Your Service Project
What you need to add to your College Resume.
Colleges live and die by their brands.
They want successful people to go out and do amazing things, and they want the news to read “Harvard alumni John Smith has cured cancer”. That builds their brand.
Colleges are specifically interested in how you serve your community, because that’s often the quickest way you’re going to make the kind of news-worthy impact help their brand. So, they ask tons of questions like…
Cornell: At Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, we aim to leave the world better than we found it, so we seek out those who are not simply driven to master their discipline, but who are also passionate about doing so to serve the public good. Please elaborate on an activity or experience you have had that made an impact on a community that is important to you. We encourage you to think about community broadly – this could include family, school, or local and global communities
Princeton: Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects (or will intersect) with these ideals.
MIT: MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together to better the lives of others. Our students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way you have collaborated with people who are different from you to contribute to your community.
UC: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
Tufts: Where are you on your journey of engaging with or fighting for social justice?
So, you need to make an impact on the world around you. I talk about this a bit on the Leadership page as well. They’re very related.
The best thing you can do for College Strategy is serve your community in a leadership role.
For your big Service Project, you want to think about how you can make a difference that is meaningful to you. You don’t have to have personal experience with something, but it can help.
Help kids learn how to read, help the elderly get dental insurance, help study cancer, help people who need orthotics, help people find food that meets their allergen needs, help build tiny houses, help by starting up a service business, help by advocating for something at your local political level. The possibilities are endless.
Usually, I recommend students first think about a group of people they feel close to, then search online for unresolved problems that group tends to face. Reddit and Quora are great resources for this. People will pour out their full life stories on Reddit, and you can quickly find out the problems that plaque them the most.
From there, start thinking about how you can solve that problem!
If you’re aiming for Ivies or other reach schools, you should plan to make your Service Project as big as possible. Get hundreds or thousands of volunteers together, raise thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and take pictures along the way to show the impact you’re having on the world around you.
For some examples of great Service Projects, follow this link. Some of these were created by students, others by adults. But all could have been conducted by a passionate teen such as yourself!
Can you simply join up with an existing charity?
You can, but it’s not as useful for reach college strategy. The college applicant pool is full of kids who showed up to a service day and did what they were told for a couple of hours. Remember the power of the Leader vs just a manager (review this page). You want to be the one setting goals, facing problems, and coming up with innovative solutions. The world needs workers to perform the tasks as well, but elite colleges don’t need workers. They want world changers.
Do you have to have a Service Project?
You don’t have to do anything, but not having one would be very unwise. Many, many colleges will ask about how you serve your community or how you’ve faced challenges. Challenges come up in when you’re in a Leadership position. And colleges just want to see students who are making a difference in the world.
Does your Service Project have to be massive?
No. The size will really depend on how much of a reach your dream school is. The bigger you can make your Service Project, the higher you can reach!
Key Takeaways
You need a Service Project. The size will depend on how much of a reach your dream school is.
It’s not very helpful to join up with an existing charity.
You need to show that you’re impacting the world and people around you.
Combining your Service Project with Leadership is the quickest way to do that.