<p>Hi all,
I'm new here, as you can obviously tell. I just have a quick question about ECs. I have a few ECs (student council, Indian Cultural Club, Amnesty International, MUN, science olympiad, violin, religious classes, plenty of volunteer work, etc.) but my biggest and most important time commitment is my writing. I have won several writing awards and participated in many contests. Now I have almost completed the first draft of my first novel. Does this count as an EC by college admissions standards, even though a passion such as writing is obviously not club, sport, or organization?
Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I think so. Just like you, I write a lot and enter contests and have won awards. I put writing down as an EC. It takes up a lot of my time and I love it. I put "writing & photography" I think, because both of those are my "artistic" passions.</p>
<p>hey guys. i like to write as well, but was wondering if either of you have taken creative writing courses at your school or whatnot. also, what year of hs did ou win the majoriry of your awards (so far have only one :(). lemm know.</p>
<p>hey guys. i like to write as well, but was wondering if either of you have taken creative writing courses at your school or whatnot. also, what year of hs did you win the majoriry of your awards (so far have only won one :(). lemme know.</p>
<p>veggiedog and kac -</p>
<p>i'm a writer, too, and i've had some stuff published in nat'l magazines. i haven't been able to find any contests, though. since you've both entered and won a few, would you mind telling me what they were? i'd love to enter them if they are annual or something like that. thanks!</p>
<p>Junior year for awards... and I took Creative Writing freshman year. They just created a Creative Writing 2 Honors at my school, so I'll be taking that next year :) I'm so excited.</p>
<p>I actually haven't taken any creative writing courses, but by reading literature in class, I get a good idea of what quality writing is (not that what I write even compares to the classics). I am only going into Junior year. Most of my awards have been won through local poetry and essay contest wins, or being published in a few semi-widely circulated magazines and newspapars. I have also won four Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. There are 10 different categories to submit your writing in (poetry, humor, drama, etc.) and you can win awards at the regional or national level.
Here is the link: <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards/index.htm%5B/url%5D">www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards/index.htm</a></p>
<p>It will definitely count as an EC. Just be sure to emphasize your interest and time commitment in your application.</p>
<p>^^ Okay! Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>wow, veggiedog, i feel quite significant compared to you as i have only won a mere 1 contest and that was local (no scholastic; well tht's not really fair to say because i only found out that scholastic existed after the deadline for this year passed) anyhoo, GL. how did u learn to write and edit well with no instruction?</p>
<p>I share the interest; I am inordinately devoted to the realm of literature, and of poetry in particular. For some reason, though, I feel as if this is not a "strong" EC at all with respect to admissions, despite the long-term commitment and genuine passion I have for the field. With the exception of publishing novels, are writing awards/contests the only tangible and noteworthy demonstration of such an extracurricular activity? Does anyone else echo these sentiments?</p>
<p>Like to write? You also can form a writing club, and invite in professional writers or writing professors to instruct you and critique your work.</p>
<p>Start a literary magazine, website or start a newspaper.</p>
<p>Write for a student or professional newspaper.</p>
<p>Attend summer writing programs such as the Iowa writers camp. Some are difficult to be selected for -- require writing samples. If you lack $, work a part time job to get the $ to attend.</p>
<p>Attend professional writers conferences. If any are in your are, you may be able to get in free by offering to volunteer.</p>
<p>Join a writer's club or organization for adults. You may be able to be a student member or they may simply welcome your participation and not charge you.</p>
<p>Finish your novel and self publish it. </p>
<p>Publish excerpts of your novel in teen magazines.</p>
<p>hmm i'm curious i love writing too and i've published thre books all in two languages. would that be considered an EC or award/recognition etc.? and how would such things compensate for lower test scores? thanks</p>
<p>I saw that in Veggiedog's first post he/she stated religious classes as one of his/her ECs. Can religion activities be counted as ECs?</p>
<p>how have you guys gotten books published already? that's craziness! northstarmom, as always, thanks for the bountiful information you provided.</p>
<p>Saladrax, that's amazing (the book you've published, I mean). Is it true what they say, that writing the book is the easy part and getting it published is infinitely hard in comparison? If it's true, I'm dead meat.</p>
<p>Thanks, Northstarmom, for your suggestions. I've suggested starting a writing club to a few English teachers at my school, but none of them seemed willing to supervise, unfortunately. We have a newspaper, but there is a class that writes it, and no one outside the class is permitted to be on staff or submit work regularly. There is a literary magazine here though, which I am actively involved in. My aim is to finish the book, edit, and self-publish it (I don't think I would have the time to get a big publisher to pick it up) before the end of this coming school year.</p>
<p>Remember that a club doesn't have to be connected to your school. You could start a club completely independently -- meeting at your house or you could start it with the help of a local bookstore, which may be willing to let your members meet in the store. The store even may be willing to help you connect with local authors who'd mentor, etc. Bookstores like to encourage readers, and they know that writers tend to read a lot.</p>
<p>technically it wasn't that hard, the first one i had to put past the Chinese government. whihc was weird. the second i did a translation for a poet so he handled most of the technical crap. and the third one, well once established it's pretty easy ^^</p>