<p>On another thread, someone posted a long statistics pdf from Harvard on admissions:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf</a> </p>
<p>I noticed it said that Harvard considers the SAT essay for admissions and placement. Ugh. My son only got a 9. He's a better writer than that but said he misread the question and then had to sort of bring the essay back around on topic. He is done with the SAT but a 730 on writing with a 9 on the essay probably doesn't look too good (800 on math and 790 on critical reading are fine)....I guess he'll have to write some killer essays for applications so they can forget about his lousy SAT essay. :-)</p>
<p>WOW, I’m so glad my mom didn’t call my 730 subject test score “lousy.” It’s a good score; you should be proud of him. A 9 on the essay isn’t going to kill his app. Chilllllllllllllllllllllllllll</p>
<p>Oh, the 730 was fine (though he got a 78 on the PSAT). He was the one who called his essay lousy; I read it and thought it was pretty good but he was unhappy. He came home bummed because he’d misread the question.</p>
<p>Wow, my BEST essay was a 9. If a 9 is “lousy” for your son, then he should do fine on his application essays and can write a killer essay if he takes the SAT or ACT a second time. I’ll find out tomorrow if Harvard is willing to accept me despite my 9.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think [hope] they don’t weight the SAT essay nearly as much as application essays, since the SAT essay is written about a specific prompt under timed circumstances, and it is only meant to be a rough draft.</p>