Why Colleges Ask You To Write Essays

Why Colleges Ask You To Write Essays Otherwise, you should be able to save yourself the headache. I am not aware of any college that allows the fulfillment of the essay requirement with one test while using the scores from a different exam. You will need to take the ACT with Writing if you are considering colleges that require the essay. The 8 score is not that out of the norm, so I wouldn’t give it much weight in the decision. About 2/3 of colleges superscore the ACT, so I would send both scores in those cases (that way he has a 36 Reading / 36 Science). What difference do you want to make in the world? Where specifically are you going with your life? Research on education shows that the strongest predictor of a student’s success is how detailed and specific their picture is of the future. This is the most important work we do, as individuals and communities. Explain your commitments, and you will be the kind of student colleges find immensely attractive. It’s less important at schools that do not superscore, but I would still be comfortable submitting both scores. We recognize that the essay is becoming increasingly less relevant in admissions, and we have plans to revisit this list and put the “Optional” schools in better context. I believe the vast, vast majority of the colleges you list as “Optional” similarly don’t even consider a writing score. Topics like death and divorce are cautionary because they can be extremely difficult to write about. While these topics are tough, if you feel passionately that a particular tragedy impacted your life significantly and you do want to write about it, try to keep the essay’s focus on you. Think about your feelings regarding the situation, how it affected you and what you learned from the experience rather than just simply recalling the situation or the person you lost. Yet, it is still short enough that it does not need footnotes and cited resources, usually. 500-word essays do not have to be exactly 500 words, but they should be as close as possible. The essay prompt may say “in under 500 words” or “in at least 500 words,” which would state whether 500 is the minimum or maximum word count. If that information is not specified, write as much as you need to comprehensively address the prompt without frivolous content. My teacher mentioned an interesting one about basketball, and the entire essay was a metaphor for the writers view on life. Of the colleges that superscore ACT scores, I am not aware of any that will not superscore between ACT W/Writing and ACT W/O Writing. If you are applying to the University of California system, I would recommend repeating the essay. The following table of 360 popular colleges provides a wide range of institutions and policies. In general, we find that less competitive colleges are less likely to require either essay. These questions should inform your entire college application process. NSHSS is a distinguished academic honor society, committed to recognizing and serving the highest-achieving student scholars in more than 26,000 high schools across 170 countries. Special talents, unique skills, or experiences that lend to an interesting student body. A high school student who goes beyond his or her academic endeavors to develop skills in sports, creative arts, journalism, or anything else can gain an edge. In your application, consider including evidence of such things that make you stand out (i.e. a CD, DVD, or YouTube video of your talent, a portfolio of your work, a research abstract, etc). What’s most curious about the college essay is that many of the topics on this list also happen to be some of the most commonly used topics out there. Make sure that your teachers and colleagues understand the role of the essay in college applications. According to the College Board report Admissions Decision-Making Models, admission officers have expressed concern about how much assistance students receive in preparing an essay. Colleges with essay optional policies often do not specify whether submitted essay scores will be used for admission. When the college explicitly states that scores will not be evaluated, we have listed the policy as “Not Considered.” “Optional” should not be interpreted as meaning that the college uses submitted scores. We recommend contacting the school if you have specific questions.