Reply to SSL Hours question

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "SSL Hours question"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of kids do service, but don't bother turning in the SSL forms once they've hit the minimum. [/quote]

:( They do not realize that this is a record of activities that gives them the opportunity to showcase their accomplishments in a college application or even an internship/apprenticeship opportunity.  Not everyone has to be a top athlete, spelling bee champion or a musician. You can show your interest in any field by doing service and outreach.

In the end, it is difficult to help kids who do not want to help themselves. [/quote]

That's BS.  Just because you don't record your service hours above the min doesn't mean that they won't count on a college app where you list your activities.[/quote]
Don't you agree that it is better to have official, written proof of the volunteer hours just in case? Anyone could say on their college applications "yeah, I have 500 hours of community service at x, y and z" but have no proof. Wouldn't it be better to say on your application "yeah, I have 500 hours of community service at x, y and z. I also earned the Superintendent's Award, special tassle and I earned the Silver Trefoil award from Girl Scouts (a volunteering award)"[/quote]

NP here.  I see your point, but I still come down on the side that the tassel and MCPS recognition of the hours doesn't mean much.  It's fairly easy to rack up a lot of hours, for example my kid got about 105 hours for being a camp counselor for 3 weeks.  That's almost halfway to the goal, and I don't think what she did was particularly meaningful, and certainly did not show dedication to a goal.  So for some kids, a lot of service hours is in fact meaningful, but the way to tell that is from what their recommendations say and their essays explaining their actual work.  If I were evaluating applicants for something, the recorded SSL hours would have minimal impact.  [/quote]

SSL hours by themselves do not mean much. Documented SSL hours in HS, in positions of leadership, in areas of interest, in roles/action/scope that evolves/expands over time, can add significantly to the narrative of the motivations/growth/interest of the student in essays as well as interviews.

When organizations like National Honor Society ask for 40, 60, 100 hours of SSL hours from Juniors or Seniors with excellent GPA, they do not just need SSL hours, what they are signalling is that they want students who have deep, meaningful interests outside academics and they also have a social consciousness and desire to give back.  This is precisely the thing that colleges want, this is precisely the stuff the National Merit Scholar finalist needs to provide.

Those who are aware and clued in or have outsourced their child's college admission to  paid college counselors, know what this means.  Not all SSL hours are the same in HS.  Substantial number of documented SSL hours tied in with activities that you will expound on in your college essays trump SSL hours in one off service events. That is the reason I always advice people to make sure that their child does a lot of activities (a lot of small, one off events) and finish all of their SSL requirements in MS. In HS, they should concentrate on the activities that speaks deeply to them, so that they can talk about them in their college essays.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics