It seems to be a consensus here on CC that writing a book, even self-publishing one won’t impress the Admission Officers. But what if writing is your passion and you want to showcase both your talent and effort you put into the craft. Will the Admission Officers at least read the one page summary of the book to discern if you are a talented writer or not?
Has anyone done that? Did it help your application?
The way to demonstrate you are a talented writer is through the strength of your essays. Instead of submitting a one-page summary of your book, a better approach would be to have your recommendation writers and guidance counselor comment about your book in their LoR’s. If your book has been reviewed by a noted publication, you could upload the review to your Harvard Supplement or through Harvard’s portal after you submit the Common Application.
WOW, @gibby, that is sheer brilliance! thank you! The novel is not yet finished yet, it is about 80,000 words long. The kido started writing his novel since 9th grade. I spend two days reading the manuscript, it is still crude and lack of finesse, but I do see sparkles here and there. I am mostly intrigued by the stories conjured up in a teenager’s mind.
YoungArts excepts, reviews and rewards novel excerpts. An award from YoungArts demonstrates the work has some merit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgmsMrkv0Ds
Thank you @arwarw, great info.
sorry meant to say ‘accepts’