February 23, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR CATHIE MANNION IN NY
I recommend to students entering high school to keep a log of all their
community service activities and hours that they volunteer from the very
beginning of high school. Some of the experiences that you share will be
one time events while others will develop into more responsible volunteer
work opportunities. When you finally prepare your college application, only
list those activities to which you contributed a large number of support
hours or those service clubs that you belonged to for several years. I
believe that colleges look for well rounded students that they believe will
continue to generously volunteer and represent their college community in
the future. Visit college web sites and you can see volunteer activities
that the students at a particular college support and you can get an idea
how important community service is to that college culture. Such
information can give you a good idea of how the college will weigh that
experience part of your total application. Remember that you always receive
more in return than what you give.
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February 19, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR DIANA DIONISIO IN CA
My high school did not have mandatory community service hours. I basically just got involved in a club and stayed in it, and eventually got officer positions. I think that it's more important that you commit to somethings that are really important and are passionate about it. Being in a lot of clubs, but not actively participating and going to the meetings is not what "they are looking for". Please try not to think of it as making yourself look better. Just really enjoy what you are doing.
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A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN RI
Colleges that actually take the time to read your admission essay rather than take an average of all your numbers will be looking for a sincere expression of interest in _something_ they consider worthwhile. This might be community service or it might be something else. People are multi-dimensional in their talents and colleges want students with a variety of interests. It's perfectly fine to be exploring a variety - or to have found just a few that interest you deeply. So I don't think there's a right answer to your first two questions. If you find your community service so rewarding that you want to do more, fine, and you can work that into your essay. But if it's not rewarding to your soul, find something else that its. I looked for a source of the famous quote about faking sincerity and found two; my guess is that George Burns said it first.
George Burns,: "The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
Daniel Schorr : "Sincerity: if you can fake it, you've got it made."
You might "have it made" in application processes too - but faking sincerity isn't a skill to be recommended.

The new SAT will be out in 2005, and the parent site has many pages on many aspects of all the ETS testing programs.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/newsat/about.html