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Good colleges for writers
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Because athletes draw money to the school, in the form of people buying tickets to games and getting donations from alumni who follow their school's sports.
Writers don't bring the school anything but themselves as a student. Yes, having written and published a book by the time you finished high school is an unusual achievement, and one that shows initiative and drive and talent and all kinds of other good things, and that certainly stands out to admissions officers.
But it's an extra-curricular activity like music or dance or theater, or like creating a non-profit organization in your local community, or like working for a summer with an international relief agency. It's something that shows your dedication and initiative and focus, but not something that's a potential money-maker for the school like sports. A strong addition to your application packet, for sure, but not a magic key like being a high-school All-American in a major sport would be.
And athletes can't get scholarships to all of "the best colleges" in the US "regardless of grades and SAT scores." None of the Ivy League schools award athletic scholarships of any kind, and nor do top schools like University of Chicago, MIT, and Cal Tech.
I see your point, but Ivy League schools let them in based on their athletic ability, paying tuition isn't much when you are granted acceptance.
Let's say they wouldn't give you a scholarship for a published book, would they accept you for it? What I'm trying to see is how much it really helps.
Let's say they wouldn't give you a scholarship for a published book, would they accept you for it? What I'm trying to see is how much it really helps.
It was a long time ago, but when I applied to the Iowa M.F.A. program, I had to submit a manuscript. Nobody asked if I had anything published. I'd guess it wouldn't hurt, but if you really want to know, you need to contact them and find out what they want now.
caw
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Actually, they don't, and that's one reason why Ivy League sports suck so horribly on the whole.
I went to Harvard, and later worked there for a while. I knew a lot of varsity athletes in different sports, and never met anyone whose grades or SATs weren't either just as high as non-athletes', full stop, or if slightly lower than the average non-athletes' grades/SATs, were any lower than the grades/SATs of non-athletes with outstanding extracurricular talents (painters who'd had shows or people who had acted professionally or competed in national music competitions or danced).
Did I see somewhere that you were a senior now yourself? Are you doing college apps for next year, or are you taking a year or two off between high school and college to write or pursue some other interest?
Unless it's a stellar work with major reviews, not a lot frankly.
And "letting them in for athletic ability" is not really accurate; they have to meet the basic requirements everyone else does, especially in Ivy League schools--who aren't exactly known for their popular team sports.
Why not go look at Peterson's College guide and similar books at your library? Then look at at Web sites, and write away for some information from the schools you're really interested in.
I've served on undergrad or grad admissions committees for three colleges in the Humanities.
I've also been the technical support person at one in terms of dealing with automated processing and reporting on status of admissions files, and rankings.
Right now, if you've got a job, and are not a good candidate for a full ride, money is a darn good reason.
Yes, I am currently a senior in high school and though I have options for schools I would be interested in applying to bigger reach schools. I was hoping a published book would allow that but I guess it's not as big a plus as I thought.
I am probably taking a year off, I don't know how hectic schedules become after you have a book published but I imagine book tours etc. are pretty time consuming.
Most definitely. Even with a full ride, the money I'd make with a TA position would barely cover childcare costs, if at all.
You need to talk to the girls on here who are published and are high school/college students. If hopes of being published are your only reason for taking a year off, you should reconsider. Look up Blind_Writer and shady lane.
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I mean among other personal reasons. Is your reason for saying you should think about taking a year off because of the chance I don't end up published or for other reasons? I'm just curious. If I were to be published would it be reasonable to still attend a college or would that be ambitious and a heavy load?
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I don't think it would be an ambitious or a heavy load at all. There are plenty of students who are very successful and graduate with what could be considered a heavy load. I'm a traditional sophomore right now taking 18 credits and working two part-time jobs and I am a RA not to mention everything I'm involved in. If you are a hard worker, I don't believe that it would be an overly ambitious or heavy load.
And I don't see why you shouldn't apply to your dream schools - sure, you may not get in, but you never know if you don't try.
And I don't see why you shouldn't apply to your dream schools - sure, you may not get in, but you never know if you don't try.
It would be extremely reasonable. The publishing process is slow. Even if you got an agent tomorrow and s/he sold your book the next day, your book wouldn't come out for at least a year, and more likely two. On top of that, book tours are increasingly rare and the chance of a debut author having a tour that would take up more than a few nights and weekends is slim.
A degree will always be valuable, no matter what happens with your writing career. Putting it off on the slim chance that you'll get published isn't a smart move. (Putting it off for other personal reasons may very well be a good choice, and obviously I can't speak to that.)
ETA: I see I misread your signature-- apparently you already have an agent? I'm sure s/he could answer your question better than me.
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Keep in mind that a really good TA situation is roughly 20 hours a week, plus classes, plus study, . . . so yeah. Money is a huge issue.
And I have so many friends starting at the bottom of the rung, not even tenure track, with 70K or more in loan debt for a grad degree.
Beef up your SAT scores. It's huge.
Work on community volunteer activities.
Write a stellar personal statement, and get top recs from high school.
