So My scores dropped

So in August I took the SAT with the Essay and got a 1540 and 15 on the essay. I wasn’t happy with my essay so I decided to take it again in December. I wasn’t feeling very good on the day of the test and I really lost a lot of confidence on my test after the reading section, but I dealt I did a lot better on my essay so I decided to not cancel my score. Now I got my results and it is a 1480:( but a 19 on my essay. How bad will this hurt my chances into getting into some of the top-30 colleges. And what should I do to like. My chances into getting into those schools? ( I’m a junior)

can you just send the higher score and don’t bother sending the essay? nobody requires it. especially if you have a good AP Lang score and grade, then why would anyone feel they need to see your SAT essay to make sure you can write?

Don’t colleges ask for transcript like formats from College board that includes all your scores for verification

Georgetown does. I don’t know of any others, but they could exist.

Most schools don’t consider your lower scores, so don’t worry about it. Your 1540 is a very good score.

I saw a study a few years ago that showed that as much as 40% of already -high scoring students will get a lower score on retake. Your score was great. Why tempt fate? Do not take it again.

Yes, just send your first score (unless applying to one of the very, very few schools requiring all scores). Very few schools will care about the essay score.

No, you can’t.