Hello! I am a sophomore at a semi competitive school. Im DEEPLY inspired to become an author and wish to get into a good school with a good creative writing major such as Columbia university, but my overall gpa right now is a 3.4 due to problems with teachers etc… I was just wondering what would my chances be to get into a good college such as columbia or an UC with my gpa at the moment. What would I have to do to get into a good college? Would writing a great personal statement boost my chances despite my low gpa? Any advice? Anything will help or any miracle stories will be great.
Thanks!
(Im also in number one award winning band. We’re number one in our state and our color guard is around top ten in the nation if this helps my admission in anyway.)
I know… thanks :). I was just hoping I can learn writing from somewhere good. Reading has always been a therapy for me so I was hoping one day I can write so I can help someone else out there that reads my stories. I was hoping a good school will help me achieve that goal
Low GPA is not due to problems with teachers. Do not try to use that as an excuse when you apply to colleges.
A good essay will help of course, but colleges don’t overlook low grades just because an essay is really good. Work really hard to raise your GPA during the rest of this year and as a junior. Unless you are hooked, I do not see Columbia as viable. Are you in state for UC’s? Maybe, if your grades get much higher and you get good test scores.
Start now – start with anything. Short stories, flash fiction, personal essays, poems, anything. I know quite a few young writers, having been in a writing club in high school and a book club in college, and would venture to say that most people start with shorter work.
Some colleges may have you submit a portfolio as part of your application. Most of them will have you construct one throughout your years there. You don’t want those experiences to be your first shot at writing.
Not trying to be discouraging!! It’s just that a lot of people want to write a book, or whatever, and not many of them actually put in the work to improve their writing beforehand. You could look up story or poem prompts for ideas to practice.
You say: I wanted to publish on wattpad and before my senior year try to get a book published or at least out there
If you want to write, write. And write because that’s what you want to do, not because you think it will look good on a college application. You don’t need to go to an Ivy to be a good writer. You need to write, and rewrite, and write some more.
@adeline.corra Besides Columbia and the UCs, there are a lot of other good schools for writers, NYU, Emerson, Sarah Lawrence, University of Iowa, Occidental, etc.
For poetry or literary fiction, most Creative Writing programs found in most English departments will serve you well.
For non-fiction newspaper and magazine articles, and similar online content, you would probably be better off with a Journalism degree or Communications and New Media degree.
For commercial genre fiction, meaning things like mysteries, romance, women’s fiction, thrillers, fantasy & science fiction, etc., you are better off learning these skills through writing workshops aimed at the specific genre you want to write. Very few universities have programs tailored for genre fiction, in part because many university English / Creative writing departments look down on genre fiction. One exception is the Professional Writing program at University of Oklahoma. There’s a very good genre fiction program there, connected to the School of Journalism.
With the exception of journalism, you do not need a degree to be a writer. You need to learn your craft and write, write, write. You also need a good day job that pays a living wage and hopefully offers decent benefits until you are able to make a living writing, and said day job will probably be easier if you have a degree to back it up
Let me repeat that: you MUST have a good day job.
Source: I am a published, full-time author who has been nominated for two of the top three or four awards in my genre.
I agree with @DiotimaDM. I am also a full-time writing professional and I do not have a degree in writing. Neither do the vast majority of my writing cohort. Good writing takes 1) practice and 2) life experience. You can get plenty of both of those at just about any college.
@DiotimaDM@yankeeinGA I want to write literary fiction. I also want to write YA fantasy series for sure and contemporary. I am trying to find another option I can double major on at the moment. Thank you it helps a lot :))
@studentathlete18 I was going under a personal problem at some point of last semester which tended to lower my grade . Also, I’m probably going to get some back hand on this, but my math teacher doesn’t teach. Math is my weakest subject. I have gone to him for help multiple times and about 99% of the times he ended up walking away from me. I have a tutor currently and I’m going to afterschool help. Whenever I do bad on a test he doesn’t let me see it either. I am a good student who attends class everyday and finish my work the best I can.
To write YA the best thing you could do for yourself is to–
get involved with SCBWI in your area. Attend their conferences (LA and NYC conferences are good but very large and a little overwhelming; a regional conference might be better, such as the NJSCBWI and other medium-sized regional conferences). They will help you understand what YA novels require–page count, world building, situational differences between it and other age groups; how to write dialogue, how to plot, etc. You won’t get that info in a creative writing department.
Write write and write some more. Jane Yolen (you can FB friend her) writes 2-3 poems each day as warm up before setting out to write fiction. She also writes many mss before she expects to publish any. Jane Yolen legendary writer writes several mss for each thing she publishes. Let that sink in. You will need to write a lot. Write every day. Set deadlines for yourself to complete a story. Do this often.
Study books on story craft. Suzanne Collins started in screenplay writing, and that’s not a bad way to go. Syd Field’s books help with that. Other books highly recommended are The Emotional Craft of Fiction and Story by Robert McKee
Read more and more and more of the type of stories that you want to write. Dissect them and figure out how they work.
plan to have a great day job. Probably the one thing you should focus on in college is to get a job that gives you good employment while you hone your writing craft. Get a degree in accounting; computer programming, health-related skills such as radiology. Many fine writers had and kept their day jobs, like Kafka. and Agatha Christie, and Dickens, and Mark Twain, and Jack London. It nourished their writing because they had something to write about. Plus it paid.
While it’s great to get great grades, a lot of amazing authors got crappy grades in high school. I’m not saying that you should get bad grades! Get good grades if possible! But if that’s not possible rest assured that you’re not alone. Laurie Halse Anderson started at a community college and then transferred.
Check out the bios of your favorite writers to find the many possible paths.
One thing they all have in common is that the write write write every day.
