<p>So since November I have been a teen correspondent (basically the "high school page") for a large area newspaper. I just recently published my first article. I want to be a print journalist after college too. Will this activity impress colleges? I only ask because I've heard that colleges wont really care at all because its on a high school page, not like the front page or something. However, it's not like that opportunity has been alloted to me, and I think it's pretty impressive to be published in a newspaper with a large circulation, especially if it's in line with my career goal. Anyway, feel free to give some input.</p>
<p>I also do Model UN, Amnesty, Editor for lit mag,peer leadership, comm service, nhs/tutoring. will be exec board for the first4 most likely.</p>
<p>Sounds cool. It's definitely something a little bit different.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your accomplishment; that sounds really cool, and you should definitely mention it on your college application. I don't know how impressive colleges will view it, since the standards of local newspapers vary from place to place. My local newspaper allows any interested high school students to write articles, although there are a couple students interested in journalism who do contribute regularly.</p>
<p>Even if this doesn't wow the adcoms, I think it'll definitely build you up in the eyes of admissions officers in that it shows your dedication to journalism and publications.</p>
<p>congratulations
:)</p>
<p>Yes, it will impress colleges, though how much it will impress colleges will depend on where you are applying. For most colleges, however, applicants stand out if they have published in any professional paper even a small local weekly.</p>
<p>I'm saying this all from experience since I used to run a program in which h.s. students were published in a major newspaper, and years later, after we moved away, my older S was published in several newspapers while he was in h.s. This helped him get some very nice journalism scholarships and probably also helped him get into a top 20 private reach school.</p>
<p>Also, colleges don't expect that h.s. students would be published in the front page of a major newspaper or of any professional paper. Just getting published at all by a professional newspaper, even a weekly, would impress colleges.</p>
<p>Keep up your good work. Look for other articles to write. Don't just wait until the editors give you an article. On school breaks, write as many articles as you can. Also, get the reference book "Writers Market" and learn how you can get paid for freelancing articles. Newspapers and magazines don't care about your age: They care about how well you write.</p>
<p>Older S was a regular correspondent covering a local college football team for several major newspapers when he was in h.s. They paid him something like $25-$45 (I think) an article, and this was about 6 years ago. When he got his first job doing that, he let him know what he had been doing for a local weekly, where he had been volunteering writing columns and sports articles for years. </p>
<p>The professsional daily newspaper didn't realize that he was "only" a h.s. kid (age 16) until they had published several of his articles and learned of his age from another journalist who had seen him in the press box.</p>
<p>well how it works is we have meetings every monday (there are about 8 regular correspondents) and we discuss ideas and then she'll assign articles and deadlines. Also, it's not a weekly paper, but they only have the teen page on saturdays. it's actually a really good news paper, it won a pulitzer in 2001.
yeah and thank you guys for the input, i just submitted another article about model un last weekend so hopefully it will be deemed okay and published. lol.</p>
<p>You'll get assigned more stories if you not only come in with ideas, but also come in with ideas and research showing you've started the reporting. The stories that also are most likely to be accepted by the editor are ones that tie into current events.</p>
<p>yes on my first day she shot down all my ideas because they were too vague or not current, lol. i've seen developed more an eye for the types of ideas she would want to print. like she didn't want to the model un article at first, i had to tell her im putting a different spin on it.</p>
<p>You may be able to expand your work if you offer to start covering high school sports, too. Talk to the sports dept. Usually, they need stringers to cover games -- stringers who are fast , reliable and accurate. Since you're smart enough to be on CC, I bet you have the skills that they need.</p>
<p>im not really a sports fan and im the least experienced person on the page so im not sure if thatd be the best route for me. there's a lot of room for creativity and variety on the page itself its just coming up with new ideas.</p>