Mom of twin juniors here. One is taking SAT, one is taking ACT. They are planning to take the essay but most schools they are looking at don’t require essay. If they don’t like their essay scores, is it possible to submit the results to schools and omit the essay score? Or do you have to send the whole test result together?
AFAIK, you can’t separate the essay score.
The testing agencies will provide only the entire test results including essay if you took it.
However, there are a growing number of colleges that are allowing one to self-report test scores in the application for the purpose of determining admission, and do not require official scores until after one has accepted admission. The question is whether you can choose not to self-report your essay score in that situation if the college does not require the essay section. For the most part, the answer to that is an unknown because the colleges that allow self-reporting, and do not require the essay, don’t tell you whether you can withhold or must report the essay score. In that situation, the safe course, if you are considering withholding the essay score, would be to contact the college and see if it requires you to self-report the essay score.
I just went through the list of top schools yesterday, trying to figure out which ones required the essay. I could only come up with the UCs and Amherst (though I didn’t check many LACs; I was into the upper 40s for US News national universities). It was amazing to me how many schools had dropped the requirement over the past year.
I would definitely check the standardized test requirements on each of the college’s websites. While you are at it, also check the method of reporting required. There has been a great deal of change over the past year and I would also recheck the websites in September as changes often occur over the summer. Do not rely on online lists compiled by other websites.
The Common App requires reporting the essay score, if that is the method of self-reporting. But, I don’t think the essay will matter much, if at all, for schools that don’t use it - hard to imagine it would turn into the tipping point for an individual app.