Social Work/Community Service - Does it Help?

Q: I was told that social work improves your profile and helps you stand out in front of the ad-com. Is that true?

A: 1000% yes. 

(1) A school is a community and they want to bring in people who are engaged and motivated to make it better, and so your social work or otherwise community work is a proxy for what you would be like as a student and as an alumni.

(2) They are interested in giving seats to people who are motivated to help others. They spend more money to educate you than what you pay in tuition so they want to get the best bang for their buck. They want to give seats to people who are going to create positive social value.

(3) You're striving to be likable and trustworthy in the eyes of the admissions committee. When you tell a story about social work or how you've made a positive impact, it creates an emotional resonance with the admissions committee. Just about everybody is killing it at work but it's these types of things that make you stand out, and bring you to life beyond work achievements.

I feel the need to say it's better to have deep involvement with one activity where you can show a quantifiable achievement or anecdotal positive results than doing a smattering of different things with nothing really taking root.