SAT Essay: How much does it matter (if specific schools are important, mostly T20)

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

Hi CC,

I just scored a 1550 on March, on my first SAT. I got 760 EBRW and 790 Math. I am absolutely thrilled with my score, but today I found out that I got a 16 (5 5 6) on my essay. Word on the street is that this does not matter at all (I heard that Harvard recently announced they are getting rid of it all together), but I was hoping to get some more verification on that here.

Thanks!

2

I am looking to apply to Penn CAS, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, Emory, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt. (I also have safeties that I am guaranteed full tuition at, but there is no need to post them here because I met those auto admit requirements via PSAT).

3

Well, for starters, relatively few colleges (28 according to Princeton Review) require the SAT/ACT with essay. Even for those schools that do, I would posit that your writing in your essays would be more closely evaluated than your SAT essay scores. Harvard basically gave this as a reason, although not the only reason.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/3/20/harvard-drops-writing-scores/

4

I don’t think SAT essay scores are weighted very much, since not many schools require them. A really good SAT essay score may help, but I doubt a mediocre score will hurt your chances very much. Remember, the SAT essay is just one small portion of your application, and I would think the supplemental essays would be of much greater importance to colleges since they are tailored to what the colleges want to see out of the applicants.

5

@skieurope @gmjrom2022 thanks both!