If you take a year off, take a couple of courses that will qualify for GE requirements, if you transfer. Do well in them. Make SURE that the credits will transfer.
That's why I left my last grad program-- it was just accumulating debt for a degree that would basically qualify me for the job I already had. With the current economy, departments are having to cut back on TA's, too, so there's no job security even once you start some programs.
Beef up your SAT scores. It's huge. They're still used as a sort of crude minimum like the high school GPA.
Work on community volunteer activities.
Write a stellar personal statement, and get top recs from high school.
If you take a year off, take a couple of courses that will qualify for GE requirements, if you transfer. Do well in them. Make SURE that the credits will transfer.
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Arya, I think you need to seriously adjust your expectations. (I don't mean that in the snarky way it sounds...read it with a friendly smile on my face. Oh, here:
) A book release is almost a non-event. I threw a party at a pub after work on the release day of my first book, and nothing for the other three in that series.The memoir I co-ghostwrote, on the other hand, was a 'major media event' on the scale of book releases, and the subject's launch party was after work, too. (Just much more glam and paid for by her publisher instead of out of her pocket.) She did three or four newspaper interviews in advance (mostly over the phone), and between five and ten TV and radio interviews in the two weeks after the release date. That was it as far as book release-related events.
Her memoir established a platform for her on an important social issue (forced marriage), so she is invited to conferences a couple of times a year, but that's because of her involvement with anti-forced marriage programmes, not because of her book. She still has a day job and has never been on a book tour. And this book got enough media coverage that when an electrician came to the office where I work to bid on a job and saw a stack of the books on my desk, he recognised it.
My advice to you, and I hope this doesn't sound harsh but sometimes reality IS harsh, is not to plan whole chunks of your life around the event of getting published. Even if you were sent on a book tour (and for a debut author that's extraordinarily unlikely), it would only be for a week or two. Your life isn't going to suddenly become so hectic with book events that you can't do anything else.
Plan whole chunks of your life around WRITING, not around BEING PUBLISHED.
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ETA: I see I misread your signature-- apparently you already have an agent? I'm sure s/he could answer your question better than me.
Thanks for the advice everyone. Apparently my agent is a great one as James McDonald told me in another thread and so naturally I'm confident if he would spend his time with a 17 year old then it must have a good chance at being published. But yeah, I will probably end up taking the year off and taking courses at a local college to transfer later, maybe after a semester or two.
I'm expecting an answer back from the publishers mid January if not sooner, they had already acknowledged my agents proposal so hopefully it will be sooner but I know December is iffy.
Hopefully he's right! All I can do now is hope and wait.
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Ah! Now I understand your anxiety about when you'll hear back.
The thing is that you aren't that likely to have a signed contract before college applications are due for this year--aren't they due at the end of January/beginning of February for most schools? Even if all goes well and you get an offer from the publisher in the next couple of weeks, the contract process takes a bit of time.
If only book tours were time-consuming! Alas, they're usually just a few brief events now, even for best-selling authors. You could fit them in easily with a college schedule, even if your book's publication date was during semester time.
What will take up a bunch of your time over the next year is getting this book through the press. If all goes well and you get a contract in February, you'll have revisions to do over the next few months. The hectic time is before the book is published, not after.
I wish you nothing but good luck and I am looking forward to reading your book when it comes out!
... makes sense. Now if the colleges acquired rights of publication to the books written by students who enrolled in their institutions that might be different ;-)
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Arya, please don't take what I said out of context. I said that a prospective student with a published book under their belt would definitely cause us to take notice; I didn't say it would be a replacement for very poor grades. There are always exceptions to the average GAP/test scores, and always those are students who have done something remarkable. But a 1.7 GPA (for example) isn't going to get you in Harvard, regardless that published book.
ICE makes a great point about athletes drawing money into the schools and that's a big deal for some schools. Other schools don't have notable athletics programs.
Don't be afraid to take a year off between high school and college. It's becoming more and more common and it's a GREAT idea to take a few community college GE classes. You'll be paying thousands less for the class and the class sizes are way, way smaller than at the Universities. However, do work closely with your counselor to make sure the classes you take transfer to your school of choice.
In the end, if you can afford multiple $50+ application fees, do apply to the schools you really want. You never know what could happen.
ICE makes a great point about athletes drawing money into the schools and that's a big deal for some schools. Other schools don't have notable athletics programs.
Don't be afraid to take a year off between high school and college. It's becoming more and more common and it's a GREAT idea to take a few community college GE classes. You'll be paying thousands less for the class and the class sizes are way, way smaller than at the Universities. However, do work closely with your counselor to make sure the classes you take transfer to your school of choice.
In the end, if you can afford multiple $50+ application fees, do apply to the schools you really want. You never know what could happen.
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Deadline is January 25th and I don't know how much a reputable agents recommendation would do versus a published book so because of this among other personal reasons I will just take a year off, enroll in some transferable college courses and see how things play out.
Glad you see why I'm so antsy.Thanks, I appreciate it
Now I understand, thanks for clearing it up.
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