<p>If I get published, will that improve my chances of being accepted to Columbia?</p>
<p>Admissions does not work like that. It isn’t a point system where you need to get over 100 points and publishing is +5 points. Publishing a book is not too hard to do these days and admission officers likely cannot distinguish between exclusive publishers and self-publishers (like amazon).</p>
<p>All publishing a book does is tell officers that you are capable of writing a book. That could help, or it could make no difference what-so-ever. If I am a huge science wiz and I win my science school fair, but I also have done science research and have straight A’s in science, will that award really make a difference? Most likely not.</p>
<p>Publishing a book adds more information to your application. The admission officers will interpret this information to see if you would be a good fit at that school.</p>
<p>Does it make a difference if I get published by a company rather than self-publishing it?</p>
<p>If you’re getting published by an official major company, then atleast the accomplishment has a little more merit (as opposed to being self-published). Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that the number of new books/editions published by major companies per year number in the hundreds of thousands (I believe ~330,000 in U.S. in 2010?).</p>
<p>So while it is somewhat unique for a highschool student to have this on his application, it should not be overblown as being that great unless we’re talking about a truly amazing book here (which would be mostly unverifiable). If it’s just some random piece of fiction where your parents managed to pay lots for some editing/publishing, then it certainly won’t have as much impact. If it’s something more professional, or possibly some sort of research, then that’s a different story. I’m not even sure if they’d be able to know the details however, unless you go really in-depth such as via your essays.</p>
<p>It might improve your chances, but not by much if at all. There is no way to know the magnitude of this sort of thing, especially at a competitive school like Columbia. But I wish you luck</p>
<p>Listen to what I said dang… Ivy league schools look for who “fits” in their school. This will simply add what you could add to your application.</p>
<p>Nothing more. Nothing less.</p>