How important are volunteer hours when applying to the UC system?

The importance of volunteer hours vary slightly depending on which UC campus you are applying to, but overall, demonstration of leadership skills can mean the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.

UCs (especially Berkeley and UCLA) will weigh the following components of your application (in the order of importance): 1) your essay (Berkeley publishes a guideline on how to write your personal statement at: http://students.berkeley.edu/files/Admissions/Personal_State_07.pdf ) about your academic achievement, talent or extracurricular activities that highlight your motivation, dedication, and/or initiative to achieve, your potential to contribute to the university, and any special circumstances like hardship; 2) your grades and any grade trends (improvements are better than just maintaining a high GPA); 3) your test scores, including SAT and/or ACT, SAT II; and 4) number of AP courses completed compared to the number of AP courses offered at your high school. Other factors are taken into consideration, but to a lesser extent.

Volunteer hours look great for just about any school. 50 hours should be enough.

thats great! my school only requires 26. i think its great and looks amazing at any amount of hours, it shows u care more than just about the money and shows u are using summer vacation well.