<p>Pretty much what the title says. I got a 1490 on the CR + M portion of the SATs while my Writing is an abysmal 550 (12 on the essay). For UR, does the CR + M have more clout or are all 3 sections weighted equally? I tried to search the answer but didn't come with any results :/ Thanks!</p>
<p>This doesn't really answer your question, but I just wanted to comment on how I think it's odd that in my experience, the SAT Writing scores always tend to be great in one portion and not so great in the other. You didn't do well with the grammar, but got a perfect score on your essay. In my case, I literally only missed one or two questions in the grammar section, but got horrible scores on my essays every single time - 7's and 8's. </p>
<p>With most of my high school friends, that is the case as well. I guess the SAT graders just don't want us to succeed ;) Haha.</p>
<p>Yeah, I understand what you're saying. English is my third language - so, a lot of the technical grammar stuff kinda gets over my head, especially the way it's formatted it on the SAT. But it also seems that colleges are not yet consistent on how much they weigh the SAT Writing in admission. For example, my in-state public unis now use it as an admission factor (UF and FSU) while some other schools such as UChicago and College of William & Mary don't factor it at all. I wish there was some sort of explicit list that states what all the major colleges/universities' policies are on the SAT Writing.</p>
<p>You are right that there is a lot of inconsistency with the use of the writing portion of the SAT among colleges. It is still a pretty new test and our faculty tend to want to study whether or not there is any correlation between how well students do on the writing section and then how well they perform once they attend the University. With a small school like Richmond, it takes years to build up enough data to statistically determine the value of the test in predicting performance. That's why you are seeing so much variation in practices. </p>
<p>At Richmond, our process is holistic, so there is not a particular percentage of weight that sits on any single factor. In your case, I wouldn't be concerned about your writing score because English is your third language so long as the writing sample you submit to us is sound. You mention the 1490 but not the breakdown between CR and M, so I would want to see a strong enough CR, though. There is not an absolute writing score that eliminates any one from consideration. </p>
<p>I hope that helps a bit.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification UR Admissions! I submitted both my supplement and CommonApp right before New Years (I wish I turned it just 2 weeks earlier so I could've been eligible for the Richmond Scholars :/).</p>
<p>My CR (760) score is actually higher than my M (730) score, so hopefully my poor Writing score is just a flux. Also, I was wondering a couple things as well...</p>
<p>1) I noticed UR doesn't require a teacher recommendation but can we still turn one in? Is there anyway to send a recommendation letter through the CommonApp website because the teacher I want mine to be sent had a family emergency a month ago and there is not way to contact her to send one via snail mail.
2) Also, can we send in supplemental material as well, and do we have to send it through snail mail or can I just email it as an attachment to someone in admissions?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>UR Admissions, I have a question. In your holistic approach to evaluating an applicant, does it go so far as to match up, for example, a strong Writing score and a top AP English Language score (5) with an intended major of communications or journalism? Same for a math/science score with an intended, say, engineering major? Just curious. And thanks for the constant input. It is great!</p>
<p>For 25252525---</p>
<p>That's a good question. For the most part I would say that we are looking for students who are broadly prepared for success in a liberal arts curriculum, so that means strength across disciplines although they might not all be equally strong, none of them can be particularly weak either. We are not trying to fill particular majors with certain numbers of students since most of our students change their minds several times about a major--what they say on the application about intended major doesn't often hold up over time. However, if someone says they want to major in business, but their math background is weak, that would cause me some measure of concern about their likelihood for success. On the other end of the spectrum, if we've got someone with particularly high scores in a certain area and those align with the academic interests they've stated, that can never be a bad thing. I hope that gets at the heart of your question. </p>
<p>Rockerasj--
You are correct that we do not require teacher recommendations beyond the main school recommendation although many students choose to submit them anyway. We do ask that if you submit additional letters, you send no more than 2-3. (We had someone send about 47 (I'm not kidding!) a few years ago, hence the decision to state a limit. And no, for you black/white thinkers out there, we won't throw your stuff away if you send 4. . . but remember how much we have to a: file and b: read.) Yes, teacher recommendations can be submitted through Common App's system. </p>
<p>As for supplemental materials, it kind of depends on what you plan to send. . . The easiest thing for us is for you to send it snail mail. But I would be judicious about supplemental stuff. We unfortunately are not going to have time to look at every video presentation, every powerpoint, every newspaper article in which your name appears, nor are we going to pop in CD-Rom's or DVD's while we're reading your file. Old ballet shoes decorated with Spiders, glossy photos etc. really aren't helpful either. Please don't send us anything you are going to want back, either. That sounds really negative maybe, and I don't want to sound mean about it, but our time is of the essence, so you should be careful only to send us things that you believe will be crucial to our ability to find your essence. If we get bogged down in every tiny detail, it is easy to miss the big picture. </p>
<p>Cheers in the New Year!</p>