<p>I keep hearing different things. Does Northwestern (liberal arts school) place ANY weight on SAT writing, less weight than CR + M, or no weight on it (i.e. looks at /1600 score). Thank you! And please answer if you know how they do it now. I know that previously they put no weight on it but I think this is no longer the case.</p>
<p>They do not consider it. SATs are viewed on 1600 scale.</p>
<p>Incorrect. The SAT Writing IS considered. It would be counterintuitive to take an evaluative tool and completely disregard it. When sifting through thousands of applications, the Writing portion is one of the rare things that virtually all applicants have in common.</p>
<p>It is not as important as CR or M since the SATs are based on a 1600 scale. However, the Writing portion is considered. Look at this way, the SAT Writing portion was originally introduced as a replacement for SAT II English/Writing. NU will provide that amount of weight.</p>
<p>SAT Writing basically is looked at the same way SAT IIs are.</p>
<p>Does either of you have support supprt for your claim?</p>
<p>At a seminar during a visit this year, I remember that the speaker stated that the writing portion is disregarded - at least for WCAS. I have read somewhere on these boards that Medill does look at your SAT writing. If you look at recent newscenter publications such as the following: [Northwestern</a> Freshman Class Has Record SAT Scores, Class Ranking : Northwestern University Newscenter](<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2009/05/froshadmissions.html]Northwestern”>Northwestern Freshman Class Has Record SAT Scores, Class Ranking: Northwestern University News), you will notice they report scores on a 1600 scale. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, if you look at following, you will notice that NU requires that the ACT is to be taken with the optional writing section:
[SAT/ACT</a> Frequently asked questions, Freshman, Office of Undergraduate Admission - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/faq/sat-act.htm]SAT/ACT”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/faq/sat-act.htm)</p>
<p>I personally wouldn’t risk it and try to get the best score possible across the board - whether or not NU looks at writing scores or not should not determine your performance on the test.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone else on these boards can provide a more conclusive answer, but at the very least the CR + Math section is more important than the Writing section on the reasoning test - but I believe this to be the case at most schools.</p>
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<p>Woops. </p>
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<p>I don’t believe so. There are indeed a few schools that completely disregard the Writing section, but I haven’t seen any evidence that the Writing section is given less weight at the schools that do consider it. The Writing section, after all, is the best predictor of college GPA.</p>
<p>Ah, dear silverturtle, I am willing to concede, but now may I request you provide support?:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Validity_of_the_SAT_for_Predicting_First_Year_College_Grade_Point_Average.pdf[/url]”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Validity_of_the_SAT_for_Predicting_First_Year_College_Grade_Point_Average.pdf</a></p>
<p>Page 10 of the PDF.</p>
<p>I agree with you on the SATW predicting college gpa - although personally I would use this study <a href=“http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/New%20SAT.pdf[/url]”>http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/New%20SAT.pdf</a> instead of the collegeboard study lest the latter be accused of a breach of objectivity.</p>
<p>I was actually more interested in the statement:
which was the OP’s question in the first place.</p>
<p>Regardless I think we can all agree that all prospective students should try their best on all sections of the SAT.</p>
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<p>Yes, I agree.</p>
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<p>You want me to provide support for the claim that I haven’t seen evidence for something?</p>
<p>No, I was initially asked you to provide support because I made the conjecture that by “not seeing any evidence that the Writing section is given less weight” you meant, by extension, that “the Writing section is thus considered equally as CR+Math.” I know this to not be absolute, and you may have not meant it; thus, the second time I used your quote I was simply remarking that I was interested in whether or not schools consider certain sections on the SAT more importantly than others and their rationale.</p>
<p>For the last time. Northwestern does not consider the writing section of the SAT.</p>
<p>the writing score is blacked out before admissions even views the application. This was told to me at a “Northwestern comes to you” conference by an admissions officer.</p>
<p>I know many people who work in admissions (including AdComs).</p>
<p>I also once asked them because I was curious.</p>
<p>Can this speculation please end now?</p>
<p>At the end of the day, you should always try to do as well on many evaluations as possible. Is anyone going to not study for SAT Writing because they think NU doesn’t look at it? At the very least, virtually all other schools evaluate SAT Writing. Even if youre applying ED to NU, assume you won’t get in and will need to fill out other apps.</p>
<p>The problem here is that you are giving false information. To NU admissions all 2100’s are not treated equally. A student with a M-750-CR-750-W-600 has a far higher chance of admission than a student with M-700-CR-600-W-800. This is a fact and is true at virtually all highly selective schools. Please stop wasting time and go back and read the detailed threads from previous years. To understand why keep in mind that the grammar of the essay is completely ignored.</p>
<p>I got in contact with a few people that teach/ are on the admissions committee and the verdict is that they look at your 1600 score but also take into account writing with the same weight as a subject test… which is basically what some people said.</p>
<p>Maybe so but the key point is that W has far less importance than the M-CR scores. No one has ever said it’s not better to have all high scores but that prospective students can better access their admission chances by looking at their M-CR/1600 scores rather than using the 2400 scale if they have unevenly balanced scores.</p>
<p>writing is still a relatively new section to the sat, so many colleges including northwestern don’t give it as much weight as m+v. maybe this will change over time…who knows.</p>
<p>I asked this exact question at my visit. </p>
<p>“We don’t exactly know whether or not the SAT Writing is a good indicator of a student’s success in college. We take a look at it but focus mostly on M + CR. Less important that SAT Subject tests.”</p>
<p>Please read my first post in this thread. </p>
<p>Writing matters, but not as much as CR or M. NU still is working on figuring out how Writing scores affect the quality of an applicant. So in the meantime, it is basically relegating Writing to an SAT II.</p>
<p>For those (mainly “SAY”) who have trouble reading what people who have correct information point out, I would suggest working on SAT Writing…mainly for the practice.</p>