Why MBAs Care About Community Service

UPDATE: This article was originally posted on August 13, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

Carving out time to volunteer may be difficult to juggle with your career, personal responsibilities, and completing your MBA application, but you must find a way. The truth is, community service is almost a requirement these days when it comes to being accepted into the top business schools, and it will undoubtedly set you apart from the other candidates if you have a particularly valuable volunteering experience

So why do business schools care so much about community service? 

There are several reasons, and knowing them may help you craft your application to emphasize the values that business schools are looking for. That’s why we’ve created this guide to community service for MBA applications – to help you know the best ways to make your volunteering hours count as you apply for business school.

 

Community service differentiates you from other applicants and shows that you care

Let’s face it, there are a lot of people applying for the same program as you. If there are no significant differences in the more measurable aspects of your application, a great way to set yourself apart is by community service that promotes needed change in society. 

A Forbes contributor writes that “while certain programs place more value on community leadership than others, they all use it as a way to measure potential students.”

Because volunteering is a well-known must for business school applicants, not all community service hours will differentiate you from your competition. Spending a couple of hours a week taking shelter dogs for walks won’t make you stand out from the crowd, even if in your essays you are able to spin it in a way that makes it a meaningful experience. 

Business school admissions committees like seeing community service hours that emphasize the applicant’s passions and drive to make positive change speak volumes about an applicant, and for that, you must keep two things in mind when choosing what kind of volunteer work to do:

• The impact your hours are making. Though helping with the day-to-day activities of an organization is important, you should think about how to contribute in a higher-impact role. Compare spending three hours serving meals at a soup kitchen with three hours spent making outreach calls to donors to help fund the organization. One will help for a day, while the other will make the organization more sustainable overall. By choosing opportunities that benefit both you and the organization, you are guaranteed to stand out from those who simply volunteered at the first nonprofit they could find for the sake of adding hours to their application.

Consider opportunities that address urgent issues in society – as global inequalities rise, business schools are increasingly expecting candidates to show an awareness of and care for social and environmental impact. Considering that 95% of S&P firms now have some form of ESG strategy, some kind of commitment to positive impact is becoming not just beneficial but expected.

If your volunteering can demonstrate your commitment to your goals, even better – for example, if your future involves promoting environmental sustainability in business, volunteering at environmental organizations will prove to the reader that you are committed to and passionate about achieving this.

• Your skills and talents. Volunteer hours that truly set someone apart are those that provide a great example of how the applicant has used their talents to benefit others. Take the opportunity to demonstrate that you know your own strengths while simultaneously helping an organization with your unique skillset. Volunteering at an organization where your contributions are needed and appreciated will never be a waste of time!

For example, if you are emphasizing your strategy-building skills throughout your application, it is a great idea to find a way to show how you apply these skills in your community service. You can do this by providing an example of when you helped improve the operations of an NGO that you volunteered with, showing the actions you took to solve inefficiencies in their programs and the results you were able to achieve.

By using your community service to prove that you are interested in making a positive impact and that your skills are versatile, you can ensure that you will stand out from other candidates.

 

Community service shows that you have mastered the balancing act

Life – especially at this stage – puts a lot of demands on your time. Everyone must learn how to organize their limited hours in a day and prioritize activities properly in order to achieve everything they want to do. 

Though this is difficult, it is usually possible, at least in the eyes of the admissions officers in top schools like INSEAD and NYU Stern. You definitely will not be let off the hook with the excuse, “I was working so much the past few years, I didn’t have enough time or energy to do community service.” 

It is assumed that after college, you will make time to contribute to your community in some way, and if you didn’t, know that someone else applying for the same school did.

Having community service hours on your application, even just a few hours a week or month, shows that you have the maturity and skills to balance multiple demands on your time. At business school, you will likely be juggling classes, readings, projects, work, and social events on top of the usual eating and sleeping and probably several other activities. 

Being able to handle all of these obligations is key to a student’s success at business school. Is it any wonder that the admissions officers want to see evidence in your application that you already have the skills to organize your time properly?

 

Community service indicates that you’ll enrich the school’s community (and its surroundings)

Community involvement is extremely valuable to business school admissions committees. 

They aren’t just looking for applicants who have great GMAT or GRE scores or can write compelling essays, they want to bring people into the school who will contribute as a student and alumni in a meaningful way. This is often the differentiating factor for an applicant who measures up similarly to other potential students.

So how can the admissions committee judge whether an applicant will bother to get involved in his or her community at business school? 

The admissions officers will assume that past behavior predicts future behavior, and if you have made considerable effort to give back to your community in the past, you will at their school as well. After all, evidence of past engagement is far more compelling than just saying you want to be active in the future. 

Your community service hours are proof that you are interested in using your skills and talents to benefit the people around you, no matter where you are or how busy you get. 

 

Community service proves leadership

Harvard Business School students give back during the FIELD Global Immersion, Courtesy Harvard Business School 

Leadership is undoubtedly one of the qualities every business school looks for in applicants, and there is no better way to demonstrate community leadership than volunteering. 

Spending time giving back to your community shows a desire to not just do good but to promote good and create real change. One of the best ways of proving to the adcom that you are committed to progress is by showing that you have addressed issues you care about however you can, both inside and outside of work. 

Think of it this way: most of the things we fill our time with are self-serving. In your MBA application, you have work experience, university grades, and essays, which, though essential, don’t prove that you are a generous or benevolent person. 

According to Alex Brown, a former Wharton admissions officer, “You go to school and you get a job because they’re good for you. But by doing community service, you’re demonstrating that you like to do things beyond what serves you, personally.”

Business schools want to see evidence of leadership in applicants. Community service is the perfect way to demonstrate that you are exactly what they’re looking for – don’t let the opportunity pass you by. 

 

Make the most of giving back

The beautiful thing about community service is that if you’ve found a way to contribute to what you truly care about, it will be clear to the admissions officers and benefit your application. However, sometimes it is hard to translate your work into marketable ideas that prove your dedication and impact.

If you need help communicating your past service or still need to decide on a meaningful volunteering service to commit to, you may want to look to an MBA consultant for ideas. 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting, our team can help you align your activities with your goals and dream schools while guiding you in communicating your passion and impact so that you stand out as a socially aware, dedicated, and well-rounded candidate. 

Apply to work with us today to find out how we can help you maximize your chances of being admitted to your top choice business schools!