<p>People might be interested in this article that came out in yesterday's Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>Many Colleges Ignore New SAT Writing Test --- Essay May Not Predict Academic Success, Critics Say; When the Results Can Help
By Charles Forelle
7 December 2005
The Wall Street Journal
(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)</p>
<p>Here are a few excerpts of the article: </p>
<p>
[quote]
The University of Chicago, Ohio State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other institutions say scores on the writing test won't figure into their admissions decisions this year. "We don't know what they mean," says Ted O'Neill, Chicago's dean of admissions. "We don't know what they predict." </p>
<p>"We are using it with a really skeptical eye," says Jess Lord, dean of admission and financial aid at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa. Mr. Lord says his office will consider the writing score but won't give it much weight if it's inconsistent with the rest of a student's application. </p>
<p>In a survey of 374 colleges conducted this summer by test-prep outfit Kaplan Inc., 47% said they were discounting the SAT writing section entirely. Twenty-two percent said they were assigning it less weight than the longstanding sections -- math and verbal. </p>
<p>Stephen Farmer, director of admission at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says his school will use the SAT writing score "sparingly if at all" in the first year but will keep the scores on file to see for future years whether they correlate well with academic performance. Still, he said admissions officers weren't entirely disregarding it. </p>
<p>Marilee Jones, dean of admissions at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., said she has concerns because the new test "did not come from the grass roots," and appeared rather to be a "business decision" to keep University of California applicants in the test-taking pool. Ms. Jones says she isn't confident in the grading system, which instructs graders to disregard factual errors in almost all circumstances. Instead, the emphasis is on rating language usage, structure and logical flow. </p>
<p>Some schools, however, are openly embracing the new test. "We are using it," says John Blackburn, dean of admissions at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He says his school has long relied on the supplemental SAT subject test for writing, on which the new SAT section is modeled. </p>
<p>At Ohio State University in Columbus, SAT writing scores won't be considered at least until 2008, said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions. Ohio State will analyze the scores for predictive value before deciding whether to use them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Many colleges aren't using the new writing section of the SAT when
assessing student applications this fall. A look at how some schools view
the section: </p>
<p>SCHOOL: College of the Holy Cross
LOCATION: Worcester, Mass.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: No. Dropped standardized testing requirement entirely this year, in part over "hysteria" surrounding writing test. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Dartmouth College
LOCATION: Hanover, N.H.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes, but "not weighing it very heavily" until more research is done. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Harvard University
LOCATION: Cambridge, Mass.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes. Admissions dean William Fitzsimmons hopes test will spur more writing instruction in high school. Harvard will be sensitive" to the fact that some students have less access to writing prep courses. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Haverford College
LOCATION: Haverford, Pa.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Only on a "case by case" basis. Admissions dean says he is skeptical of the scoring. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
LOCATION: Cambridge, Mass.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: No. MIT says it needs more data and more time to study them; dean is "not confident" in scoring system. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Ohio State University
LOCATION: Columbus, Ohio
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: No. Not until 2008 at the earliest. Would like to use it if validated by research. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: Stanford University
LOCATION: Stanford, Calif.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes. "I'm confident about the research that went into it," says admissions dean Richard Shaw. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes, but "sparingly" until "we know what this test predicts," says admissions dean. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: University of Virginia
LOCATION: Charlottesville, Va.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes. The more information the better, says admissions dean. </p>
<p>SCHOOL: University of Wisconsin-Madison
LOCATION: Madison, Wis.
USING THE WRITING SECTION?: Yes -- either SAT or ACT with writing is required. Admissions director says "writing is a critical skill." </p>
<p>Note: A detailed list of schools from Kaplan Inc.'s survey is online at <a href="http://www.kaptest.com/SATsurvey%5B/url%5D">www.kaptest.com/SATsurvey</a></p>