How much will a 6 on the ACT Writing hurt?

Applying to College
1

<p>I was kinda stunned when I saw the score myself. I ended up with a 34 composite with a 35 on English. I know a lot of schools don't weight it too heavily, but don't some use it as a validity check for the application essay? I've always thought of myself as an above average writer: A+'s in English, editor of school paper. My application essays should be very good, and I'm worried that colleges might not think it was original work. One of my teacher recs will be my English/Journalism teacher, so that letter should speak well for my writing ability.</p>

<p>Other stats in case necessary:
class rank: 1/102, from a school where most students dream of UIUC
SAT2: USH 800, MathII 780, Bio-m 730
AP: USH 5, the first person from my school to get it, sad
The general CC extracurriculars: two varsity sports, multiple leadership positions, Journalism Individual state champion, congressional internship, blah blah blah</p>

<p>Applying to these colleges:
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Northwestern
Georgetown (they don't use the writing score for anything!)
Penn
George Washington
UIUC</p>

<p>I personally think that it shouldn't be called the "Writing" section; they don't necessarily seek out essays that are well written and use proper grammar/sentence structure. It's a test of how well you can come up with examples of why an environmental studies class should/n't be required...</p>

2

<p>I can't imagine that they'd care too much. The ACT and SAT do not test good writing ability at all and adcoms know this.</p>

3

<p>Try not to stress about it (My son got 31 composite with similar stats across the test areas and got a 6 in writing too!!!)</p>

<p>Your GPA, plus great ACT, AP and SAT2 scores will reflect how well you do and the material you know. I don't think the writing component will play a major part of your total application.</p>

<p>Good luck. You should do very well.</p>