How Volunteer Work Can Help You Get Into Uni (And Yes, Even Improve Your Scores)

This post is presented in partnership with La Trobe University.

Wake. School. Work. Sleep.

Wake. School. Work. Sleep.

Wake. School. Work. Sleep.

That’s pretty much how it goes for high schoolers in Year 11 and 12. (On the weekends, swap out ‘school’ for another dose of ‘work’.)

Sure, you might be able to squeeze in a stray episode of GOT once a week; maybe you can even break-up cramming sessions with the occasional instalment of “Carpool Karaoke”. But for the most part, your upper-school workload can feel totally overwhelming. There’s barely enough time to take care of yourself, let alone anyone else, right?

Well, a recent Harvard report concluded that a history of sustained community service is “a significant predictor of college success”; meaning, those who put time aside to help out their fellow peeps reliably do well at uni. In fact, the report encouraged those in admissions to consider “ethical engagement – especially concern for others and the common good” on a similar level to “intellectual engagement”. Basically: end-of-year marks shouldn’t be the only factor in college acceptance.

It’s something La Trobe University has taken to heart in Victoria. With their Aspire Program, high schoolers who have devoted part of their free time to volunteering can apply for early admission. How early? Before ATAR scores even come in.

One such student benefitting from the Aspire Program is 19-year-old Thomas Warke, now in his first year of a Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts double degree at La Trobe.

“It’s quite a challenging course to get into,” he told Student Edge, noting that the ATAR entry for Law was 93. He credits his entry to Aspire, which “recognises the whole person, over just your academic capabilities.”

Not that Aspire students are slouches when it comes to “academic capabilities”. A study by La Trobe, shared with Student Edge, found that Aspire students receive higher average marks at university than non-Aspire students (including those with an ATAR above 90).

The question is, how does devoting time to volunteer work give students a boost in their grades?

Here’s Thomas’ theory: “[Volunteering] helped, because every other night of the week I’d be stressing about school work and stuff, and the one night of the week I gave to helping other people [reminded me] to not worry about my own stresses; a break to clear your head a little bit.”

Since March of 2015, Thomas has donated five to six hours a week to St Vincent De Paul’s Soup Van in North Melbourne.

“It puts everything into perspective, about what’s important,” he explained.

“That was really important for Year 12, particularly because you’re stressing about tests and all that sort of stuff… and then there are people who are stressing about not eating that night. It gave a lot of perspective to my life and taught me to be grateful for what I had.”

It’s also taught him to be more compassionate and empathetic to those on the fringes of society; those who sincerely need the assistance offered by soup van volunteers.

“They weren’t all necessarily there because of bad decisions,” he said.

“Some people had some financial difficulties and therefore were left like that; they were just really unlucky. They weren’t just drug addicts and wards of the state, as people may make them out to be. It taught me not to judge people based on their situation, without knowing the full story.”

Though Thomas has secured his spot at La Trobe and is facing a further five years of study, he’s not planning on giving up volunteering anytime soon.

“There’s nothing that will stop that,” he said.

Find out more about the Aspire Program from La Trobe University here. You can also watch it in action with the 'Pay It Forward Pizza'.

Photo: La Trobe University.