essay About Volunteering
4 Questions to Ask Before Writing a College Essay About Volunteering
Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University
Written by Alex McNeil, MA Admissions Consultant
Key Takeaway
You know that colleges are on the search for students who will be good community members, so writing about your volunteer work or community service probably seems like an obvious choice. But with a common topic like volunteering, it’s easy for your essay to fall flat.
If you’re thinking about writing your Common App essay about volunteering, you should consider asking yourself these five questions before making your final topic selection.
College Essays About Volunteering are Common
Let’s face it. Most high school students have done some kind of volunteer work. Many high schools even require students to complete volunteer hours before they can graduate.
Community service + college essay = home run, right?
Well, not necessarily.
Because volunteering is such a common experience, it’s not a particularly unique topic to write your college essay about. We explain in our guide to college essays that you don’t have to write about a unique topic to write a great college essay. But if you choose one of the really common topics—which volunteering is—then you’ll have a more challenging time writing an essay that stands out.
Questions to Ask Yourself
So, is volunteering the right topic for you? The following four questions will help you decide.
1. Is the experience I’m writing about one that genuinely changed my life in a tangible way that can be explained with specific examples?
The volunteer experience you write about shouldn’t be one-off or surface-level. If it’s important enough to write your college essay on, then it should have deeply impacted you.
You should also be able to draw out salient stories or examples.
2. Am I passionate about continuing to devote my time to this cause in the future?
A “yes” to this question ensures that you’re crafting a good cohesive application narrative . The cause you’re volunteering for should be one you’re passionate about.
3. Is this the best story I have to tell, and is it the one that will say the most about me to an admissions committee?
When coming up with a college essay topic, it’s always important to ask this question. If you have another topic that would better explain who you are and why to an admissions committee, then it’s worth re-considering.
4. Is the story I want to tell one that I can and should center myself in?
Finally, this last question is an important one. Sometimes college essays about volunteering come across as inauthentic when the writer comes in to save the day. Other essays focus too much on others or inappropriately center the writer. Make sure your volunteering experience lends itself to a personal statement.
If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then write on! If the answer to any of these questions is no, then consider alternative topics .
Good College Essays about Volunteering
Okay, with those questions out of the way, let’s take a look at two ways college essays about volunteering can stand out.
Passion and Community Fit
Community fit is why most applicants write about volunteering in the first place. You want to show admissions officers that you’re a good person who knows how to engage with your community. What better way to do that than by showing them your tangible actions?
When your volunteer experience speaks to a part of your application narrative , then it can work to strengthen how an admissions officer understands who you are.
Let’s say you’re an aspiring elementary education major who was deeply impacted by your volunteer work tutoring a second grader in your school’s mentorship program. Awesome! Your volunteer work aligns with a clear passion, and it makes sense in the broader scope of your application.
Or maybe you’re applying to a computer science program and volunteered your time to create a website for your local food bank. Amazing—an admissions officer will clearly see how your volunteer work coheres with your values and academic goals.
Exceptional Accomplishment
The other great reason to write about your volunteer work is if you have a related outstanding accomplishment. Remember: the key to writing about your extracurricular activities is showing your magnitude, reach, and impact . If you’ve had a significant effect on others through volunteering, then it can be a great way to show admissions officers the extent of your involvement.
So what might magnitude, reach, or impact in volunteering look like? Maybe you raised thousands of dollars for an organization. Maybe it was even an organization that you started. Or perhaps you spearheaded a massive initiative, coordinated hundreds of volunteers, or designed a new way of helping others. Maybe your work made it to the local or national media, or maybe you were awarded a leadership position for your efforts.
Tangible, actionable, and quantifiable accomplishments that go beyond the four walls of your school can help you stand out to the admissions committee.
Key Takeaways
At best, essays about volunteering can showcase your passion, compassion, and community fit for an institution. But they can also be generic essays that get lost in the crowd. At worst, they can be reductive in how they discuss complex social issues.
