Survey of College Admissions Officers, Sponsored by x2VOL, Verifies Community Service Could be Tie-Breaker in Getting Accepted to College

COPPELL, Texas – A survey of college admissions officers from around the country verifies that community service and volunteer hours can affect a student’s chances of being accepted into college. The survey, completed by IESD and sponsored by intelliVOL – developers of x2VOL – asked admissions officers if community service was significant to college admissions and why. Click to Tweet.

When asked if a student’s community service had a positive impact on higher education institution acceptance, 58 percent of respondents agreed and only 16.5 percent disagreed. Private schools were more likely to agree with this statement than public schools.

“A clear majority of admissions staff think that student community service has a positive impact on admission to their higher education institutions, and they especially value a community service record that includes student reflections about their community service experience. Few admissions staff disagree.” IESD

Reasons why service is deemed important were somewhat surprising. Researchers initially expected that responses would skew heavily toward leadership and motivation. Instead, the top ranking reason was that service indicates students are more likely to be active in student social life outside the classroom (70.8 percent). Respondents also said service indicates students are likely to contribute to the school’s mission (68.6 percent) and that students share the school’s values. Service as an indicator of self-motivation and ability to collaborate ranked fourth (64.6 percent).

“From over 10 years of helping high schools manage community service hours, we intuitively know that service can help a student get accepted into college,” said Michele Pitman, founder and CEO of intelliVOL. “For years, admissions counselors and students have told us that community service hours were instrumental in getting accepted. This survey confirms that service plays a significant role in getting into college, especially as a tie-breaker when other factors on an application are similar.”

x2VOL sponsored the survey because the company is the most widely used program to track, verify, and report community service and service learning hours.  x2VOL also produces the Official Service Transcript™ (OST), which is now available to order along with GPA and SAT/ACT transcripts. The OST is the only official and verifiable service transcript recognized by colleges and universities. Students with individual memberships of x2VOL+ or at schools with the institutional version x2VOL can order their OST at the same time they order their SAT, ACT, or academic transcripts, which will be sent directly to the college(s) they request.

Download the full report here.

About intelliVOL
x2VOL by intelliVOL is an award-winning tracking and reporting platform for student service hours used by private and public schools and districts nationwide to customize service goals, centralize service hours, and provide diverse service opportunities. x2VOL provides students with an online and mobile way to track and report service hours specific to the goals of their school while engaging them with local non-profits. Service records are authenticated and verified for each student and can be attached to their college applications, scholarship applications, or resumes. x2VOL is the most widely used service tracking and reporting platform in K-12 education with over 21 million approved service hours. x2VOL+ is for individuals to track and report their service hours. Learn more at x2VOL.com or email info@intelliVOL.com.

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Tweet #1: Research verifies #communityservice can be deciding factor for getting into college. @x2VOL
Tweet #2: A clear majority of admissions staff say student #communityservice positively impacts #collegeacceptance reports @IESDInc #HE @x2VOL
Tags: x2VOL, community service, volunteer, intelliVOL, college application, scholarship, Official Service Transcript, college admissions, teens, youth, transcript
Summary: Survey of college admissions staff confirms community service can be a tie-breaker in college acceptance. Private schools more likely to count service in admissions.