<p>I wrote one article about how I signed myself up for the "Scared Straight" program for 24 hours. In it, I compared my school (run down, ghetto, not much funding) with a prisoners life. Through more investigation, I found out prisoners get better healthcare, better education, resources, etc than my school, and that the state and federal governments spend MORE per criminal than they do per pupil.</p>
<p>i wonder if the crimson will actually critique some of your writings. i called them and asked if they would look at some of the things ive written for my newspaper and then recommend me to the admissions committee, but they said they aren't involved with the admissios process at all.</p>
<p>as for where you can findt he top 20 high school newspapers...
<a href="http://www.studentpress.org/acp/winners/npm05.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentpress.org/acp/winners/npm05.html</a> (for college newspapers)
<a href="http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/npm05.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/npm05.html</a> (for high school newspapers - im from the central times!!)</p>
<p>im thinking of comping either the crimson or the lampoon..i love writing humorously (at least i think its humorously) but details on the lampoon are sketchy at best. we'll see. either way i definitely want to do one. and even though im not very peppy (ok, im like the opposite of pep...whatevs) i want to lead tours because im very talented at walking backwards.
how hard is it to get your own column eventually at the crimson?</p>
<p>I just got elected with Sunglasses. I'm on the business board. The comp process is pretty demanding, but definitely worth it. For the most part it isn't competitive (there's no limit to the number of people they'll take), but it requires a lot of time + effort.</p>
<p>I went to the Lampoon's comp meeting (which was hilarious), but I didn't end up trying for the comp. It is more selective than the Crimson, and equally demanding. Lots of fun if you can make it, I hear.</p>
<p>Jeparle-Don't be afraid to send your favorite newspaper piece as a supplemental essay. That's what I did (it was a column I wrote about going to see a Vote for Change concert with my dad). I just specified that it was from my school paper.</p>
<p>do you think it's too late to send in a portfolio of my newspaper works now? i didnt even think of sending a newspaper piece as a supplemental essay! good thinking!</p>
<p>I think the admissions office would still accept material, but you should call and ask. It might make more sense to pick out a favorite piece or two vs. an entire portfolio... but use your judgement.</p>
<p>The lampoon was one of the main factors that sold me on Harvard, so hell yeah! The crimson looks like it's awesome, though, so I might do both.</p>
<p>Oh no, you can't do both!! The Lampoon and the Crimson have been feuding since forever.... there are some crazy, crazy stories that you'll hear if you make it onto either organization.</p>
<p>That's right. As far as the Crimson is concerned, the Lampoon is a semi-secret Sorento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine. ; -)</p>
<p>i want to write for the Lampoon sooooo badly</p>
<p>does anyone know exactly what you need to do to comp the lampoon?</p>
<p>i thought anyone who wanted to could join the crimson?</p>
<p>No, you have to fulfill the comp requirements. Some boards' comp processes are more straightforward than others. News, for example--you have to submit ten articles; Design--you fulfill a certain number of hours doing layout assists. In contrast, election to the Editorial board <em>cough best board cough</em> requires submission of nine or so articles of different topics/lengths that are then judged by a secret panel that rates them and deems the author electable or not.</p>
<p>oh thats interesting.</p>
<p>Do the articles prospective kids present usually come from what they wrote for their high school papers? Because if you needed to be on the board to write articles, where would the experience come from?</p>
<p>Sorry if I'm missing something.</p>
<p>You write articles during your comp. If you're comping news, you write news stories that are published in the Crimson. If you're comping ed, you write mock staff-eds and then other pieces of your own (which may or may not go in), etc.</p>
<p>First off, has anyone actually read the Lampoon? It's not really funny... To make the comp, you just have to write humor pieces and make cuts. Supposedly your pieces have to be far funnier than the stuff that actually gets printed.</p>
<p>Mr. Sanguine-It would clearly be easiest to comp the board that you have the most experience in, but it's VERY possible to do something new (I had no business experience, for example). I think each comp has weekly meetings where they teach you how to do everything, and the comp directors are very helpful if you have any questions. It would definitely be more of a time commitment if you're doing something new vs. something you've already done.</p>
<p>And anyone who wants can write for the Crimson (comper's pieces get put in the paper all the time), but you aren't an editor until you finish the comp.</p>
<p>the lampoon is funny! i think its hilarious.</p>
<p>The last issue was lame.</p>
<p>As far as I know, getting your own column isn't tough. There aren't really that many people who actually want to commit to producing insightful, time-pegged pieces regularly on a particular topic.</p>
<p>Kind of off topic I know, but can you submit a poem or poems as examples of art/supplements? It says on the optional Harvard part to only do so if it's of exceptional quality (re essays/school coursework) but how do you judge that?</p>