<p>Well I’m applying to Brown and Cornell, and I’m just wondering how important the SAT writing section is to them. I hear that it is less important than the verbal/math sections, and some even say that it is “experimental”, but my score was terrible on the writing because of no prep (590) compared to 680 R and 800 M.</p>
<p>so… i guess i just need some specific answers</p>
<li>to what degree do they evaluate the writing section?</li>
<li>how much is a “590” going to affect my chances?</li>
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<p>lol it might not matter quite as much as the other sections, but a 590 is very weak for schools like Brown and Cornell. I'd retake that if I were you. Maybe you could get your verbal over 700 while you're at it</p>
<p>what if i have other writing accomplishments and top-of-the-class english scores? will they see that it's a blip or will they take the score for its face value?</p>
<p>they obviously wont take it as a blip it just means your school highly inflates their english scores to people who are not worthy. the sat is meant to weed people out like that.</p>
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they obviously wont take it as a blip it just means your school highly inflates their english scores to people who are not worthy. the sat is meant to weed people out like that.
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<p>that's just a really stupid thing to say. the sats aren't fit to weed out anything.</p>
<p>but I'd study up and re-take. writing's probably the easiest section out there, and it looks really bad to have a low score.</p>
<p>According to this survey, Brown weighs the writing section as highly as the other two sections, while Cornell doesn't consider the writing section <em>at all</em>. The Yale admissions office was quoted less than a year ago in the New York Times saying that they didn't even bother to record students' SAT writing scores. So unless the face of college admissions has changed somewhat dramatically in the last few months (and who knows?), Cornell is hardly going to notice your SAT Writing score. But Brown probably will.</p>
<p>Anybody have an update on this Kaplan survey/NYT story? Like a factual update? I'm interested too.</p>
<p>probably why i got a likely from cornell lol....... but darn brown is my first choice. oh wellllllllllllllllll haha. thanks for the info though. gradual disappointment is better than a sudden burst :D</p>
<p>Retake it. For the Writing Section: focus on finding verb and pronoun errors. Those are the two most common types of mistakes on the multiple choice section. And make sure that your essay is long, long, long!</p>
<p>um, he's already applied, so he can't really retake it unless he's applying next year. I'd say, that it isn't that bad, it'll be a slight detriment sure, but perhaps some other part of your application could balance it out. It's out of your hands now, so there's no point worrying. Congrats on the likely letter! :)</p>
<p>Yeah, okay, sorry, I misunderstood your timeline.</p>
<p>In any case, I agree with k_twin; the rest of your app could balance it out for Brown, and Cornell is a fantastic school. I know a ton of smart kids who would be dying for your likely letter. </p>
<p>(All the juniors reading this post: remember what I said about the Writing section. :) )</p>