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I am a complete law school noob applicant, so I was looking for some guidance.

I was wondering if my softs would be considered minimal, moderate or strong, and if they would be beneficial or not to my applications.

I don't have a ton of actual real paid work experience, but I've averaged about 30 hours a week volunteering either doing research in psychology (and hopefully will be published) and working with an organization called young life. I worked a semester 10 hours a week teaching and doing ABA therapy with autistic children at a preschool. I've led a mission trip of 14 students doing construction in the dominican republic. I volunteered in the dominican leading american workers on construction work for six weeks in a summer.

Would all of my volunteer work be looked upon favorably, or will they look at me like an idiot for not making money?

Thanks

Although not earth-shattering, your softs are good as far as softs go. They will definitely not hurt your application and may even give you a slight boost. Then again, softs will not make up for lack of solid numbers.

If you are interested in doing PI and have the numbers, you should check out some of the public interest scholarships. NYU has a full ride, Georgetown has a 1/3 tuition, University of Washington has full ride plus-stipend, I know there are others out there too. Your softs will definitely give you a boost when applying for these type of scholarships.

Volunteer work is definitely looked on favorably. Many law schools want to see that the people they are admitting are willing to give back to the community without being asked to do so. It shows initiative and compassion. This is important since you will be doing pro bono work as a lawyer.

I think mainly law schools want to see that you aren't a lazy sack who just went to class and didn't do anything else with their time. I think your softs sound just fine.

I would rate them as moderate. Now if you had done Peace Corps or joined the military, then I would say they would be strong softs. This is all just my opinion though. Everyone has a different idea of what they consider to be good/strong softs.

That being said, you have more than enough to support your application. Just make sure that you focus on the LSAT, as that is the most critical part of it. Sad to think that a 4 hour test takes precedence over years of hard work, but that's reality, albeit a harsh one.