<p>(new here, hopefully this is in the right place)</p>
<p>My strength is, and always has been, writing. Since I was eight years old, I've been the "writer" of the class. I receive better scores on essays in my AP English Comp class than anyone else, and the general consensus of my peers is that I am the writer. It's the only thing I'm consistently "best" at, and I love it. I don't quite know what to study in college but I'm interested in history, english, and women's studies. A few prestigious schools have really captured my attention. How can I prove my passion for writing? </p>
<p>I feel as though I am more likely to be an "angular" student with a strength in writing than a well-rounded student in a ton of clubs with a thousand volunteer hours. That's just not me. I take AP classes, do all my homework, study for my tests, and in my free time, I write. So how can I impress college admins with my love of writing, short of publishing a book as a teenager? :P It seems like writing is a hard passion to "prove".</p>
<p>I'm a junior, by the way, so I have ~a year. I should have started earlier but I really didn't "figure myself out" enough until this year.</p>
<p>Even though you haven’t been involved in any formal club for writing, you can still list it as an EC if you spend a large amount of your time outside of school doing it. The Common App will ask you for how many hours per week and how many weeks per year you participate in this hobby.</p>
<p>Otherwise, you can prove your strength in and love of writing through your essays. Some schools will allow you to submit a writing portfolio as well.</p>
<p>Start, edit, and publish a literary magazine.
Submit poems and short stories to other publications.
Start a young writers workshop group at your school.
Start a blog and post your own writing and/or critical analyses of other writers’ writing.
Make your own translations of favorite poets & writers in whatever foreign language you are studying.</p>
<p>In short, if there is no established extracurricular trail, blaze one of your own.</p>
<p>If possible, attend one of the leading creative writing summer programs: Iowa, Kenyon or UVA. There’s a thread for that on CC. Submit your writing to the scholastic awards and to YoungArts. Join the newspaper and literary journal at your school. </p>
<p>Have you entered the Scholastic competitions? Read carefully, some applications require a teacher approval of some kind (my kid missed a date once because she didn’t realize it was needed until too late). Our kid’s school also had a writing club. They called it Inkslingers, it met a couple times a month at lunch, and an English teacher helped mentor them. Can you volunteer at a library? And, of course, you want to get GREAT scores on your SAT CR, WR, and SAT Subject Lit tests.</p>
<p>My daughter participated in nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) which has been very well received in college interviews. Showing that you wrote a 40,000 word novel just because you love to write is something schools will take notice of. </p>
<p>Hi! I am a senior, and like you, I have done much writing throughout high school. On my Common App, I made sure to highlight my penchant for writing by discussing my published works along with my blog.</p>
<p>-Go on TeenInk.com, and publish your writing. Every month, Teen Ink selects the best pieces for their print magazine. You can submit articles of any genre. Imagine if you could be published!
-Contact your local newspaper and ask if you can contribute an article
-Send your work to Huffington Post Teen or Rookie Magazine, both of which accept submissions from young writers like you
-Become the Editor-in-Chief of your school newspaper or literary magazine. Now that’s impressive.
-Start up your own blog on any topic you want. Food, travel, fashion, etc.</p>
<p>I heard from a Stanford admissions officer that the role of editor-in-chief is one of the best titles student can have. You had to be elected to that position, and not everybody is a talented writer. If your school doesn’t have a newspaper, why don’t you start one? I think that would be a great idea.</p>