After two years of observation and analysis, officials say they still do not know if the SAT writing section will ever become integrated into the Georgetown undergraduate admissions process.
The university’s Office of Admissions does not have a timeline for deciding if or when it will consider the SAT writing section, according to Melissa Costanzi (FLL ’95), senior associate director of admissions.
“Right now we’re trying to follow the data,” Costanzi said. “Two years worth of data really isn’t enough.”
The Admissions Office is looking at scores from the SAT Writing section for the past two years and will continue to follow the College Board’s reported scores to determine the validity of the test. Costanzi said that at least five years of data will be necessary to determine how Georgetown will handle the SAT Writing section. The College Board instituted the 25-minute writing portion of the SAT two years ago.
“We’re sort of in a watch-and-wait pattern,” Costanzi said. “We want to do what’s best for our applicants.”
Georgetown is not the only school questioning the test. Many other schools are also reconsidering their admissions policies.
“They’re not using the SAT writing section as much as they thought they would,” Costanzi said.
Stu Schmill, interim director of undergraduate admissions at the assachusetts Institute of Technology, said that MIT also does not take the SAT writing score into account when reviewing applications, since administrators are unsure whether the test is a good measure of writing ability.
“We’re not sure what it tells us about applicants,” he said.
MIT will look at how students do in MIT writing classes this year to determine what their SAT writing score indicates. A report on their findings will likely be released next year, Schmill said.
According to a recent Boston Globe article, just less than half of the approximately 1,000 four-year colleges nationwide consider the writing section as a factor in the admissions process.
The University of Southern California is one of them. Kirk Brennan, assistant dean in the office of admissions at USC, said the writing score receives just as much weight as the math and verbal scores.
“The research correlates to [the writing section score] being reliable,” Brennan said.
It is rare the SAT is a swing factor for an applicant to USC, Brennan said.
“We take into account an applicant’s life story as they present it to us,” he said. “The SAT is one blip in that story.”
While colleges determine policies regarding the writing section, students still have to sit the extra time for the new, but mandatory, portion of the exam.
Claire McCarthy (COL ’11) said she does not think the SAT writing score should play a factor in college admissions.
“I believe my quality of writing is better shown through a polished piece of work,” she said. “That’s why there’s an admissions essay.”