Writing about volunteering will be in your best interest when it is a core part of your application narrative or it demonstrates exceptional reach, magnitude, or impact. Otherwise, try brainstorming other college essay topics .
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Volunteering: How Helping Others Helps You
Find the right college for you., how volunteerism helps others and you.
Volunteering has a positive effect on your community—and it’s good for you too! Ben, a first-year college student who participated in volunteer fundraising, calls it, “a win-win situation.”
"You feel good because you're helping others,” he said, “Plus, the people you’re helping are getting their needs met.”
Reasons to Choose Volunteer Work as an Extracurricular Activity
Giving back to your community is valuable in itself. Helping others also offers you many benefits. For example, it can help you learn more about yourself while exploring new interests. Volunteering in your community can even put you on the path to a career . Read on to learn more reasons to volunteer.
Gain Valuable Life Experience and Skills
Whether you build houses for people with homes or mail flyers for a local politician, you’re gaining real-world experience. In addition, while volunteering in your community, you have the opportunity to explore college majors as well as career interests.
For example, as a first-year premed student, Gregory spent his summer volunteering at a local health clinic. He picked a clinic in a Spanish-speaking area so he could practice his language skills while observing medical professionals. He also took time to ask the doctors questions.
Meet Interesting People and Build Contacts
You receive valuable insights from the people you’re helping as well as your fellow volunteers. Also, you benefit from exposure to the different perspectives of the people you work with while volunteering.
Get Academic Credit
Some high schools offer academic credit for volunteer work through service learning. This is a program that offers hands-on learning through service to the community. To find out if your school offers service learning, talk to your school counselor.
Show Colleges That You’re Committed
Your volunteer work showcases your interests and character to college admissions officers. Listing your volunteer work on college applications conveys the leadership skills and value you’ll bring to their campus.
Make a Difference
It’s eye-opening to realize that doing even small things can have a big impact on others. Rhea, a college sophomore, remembers a visit she made to a senior home with her middle school’s choir.
“An elderly man in a wheelchair looked up at me after the last strains of ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and said in a gravelly voice, ‘You’ve made my day. This means so much.’” She recalls, “No one had ever thanked me in such a way for doing something so small, and a stranger no less!”
What to Do Before You Volunteer
To get the most out of your experience, ask yourself these questions before you get involved with an organization:
- What have I done in the past that I’ve enjoyed?
- What do I want to do as a volunteer?—And what would I rule out doing?
- How much time can I commit?
- What talents or skills can I offer?
- What kinds of people do I want to work with?
- What would I most like to learn by volunteering?
- How can I help my community as a student?
How to Get Involved in Volunteering
Here are some ways to get started:
- Visit the websites of service organizations in your area to see what opportunities/needs they have for volunteers. Or call programs based in your community to ask if they need help.
- Visit your town’s website. It may list volunteer opportunities in your area and offer inspiration on how to help others in your community.
- Contact a local museum or other types of cultural institutions that can point you in the right direction.
- Ask libraries, religious organizations, hospitals, and community colleges if they sponsor any volunteer groups.
Check out these websites to learn more about causes and to find volunteer opportunities near you:
- United We Serve
- Network for Good
- VolunteerMatch
- DoSomething.org
What kind of volunteering looks good on college applications?
Volunteer work that centers on helping your community looks good on college applications. It’s a good idea to think about how to help others in your community while considering your own interests. If you like to work with animals, volunteering at your local animal shelter is a great idea. If you want to learn more about the medical field, volunteer in a local hospital or medical clinic.
Do colleges check if you actually volunteered?
Some college admissions officers are more diligent than others about confirming volunteer work on student applications. But if you list volunteer activities you didn’t participate in, you’re running the risk of being caught in a lie. If this happens, college admissions officers are going to wonder whether you have any other false information on your application. A great way to show that your claims are genuine is to write about your volunteering experiences in your college essay.
What age group is most likely to volunteer?
According to a 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, the group most likely to volunteer are people aged 65 and older. People aged 15–24, which includes most high schoolers, volunteer about half as often as their 65 and older counterparts. By volunteering and helping others while in high school, you're showing a willingness to stand out, both statistically and otherwise, from your peers.
