Do Colleges Worry About SAT Essay? More Schools Admissions Drop Essay

As teenagers nervously go to the SATs or ACTs this fall, there’s one thing they could not have to concern yourself with: writing the dreaded essay.

Progressively more elite universities and colleges, including Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Duke therefore the University of Michigan, have announced in recent months that they will no longer require essay that is SAT ACT essay scores for admission.

Colleges That Don’t Require SAT Essay

They join smaller colleges and universities who started tossing the requirement in the past, said Christine M. Hall, owner of North Carolina-based CMH College Consulting. These higher education institutions are encouraging students to turn in a graded paper from a high school class instead in some cases.

“It’s just now that the leagues that are big getting up to speed,” Hall said.

One basis for the change is cost. In the united states, low-income students usually takes the SAT for free through the school day, however these test-taking opportunities do not necessarily range from the essay section.

To use the essay test, students typically must travel to a testing site on a and come up with the registration fee or apply for a fee waiver saturday. It costs roughly $16 and $17 more to register when it comes to portion that is writing of SAT or ACT.

“Our goal is the fact that for just about any talented student interested in Brown, the application form process is not a deterrent. We don’t want this test to be a barrier for their application,”said Logan Powell, Brown’s dean of admission, in a news release about his decision to get rid of the requirement.

Valid Assessment?

Others have questioned perhaps the essays are a assessment that is valid of student’s writing skills. In the essay that is SAT for example, test takers get 50 minutes to essaypro read through a passage and explain how the author builds a quarrel, in line with the College Board’s Web site.

“Good writing takes time,” Hall says. “Just you’re an excellent writer. as you can write fast doesn’t mean”

Teens, of course, might be celebrating a shorter test, but Hall explained they can’t completely let their guard down. Here are three things college-bound teens and their parents still need to bear in mind as universites and colleges drop the test essay requirement.

While many universites and colleges no longer require the score from the SAT writing portion or the ACT essay, some say they’ll still contemplate it included in a student’s overall application. Others require it. Plus some of those institutions say they’ve been evaluating their current position.

This means that, there’s a complete lot of flux.

If students intend on attending a college of their state or nearby, high school guidance counselors likely will have the information about if they need essay test scores, Hall states.

Once students begin considering schools outside of their state or region, parents and students needs to do their research, so they really know exactly what they’ll need to fill out the college applications with regards to their target schools successfully.

With additional concentrate on science, technology, engineering and math careers, Hall says she sees many parents steering their children toward Advanced Placement science and math classes and far from AP humanities courses in English or history.

But now, some colleges are asking students to submit papers that are graded element of their college education. Accordingly, Hall says parents should think hard about letting their students avoid these rigorous, writing courses that are intensive.

“Those are the classes where they’re going to produce those papers,” she explains.

When graded papers are required included in their applications, students will have to ensure they have those papers to make in. The thing that is last want is a frantic search for that 11th grade English paper if your wanting to can hit “send” on a college application.

To make certain they will have everything they want, Hall recommends students keep their highest-graded operate in one place. That way they will have it readily available when it is time for you to apply to college.

“They need certainly to start making a portfolio and keeping track,” says Hall.

For a few students, the move away from essay tests and toward graded papers would be a boon. Hall recently worked with a top school valedictorian whose SAT score was too low on her behalf highly dream school that is selective. But the institution was a school that is test-optional prospective students could turn in a paper instead. And this student had a complex and expressive argumentative paper from a high school class.

“She submitted it. And they admitted her,” says Hall. “I’m so glad they had that option for her. This is the girl’s strength.”

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall is a journalist that is longtime freelance writer specializing in parenting, personal finance, health, and entrepreneurship topics.