On my most recent ACT, I received 35 composite with a 26 on the essay. I know writing scores are much lower than other subscores, but is that score alarming for a school such as Rice or Duke? On my other ACT, I received a 29 on the writing section but a 30 composite score (lots of test day anxiety I guess?) so I’m not too sure that I could nail both my essay and the multiple choice if I retook.
I have the exact same scores! Someone help please!
Do you guys even bother to search these forums for answers? Your concerns have been addressed by… I don’t know… hundreds of other posters.
In general, don’t worry so much about your essay score. Most colleges don’t care about the essay. And the few that do, an Essay score of 26 is better than you think: 93rd percentile. Nothing to panic about.
For future reference, use the Search feature on this site. You’ll find plenty of answers fast.
I would retake the test if you have time. Can’t hurt.
To answer the question more directly–common knowledge/opinion (from what I’ve seen) tends to give the writing subsection less weight than the other scores. I think the idea is that your applications will all have an essay, so the admissions department can have an idea of your writing ability without the test. Maybe someone else can confirm this with more substance.
Rice does not superscore ACT – you can send all scores, but they mainly consider just the highest composite. Duke considers the highest score from each individual category.
In summary – can’t hurt to take it again if you have time. But if you don’t take it again, the damage to your application should be pretty minimal. 35 is a great score–congratulations!