College Bound? 11 Reasons to Try Doing Good

Community service is not just good for the hearts of college undergraduates, it is also good for every part of them, including their wallets. Here are the top 11 reasons that undergraduates should consider community service an essential part of their education.

Number 11: It is an inexpensive and effective way to get dates, or at least make friends. Volunteering -- instead of attending awkward mixers, lame icebreakers and the dreaded singles bars -- is so cheap and useful that 20- and 30-year-olds have established volunteer organizations in Washington, Stowe, Vt. and Minneapolis, Minn., called Singles Volunteers. No awkward blind dates or fix-ups or rejections based on superficial criteria. You get to interact in an environment that does not focus entirely on your relationship. Even without such a formal organization, volunteering is undoubtedly an excellent way to meet people, perhaps including a significant someone.

Number 10: Future employers look for it on resumes, even for summer jobs and internships. Personnel officers at major corporations will you tell you experiences in the real world carry a lot of weight. The ability to maintain a high GPA while having some substantial community-service experiences may get you a high-paying job in November of your senior year, while your friends who are too cool to do community service are getting ready to panic the following May. Too many college students and recent graduates become trapped in this paradox: You can't get into a career without experience, and you can't get experience without getting into the career.

Number 9: It is a great way to explore career options. Working for a nonprofit does not limit you to teaching or mentoring children. Nonprofits need the skills of any professional field you might choose, including public relations, graphic design, architectural drawing, finance, personnel, managerial supervision and scientific research. You may not be totally committed to the cause of the organization, but you can see if you like doing the type of professional work that it needs done. Why wait until you finish your undergraduate, or even graduate, program to find out if you like the kind of work you can experience through community service?

Number 8: Most graduate schools like it. While on the subject of finding the right career, most graduate-school programs take into account real-life experience in their admission decisions. Extensive community service might be the deciding factor for law, business and public-administration schools.

Number 7: It increases your chance for added scholarship help in your junior and senior years. Dwelling on the selfish payoffs may seem incongruous to community-service purists, but scholarships are available to students who have demonstrated leadership and a desire to make a difference. Some may be offered by the institutions you attend. Even more are offered by outside service organizations and the national offices of the Greeks.

Number 6: You can get academic credit for it. More and more colleges are giving academic credit for community-based learning. The most maligned of all college courses, freshman English, can be made not only bearable but a real learning experience if the instructor requires 20 hours of community service to use as the material for your writing activities. It beats writing ``what I did last summer'' or ``who am I'' essays. This applies to all courses that have a community-service component. Professors who use community experiences in their courses are likely to be more concerned with students, more committed to relating the material to the real world and less likely to give mindless tests.

Number 5: Students who do it have higher grades, are less likely to put all kinds of bad things in their bodies and more likely to graduate on time than those who do not. This reason may appeal to your parents and authority figures more than you, but that is because they have more life experience than you. Several studies tentatively have demonstrated the effects described above.

Number 4: It makes for great conversation with people you meet for the first time. Community service provides you with an all-inclusive opportunity when you are meeting new people, whether it's the chancellor, a professor, the boss, a potential employer or a peer. Let's say you are talking about your experience as a mentor. If the new acquaintance has never been a mentor, you have something to tell. If the new acquaintance has been a mentor, you have something share.

Number 3: It gives you a chance to learn about the real world Unless you are planning on a career as a professor, the classroom, readings, lectures and tests do not allow you to experience most of the world you will face for the rest of your life. Learning the details that will confront you when you work in a community center or middle school or at a United Way agency will give you in-depth knowledge that you can transfer to other settings, even the business world. Acquiring knowledge through a community-service experience provides more depth and integration in your mind than reading, listening and discussing.

Number 2: It allows you to practice skills you will need in other settings. Community service is like a minor-league experience for you to develop life and career skills. To succeed in the majors, you will need general skills like working with people from diverse backgrounds, performing in a team, communicating effectively and problem solving. You can also develop specific skills related to your career, whether it's putting together a newsletter, teaching kids or analyzing data through spread sheets. You will be able to start at the very beginning doing the nitty-gritty. If you stick with it and gain respect from those at the agency, you will be able to take on more management and policy roles. You may continue to stuff envelopes in the marketing department at your local United Way, but you could be given a chance to present ideas for advertising or suggest mailing lists.

Number 1: You will experience at a young age the joy of helping others in a sustained way. You probably already have had that warm and fuzzy feeling from helping out someone. Think about having it on a sustained basis every week so you can reflect upon it six months or six years later. Community service in college will alert you to the joys that, no matter how many bad or good things happen to you later in life, you can return to and continue to make a difference. I hope I have not oversold you on community service. It can be addictive. No more than an average of 10 hours a week between the first and 12th week of the semester is recommended. Done in moderation and with responsibility, community service is the best way to explore yourself, your career and society.