DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--College-bound high school students take note: 99% of K-12 school and district leaders believe community service and service learning history positively influence college acceptance according to a survey completed by intelliVOL, publishers of x2VOL.
In a survey of 73 district and school administrative staff attending the Naviance Summer Institute, 99 percent agreed or strongly agreed that service history positively impacts college acceptance. Additionally, 80 percent of the 30 college admissions officers surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that volunteer and community service in high school positively impacted college acceptance.
“Intuitively, we know that a student with service on their college application will have a better chance of being accepted over the student without a history of service,” said Michele Pitman, CEO of intelliVOL. “This recent survey provides additional evidence that service is important for acceptance and that college admissions officers would like to have certain types of validated information confirming a student’s record of service.”
Results of this survey are not unexpected. Related surveys conducted by other organizations confirm intelliVOL’s findings. In 2011, Dosomething.org asked representatives from 32 of the top 50 colleges (as reported by US News and World Report) if it was important to be committed to one cause or have a variety of service experiences. The 2011 survey found that 70 percent of college admissions officers prefer students to be “consistently involved with one issue over a variety of causes.” This was an increase from the previous year’s survey when 50 percent of admissions officers preferred consistency over variety of service.
When asked about the importance of community service, Stephen M. Smith, president of Hobsons, K-12 and co-founder of Naviance--the world’s leading college and career readiness platform--said, “Community service is becoming a critical part of the education experience. It is not only increasingly important for helping students meet graduation requirements, but it provides meaningful experience to students who want to explore post-secondary options that are aligned with their skills and interests.” intelliVOL and Naviance announced a partnership in April making x2VOL the exclusive tracking and reporting platform for service hours in the Naviance Marketplace.
Ms. Pitman added, “At intelliVOL, we have tracked over a million student service hours in the last two years alone. Through such a concentrated focus on community service and volunteerism, we know first-hand how a high school student’s service record affects their acceptance to college. We have also learned that a verification process and a consistent reporting format is valuable to high school counselors and admissions officers. Our mission with x2VOL is to make student community service easier for schools to manage, to help students engage in meaningful service, and to ensure admissions officers have a reliable measure for evaluating student service records.”
Learn more about the survey and x2VOL 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. See a demo at intelliVOL.com or request more information at info@intellivol.com.
