If I put it in to show that I’ve taken art seriously as an extracurricular and not as part of an application to the college’s art school, will it still be compared against really those competitive portfolios? Or will whoever goes through my application simply acknowledge it and move on? I am by no means suggesting that I plan to throw together some poorly-done pieces and ask to be held to a lower standard because I’m not pursuing art as a career. While I’d consider myself to be decent, I realize my work doesn’t hold a candle to that of most proper artists, and having to compete with them would likely hurt my application more than it helped.
I’ve debated this too, and most people only suggest submitting a portfolio if you are on the same level as an aspiring art student. Art is something that you can always improve on though, so keep going as if you will submit a portfolio, and when the time comes, hopefully you will be confident enough to submit something!