Value Of Community Service In College Admissions

Forbes recently published an article entitled: New Survey Shows Value Of Community Service In College Admissions. Some highlights include:

58% of college admissions personnel said they agreed that, “A student’s community service experience has a positive impact on his or her acceptance to our higher education institution.” Only 16% disagreed.

Most admissions leaders (53%) also said community service was essentially a tie-breaker between equally qualified students when asked, “Assuming all factors are equal (such as GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and rigor of curriculum), then community service details are an important decision-making factor.”

The survey found that the top reason colleges valued community service was that it was an, “[i]ndicator that the student is likely to be active in student social life outside the classroom.” The second and third highest scoring reasons that community service mattered, according to those who make college admission decisions, were that service was an, “[i]ndicator that the student is likely to contribute to the school’s mission” and an “[i]ndicator that the student shares the school’s values.”

Read the full article here.