So… I have a poetry blog on which I’ve been posting my creative writing for over 3 years (im a sophomore). I’ve been really serious about it, and have posted almost 100 poems until now.
Can I count this as an ec?
idk if you could list it as an ec on your application, but i think it’s definitely worth it to mention it and provide some samples of your poetic musings, at least in an interview.
Does anyone read it?
Yes, it is an EC. Any endeavor in which you have invested your time, creativity and passion is an EC. If you do photography, art, dance, write, cook, garden, repair old cars, etc…these are all ECs. Report in the EC section how many hours/week you spend on this activity.
The schools want to know who you are and what you do with your free time. You are a poet and it doesn’t matter is no one ever reads your blog but you: You get points just for putting yourself out there. Make sure you include your blog site in your application so an admin person reading your file can look at it.
Think about it from the schools point of view - after reading your 300th application where the applicant is an editor of the school paper or captain of the math team, wouldn’t it be refreshing to find someone whose idea of accomplishment is different? Do what you love and do it to the best of your ability.
N’s Mom is 100% correct. It’s not only an EC, it’s potentially a great and distinctive one.
I don’t know how good your poetry is, but if you are really talented, then this is a great activity to expand on. While this is completely legitimate as an EC as currently constituted, you are only a sophomore now, so there are many things that you can do in the next 1-2 years to expand on this if you so choose:
- Participate in a summer writing workshop. Some will allow you to focus on a single genre, such as poetry. Sewanee, Iowa, Tin House (Portland) and Kenyon all have prestigious workshops, but there are many others. These all have weight on college applications, and some have partial funding for those with limited resources.
- Middlebury's renowned Breadloaf program has a 4 day conference in Vermont in the spring. It is not limited to people from New England. There are youth poetry and writing workshops in many areas - do a google search and look for ones in your geographic area if you are interested. I've seen ones in the Bay Area, D.C., and Texas.
http://sites.middlebury.edu/neywc/
- The prestigious Scholastic Arts and Writing awards have a poetry category:
http://www.artandwriting.org/the-awards/categories/#46
You already have years worth of poems, so why not submit them? They give examples of some previous winning works, so you will have some idea of how your work stacks up. Grades 7-12 are eligible, and you can submit in multiple years.
- There are many other youth poetry awards. Here are a few:
https://www.kenyonreview.org/contests/patricia-grodd/ /url
https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/foyle-young-poets-of-the-year-award/ /url
http://www.bennington.edu/NewsEvents/YoungWritersAwards /url
Some of these may also lead to publication, which is always a plus, and potentially a hook. Most require minimal or no entry fee. If you really want to go all out, the Yale Younger Poets prize is open to any American under age 40 who has not previously published a book of poetry, and requires submission of a book-length poetry collection:
http://youngerpoets.yupnet.org/submission-instructions/
- You could look to publish your poetry in one or more youth magazines. Here are a few:
http://www.theadroitjournal.org
http://www.teenink.com
You might also look at:
Again, there is nothing wrong with what you have done so far, and if that is how you prefer to present your work then just make sure that you highlight it in your applications as N’s Mom suggests. But if you choose to build on this as a major EC, then adding a workshop and an award and possibly publication would make it into a significant accomplishment. It sounds like you have already done the work, and will continue to do so, so there may be minimal additional work in submitting it.
Many top colleges have strong creative writing programs. In addition to some of the schools mentioned above with a long history of writing programs, elite schools such as Stanford, Yale and Columbia and even MIT all have strong programs. As N’s Mom notes, this is a very distinctive EC that will stand out to Adcoms.
Good luck!
@N’s Mom and @renaissancedad thanks so much for your help and suggestions! @renaissancedad I will definitely look into what you have recommended. Thanks again!