<p>We've gotten the sense that the writing portion of the SAT is substantially less important than the other two sections in the college application process. We've heard this anecdotally and from a couple of college counselors. Something alike a 650/750/750 R/M/W is substantially worse than a 750/750/650. Is there any truth to this?</p>
<p>It depends on the colleges but many colleges do not consider Writing score</p>
<p>Why not email the admissions depts at the schools you’re interested in and see if they say so. Obviously, there’s a chance they’ll give you the politically correct answer, but there’s a lot of honest people in the education field too 
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<p>The only reason why I would say they give less credence to the writing score is because the essay is graded in a very short time and scores are not consistent with the quality of writing. For example, I read that a published author who has her work used in the reading passages of the SAT and also holds a Ph.D. got a 10 on her Essay with her son getting an 11 using MLK as an example (for the billionth time) in his essay. </p>
<p>As the writing part is relatively new and many schools still pay more attention to the Math and CR scores. Those schools usually report their admission stat of SAT in 1600 scale. The SAT is going back to 1600 scale in a couple years.</p>
<p>@billcsho Good point. History definitely plays a role in this value as well. </p>
<p>In general, that is correct. Some schools do not consider the W section at all, and many others deemphasize it. After all, there’s no situation in college when a student will be asked to write a timed 25-minute essay, with no preparation, on a vague “philosophical” topic like the SAT essay. </p>
<p>Yes, generally less important than those two.</p>