Why raising your score on the SAT Essay can dramatically increase your chances of getting into colle

According to a survey of college admissions officers at 374 schools conducted at Kaplan, as much as 58 percent of colleges will be checking the SAT essays of applicants for potential writing level discrepancies, while 15 percent will be evaluating the SAT essay of all applicants. Timothy Brunold, dean of undergraduate admissions at USC said, "we will definitely take a look at the SAT essay if the student scored poorly on the writing section but wrote a brilliant personal essay." Lee Stetson, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, says the essay test will give admissions officers a better feel for applicants' writing and verbal skills and their ability to perform under ``constraint.'' Ted Spencer, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and trustee of the College Board stated, "The SAT essay will be a first draft, written under timed conditions not unlike the on-demand writing of a college "blue book" exam. It will complement the student's traditional application essay and give us a better, more complete understanding of the student's writing abilities." Jerome A Lucido Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Director of Undergraduate Admissions of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that the SAT writing sample "will make the exam a more relevant and useful tool for evaluating student performance, for predicting college success, and for stimulating the high school curriculum." Ben Streetman, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin said, "This new requirement will be a great help to us in choosing students who can succeed in engineering. One of the most important skills an engineer has is the ability to present his or her ideas verbally and in writing. Virtually every engineering project begins with a written proposal, requires interim reports and culminates in a written summary. Professional success in engineering depends not only on the ability to apply the techniques of math and science to solve problems, but also on the engineer's ability to write those proposals and reports in a way that helps others understand the work." What does this mean for your student?