New SAT with essay

DS18 took the first sitting of the new PSAT in March and scored 1490 (reading/writing 720 and math 770 essay 7/8/8). He feels with more prep he can increase both his reading and writing and math scores but is happy with the essay score. He will be retaking the SAT in OCT. For UTD does he have to take the optional essay portion again for the second test to be considered or will his essay scores on the first test suffice?

I would call there and ask. I have had the same question - daughter was not 100% happy with her M and CRW scores but got 8/8/8 on the essay, so it seems senseless to repeat it. One person reported on another thread here at CC that Princeton would superscore only if both tests included the essay. UTD may be different.

ETA: 1490 is a great score!

@mamaedefamilia I wrote to admissions and their response was simply that they superscore both new and old SATs but didn’t say anything specifically about the essay. Since the College Board lists UTD as a school that “recommends” the optional essay but not one that requires it, I’m not going to have my DS retake the essay portion in Oct.