What does volunteering teach you?
Volunteering can teach you empathy for others and how your unique skills and talents can really help your community. Volunteering also gives you the opportunity to explore your interests and potential careers, as well as learning from professionals in the field. From picking up roadside litter to walking a dog at the animal shelter, your time volunteering can make a difference!
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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing a community service scholarship essay.
I'm applying for a scholarship that requires an essay about my community service experiences. What are some tips or ideas you could give me for writing a strong essay to impress the scholarship committee?
When writing a community service scholarship essay, here are some tips and ideas to help you create a strong essay that will impress the scholarship committee:
1. Start strong: Begin your essay with a compelling anecdote, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful statement to grab the attention of the scholarship committee and make them want to read more.
2. Emphasize your motivation: Explain why you were drawn to community service and what motivates you to continue volunteering. This could be a general passion for helping others, a desire to give back to your community, or a specific cause that resonates with you.
3. Focus on your impact: Emphasize the positive influence your community service experiences have had on you, the people you've helped, and the community as a whole. Include specific examples, stories, or outcomes that demonstrate the impact you made.
4. Showcase your personal growth: Explain how participating in community service has shaped your overall character, values, and perspective. Discuss personal lessons you've learned, challenges you've faced, and how you've grown as a result.
5. Highlight your leadership skills: If you've held any leadership roles in community service projects or organizations, be sure to mention them. Describe the responsibilities you had, the decisions you made, and the results of your actions. These concrete outcomes will show the scholarship committee that you possess the skills necessary to be a successful student and community leader.
6. Be specific and detailed: Don't just list all of the community service activities you've participated in. Instead, choose a few significant experiences and delve deep into the details. Describe the organization you volunteered with, your role, the number of hours you dedicated, and any accomplishments you're especially proud of.
7. Stay organized and focused: Organize your essay in a logical and clear manner. Create a strong, central message or theme, and stick to it throughout your essay. This organization will make your writing more coherent and easier to follow.
8. End memorably: Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points you've made and reinforcing your passion for community service. You could also include a call to action or a vision for the future to leave a lasting impression on the scholarship committee.
9. Proofread and revise: Once you've completed your essay, be sure to proofread for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Ask for feedback from friends, teachers, or family members to get a fresh perspective and polish your essay further.
10. Make it personal and authentic: Lastly, ensure that your essay is genuine and true to you. Write in your own voice and share your unique experiences and perspective. That way, your essay will stand out and connect with the scholarship committee on a deeper level.
11. Take advantage of CollegeVine's resources: CollegeVine has a blog post breaking down how to write a successful community service essay ( https://blog.collegevine.com/community-service-essay/) , and also offers both a free peer essay review tool and paid reviews by expert college admissions advisors - sometimes, a more objective set of eyes on your writing is just what you need to determine whether or not your impact on your community is coming across clearly.
Best of luck with your essay!
About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ
CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.
Home / Essay Samples / Life / Experience / Volunteering
Volunteering Essay Examples
An essay on volunteering serves as a platform to explore the selfless act of contributing time, skills, and effort for the betterment of others and the community. The purpose of such an essay is to highlight the meaningful impact of volunteering, showcase the values it fosters, and inspire readers to engage in acts of service. Essays on volunteering emphasize the importance of empathy, compassion, and social responsibility, while also addressing the personal growth and fulfillment that volunteers experience. Promotion of Social Good One of the primary goals of an essay on volunteering is to promote the concept of social good and community welfare. These essays shed light on the positive change that volunteers bring to various social, environmental, and humanitarian causes, showcasing the power of collective action. Essays about volunteering emphasize the values of empathy and compassion that underlie acts of service. They encourage readers to step into the shoes of others, understand their challenges, and offer assistance to alleviate their hardships. Volunteering essay examples aim to inspire readers to take action and become active participants in their communities. These essays showcase how even small contributions can make a significant difference, encouraging readers to get involved and contribute their skills and time to causes they care about. Structure of an Essay on Volunteering:
Introduction: Begin with an engaging introduction that introduces the topic of volunteering and provides context for its significance. Thesis Statement: Include a clear thesis statement that outlines the main points you will address in the essay. Body Paragraphs: Divide the body of the essay into paragraphs that discuss different aspects of volunteering. This could include personal experiences, benefits of volunteering, impact on the community, and the values it fosters. Real-Life Examples: Include specific examples of volunteer work or organizations to illustrate your points. Personal Reflection: Share your personal reflections on the impact of volunteering, whether you’ve volunteered yourself or witnessed its effects. Encouragement and Call to Action: Conclude the essay by encouraging readers to consider volunteering and offering suggestions for getting involved.
