<p>I'm planning to major in creative writing for a B.A. program and want to send writing samples from my portfolio along with my essays/application. Will admissions look over it or will it be a waste of their time? Will it influence their decision at all?</p>
<p>If you're convinced that you are an exceptional writer, it's a good idea.</p>
<p>Importance would vary by college. If the college has a process for
supplements to be submitted (Writing or otherwise) then yes they
will definitely read it and may even forward it to the appropriate
department!</p>
<p>On the other hand if the college is explicit about not sending in
additional material do not send it in- the colleges usually mean what
they say.</p>
<p>before you send it, have someone you know/trust such as a teacher look it over and agree that it is good. It's hard to be objective about things we've done. If you submit it and they look it over, they'll probably have it done by someone in the dept. They had better like it! I remember reading in the book "Reflections and Admissions" by the former head of admission at Stanford that when they got submissions from portfolios they'd send them over to the dept for review; after all the adcom isn't an expert. And sometimes they'd come back with quite negative evaluations, sealing the answer for that candidate.</p>