{"id":27373,"date":"2015-01-30T07:58:03","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T14:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=27373"},"modified":"2015-01-30T07:58:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T14:58:04","slug":"mba-admissions-is-community-service-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-is-community-service-important\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Admissions: Is Community Service Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Get-involved-pic1\"<\/a>It\u2019s winter, and many of you probably haven\u2019t started thinking about next year\u2019s MBA applications yet. But now is actually an excellent time to get started \u2013 not just on test prep and boosting GPAs, but on taking time to examine your community service. At most top b-schools<\/a>, community service is virtually a requirement, and if yours is on the weak side, then you have just enough time to start bulking up your experience\u2026if you start NOW.<\/p>\n

First let\u2019s discuss what \"community service\" is and isn\u2019t. I define it as:<\/p>\n

\"Active participation in and assumption of responsibility for your community.\"<\/p>\n

That is an intentionally broad definition that includes taking an active role in sports teams, professional organizations, alumni groups, churches, literacy programs, political campaigns, environmental causes, fund raising for immigrant assistance groups\u2026whatever you define as your community. Community service almost always does \u2013 and should \u2013 reflect your values and priorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The operative phrases in the definition are \"active\" and \"responsibility.\" Writing checks is not enough. And helping your elderly neighbor occasionally makes you a nice person, but doesn\u2019t mean you are taking responsibility for your community. Community service requires commitment.<\/p>\n

So why is community service important?<\/p>\n

1. It provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate attributes that young applicants frequently can\u2019t reveal in the classroom or in their jobs: leadership, initiative, interpersonal skills, and the ability to handle responsibility. It expresses your willingness to contribute.<\/p>\n

2. A foundational principle of admissions is \u201cPast behavior predicts future behavior<\/a>.\u201d To adcoms a history of activism and participation evidences that you will be an active participant in their student and alumni communities. That\u2019s exactly the impression you want your application to make.<\/p>\n

3. It indicates breadth and well-roundedness. Surprise. Surprise. Top MBA programs<\/a> don\u2019t want workaholic nerds.<\/p>\n

At the most competitive schools, community service and extracurricular activities frequently make the difference between who is accepted and rejected among otherwise competitive applicants. If you have been involved in community service, great. Keep up the good work and strive for a leadership role<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t been an active participant or leader, become one. Choose an activity, cause, or organization that you would like to contribute to. And then be consistently and actively involved so that you will have a commitment to write about other than school and work. You may even find that you enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Accepted.com:<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Leadership in Admissions<\/a>
\n\u2022 MBA Admissions: Does Extracurricular Equal Extra Credit?<\/a>
\n\u2022 Harvard Business School: Engaged Community Citizenship<\/a><\/p>\n

Accepted.com's experienced admissions consultants<\/span><\/a> can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages<\/span><\/a>, <\/i><\/b>or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs<\/span><\/a> to designing a dazzling resume<\/span><\/a>, constructing engaging essays<\/span><\/a>, or preparing for intense interview<\/span><\/a>s<\/span><\/a>\u2026and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 \u2013 we know what works and what doesn't, so contact us<\/span><\/a> to get started now!<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog<\/a>, the official blog of Accepted.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s winter, and many of you probably haven\u2019t started thinking about next year\u2019s MBA applications yet. But now is actually an excellent time to get started \u2013 not just on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,113,243],"tags":[1896,39,12,912,846],"class_list":["post-27373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-mba","tag-mba-admissions","tag-the-mba-application-process","tag-volunteer-work","tag-volunteering","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27375,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27373\/revisions\/27375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}