An essay about volunteering serves as a reminder of the positive impact that individuals can have on society by giving back. By discussing the values, benefits, and personal growth associated with volunteering, these essays motivate readers to engage in acts of service that contribute to a more compassionate and harmonious world.
Why I Want to Volunteer: a Commitment to Giving Back
Volunteering is a powerful way to make a positive impact on the lives of others and contribute to the well-being of communities. It is a selfless act that not only benefits those in need but also enriches the lives of volunteers. Exploring the question of...
Reasons Why Volunteering is Important in Australian Sport
One of the last persuasive speeches on volunteering which I have heard was about the urgent importance of voluntary work these years as it has an important input in society, letting many organizations, to meet the demand for their services. Volunteers are the backbone of...
Volunteering at a Hospital: a Journey of Compassion and Contribution
Volunteering at a hospital is a unique and rewarding experience that offers insights into the healthcare field while allowing individuals to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients and their families. This essay explores the significance of volunteering at a hospital, highlighting the...
The Motivators and Barriers for Blood Donation Amongst Male and Female Donors
A suitable blood supply relies on individual who are volunteer non-rewarded donors. In this paper, we would determine the selection and retaining sufficient normal voluntary non-rewarded blood benefactors the motivators and hindrances behind them should also be comprehended. Likewise, with fast increment in the use...
Formal Volunteering as a Protective Factor for Older Adults’ Psychological Well-being
Volunteering not only helps strengthen communities, but also promotes individual well-being. More specifically, volunteering among the geriatric community has been shown to yield a greater benefit than that of the younger population regarding emotional, psychological, and physical health. The study I will be analyzing asserts...
Personal Report on Volunteering at Dorothy Children’s Home
The USIU-A educational experience is pitched on helping the community as its major stronghold; building a culture and a community that both reflects and fosters togetherness, and demonstrate progress towards measurable community goals. This is done by ensuring that all students do community service in...
Fostering Team Bonding Through Corporate Volunteering Abroad
The effects of volunteerism on employees is well documented. So why not blend your next team-building effort with community outreach and volunteer efforts? Better yet, do it overseas! Volunteering overseas is a life-changing experience that can benefit the volunteer as much as it does the...
Cultural Development Through Acts of Kindness and Good Deeds
Many positive influences in society today have contributed to the development of a sustainable environment. Through multiple acts of altruism and teamwork, this has remained a possibility. Positive influences and human characteristics can both be developed through good deeds such as community services or mission...
An All-volunteer Force as the Better Alternative to Compulsory Military Service
“If a country cannot save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say: Let the damned thing go down the drain!”, once said Robert A. Heinlein at the 29th World Science Fiction Convention’s Honor Speech. In the last century, there...
The Main Skills I Acquired During My Time Volunteering
One of my weaknesses is working and collaborating in teams when working on various projects and/or assignments. In the past, there have been times, whether in school or on the job, where I have not collaborated with my team members as much when working on...
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About Volunteering
A volunteer is someone who does work without being paid for it, because they want to do it. Volunteering is an act of an individual or group freely giving time and labour for community service.
Formal. Governance. Non-formal. Social action. Project based.
Volunteering is important as it offers essential help to worthwhile causes, people in need, and the wider community. Volunteering combats depression, and helps stay physically healthy.
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