<p>Is it really true that the most </p>
<p>I'm in the same boat as you: 800 writing, and yes, it's true that most colleges won't consider it. However, some colleges will still a.) see it and be impressed, b.) use it for placement/ credit or c.) regard it in the same way as an SAT II. What each school does depends on the school. If you go to collegeboard.com, go to the college you are interested in and click on SAT/ AP/ CLEP on its profile. There should be a section if your scroll down telling how the school regards the writing section.</p>
<p>I just find it odd that these schools require the writing section when students take the ACT, but usually don't consider the writing section of the SAT when making decisions.</p>
<p>a lot of it has to do with the way the schools use the two tests. one of the major uses of the test is to draw some correlation between a student's test scores and a student's performance at the school. most schools feel they can't draw any meaningful conclusions until they have at least one four-year cycle's worth of test scores and performance to correlate. that's one reason they request the scores for now but still don't consider them in your application. they're gathering data that might be used in the future.</p>
<p>I've been told that they require the writing section so that they can compare apples to apples. Meaning that everyone needs to be in the room for the same amount of time, be given the same amount of work, etc., so that the tests would be fair. I've heard that same comment in two different college info sessions.</p>
<p>can you elaborate? i'm not sure i understand how that makes sense.</p>
<p>i think he means as opposed to the actual college essay. For that essay, colleges have no idea how many hours a particular student may have spent on it, or what sort of help he may have received. With the SAT essay, adcoms know everyone is under the same conditions so it's easier to compare writing abilities</p>
<p>ahhh. that makes a lot more sense. the only thing i'd say about that is that the SAT scoring is horrible. if i were an adcom and i saw somebody with a 6 on the SAT essay, i wouldn't know if that meant he was the worst writer in the world or the next ernest hemingway.</p>
<p>Colleges do pay attention to writing scores.. but consider it to be like an SAT II rather than part of the SAT!</p>
<p>Depends on the college. I've read that a lot of schools only use it to verify that your admissions essay is believeable.</p>
<p>I would guess the ivies do use the writing score, since you need at least 700 in writing to get 2300 plus assuming you have 1600 with M+CR. </p>
<p>my 2 cents</p>
<p>my contact at notre dame said they don't use the writing score for anything yet. my guy at uf says the same. if anybody's interested in those two places.</p>
<p>The following is from Yale's website:
New SAT Subject Test Requirement
For the coming admissions cycle, Yale will require only two SAT II Subject Tests in addition to the SAT I. Please note that this is a change from the previously required three Subject Tests. If you have chosen to take the ACT with the optional writing section, you are not required to submit any SAT scores. <a href="http://www.yale.edu/admit/news/sat.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/admit/news/sat.html</a></p>
<p>This suggests that Yale is considering the writing section maybe like SAT II, since it requires only two SAT II tests.</p>
<p>I wish they used the writing section</p>
<p>I think more colleges will use it, since colleges do have two year's data to form the baseline.</p>
<p>A year ago, Kaplan did a survey about which colleges cared about the SAT Writing and which didn't. It varies quite a bit at every tier of admissions. Their complete results are still online:</p>
<p>This survey is at least a year old, so some colleges may have changed policies. Still, it gives you a good big-picture snapshot of the situation. The takeaway: writing section policy varies enormously from school to school.</p>
<p>wzzzz, I agree with you that more schools will begin (or are beginning) to look at the Writing section now that it's becoming more established. I also think it's pretty likely that those schools who said last year that they were giving the Writing section equal weight, are continuing to give it equal weight.</p>