I know the SAT writing isn’t optional, (or wasn’t, till this year) but the ACT’s writing is optional and is almost always required, especially among top schools. I’ve read multiple times that colleges don’t care much for the writing sub score because a) it isn’t an accurate representation of writing skills needed for college and b) because the admission reps can judge your writing skills themselves through your essay. So why is it that many schools don’t accept ACT scores without the writing?
Colleges that do not require ACT writing obviously do not care for it. Those that do vary in the weight given to the essay score from none to only some importance. However, for the most part, colleges that require the ACT writing section are not doing so to get an essay score.
The ACT has always had the English section. It added the optional essay before SAT added a writing section, and besides a score for the essay, the ACT generates a combined English/Writing score, which is derived from a combination of the English section score and the essay score. After ACT introduced writing, some colleges (essentially those that required the SAT writing subject test at the time) started to request it, but it was not until the SAT added its writng section in 2005 that most colleges that require the ACT essay began to require it. The reasoning had little to do with getting an essay score. Instead, the colleges wanted the combined English/writing score that they could compare to the SAT writing section score, which itself was a combination of the essay and the multiple choice section that was similar to ACT’s English.
As far as the essays themselves are concerned, colleges really never see them for either the ACT or the SAT. They are not provided to colleges with the score report. A college can make a specific request to see a particular applicant’s essay, but that rarely, if ever, occurs.
That makes sense. Thanks!