Updated January 19, 2021 - The CollegeBoard has discontinued the SAT essay. At this point, only a handful of schools schools require or recommend the ACT Writing (essay).
Updated May 22, 2020 - Over the last two years, a variety of high-profile colleges have announced that the SAT/ACT essay will now be optional for applicants to their schools because they believe a single essay cannot reliably predict a student’s college writing capabilities. As of this posting, only a few colleges require or recommend the SAT/ACT essay. Finally, Princeton, in a move mimicked by Brown (and likely other colleges soon), has made the SAT/ACT essay optional, but instead requires all applicants to submit a graded writing sample. Should YOU plan to take the SAT/ACT essay? Here’s how to decide.
Why does this decision matter?
If you don’t take the SAT/ACT essay now but then later decide to apply to colleges that require it, you cannot take the ACT Writing (essay) section by itself—you would need to retake the entire test.
Making the decision, in a nutshell
Most students no longer need to take the ACT Writing (essay) section. Take the essay if either of the following is true:
1. There is a reasonable possibility that you will decide to apply to one of the few colleges that require the SAT/ACT essay, OR
2. There is a reasonable possibility that you will apply to “reach” or “match” colleges that recommend the essay, OR
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As with so many decisions in the testing/college admissions process, choosing whether to take the ACT essay depends on your college list. -Check out this post for basic guidance on starting your college list. -When you're ready to talk more about your college list, sign up for North to My Future, your free college admissions strategy session. -Finally, when you're ready for professional guidance on finalizing your college list, check out our premium college admissions consulting programs. |
3. You have already performed reasonably well (7+ out of 12 on the ACT)1 on a practice ACT essay. Why do we say this? If you’re already reasonably proficient (or better) on the ACT essay, it will be relatively straightforward to improve your score during the ACT prep you're already planning to do. Our ACT Prep Class include essay prep at no additional charge (for ACT Individual Prep programs, you have the option to add one hour of essay instruction), and essay prep requires a minimal time investment. For example, in our ACT Prep Class, we spend about 1.5 hours of class time covering the essay, and over the last 12 months, students who took the essay improved their essay score an average of 1.8 points (on the 2-12 scale).
Because improving your essay score is relatively straightforward if you are already proficient in writing, you may as well briefly prepare for and then take the essay to showcase your skills for colleges that fall in the “essay recommend” camp.
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Need to check your essay skills? Our free practice ACT tests include an essay score and rubric. |
Consider skipping the essay if ALL of the following are true:
1. You know with reasonable certainty that you will not be applying to ANY colleges that require the ACT essay, AND
2. You scored below average (under 7 out of 12 on the ACT) on a practice ACT essay, indicating it could be more difficult to improve your score into a competitive range. (Note: If you are taking the ACT Prep Class, where essay prep is included in the class, we recommend completing essay prep anyway to see where your score falls by Practice Test 2.)
Additional Considerations
Benefits of Taking the Essay
-The essay is an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in writing. It's an easy way to give your admissions profile a boost (albeit a small one), especially if you’re already good at writing, or if you want to showcase your skills in writing to help compensate for lower grades in English classes.
-Compared to the rest of the ACT, preparing for the essay often requires only a small time investment to achieve meaningful improvement (see what we wrote above).
-If you take the essay and achieve a reasonable score, you won't have to worry about the essay requirement/recommendation as you finalize your college list.
Drawbacks of Taking the Essay
-Taking the essay will require an additional 40 minutes of your time on test day, plus, if you prep with Frontier Tutoring, an hour or two of dedicated preparation time. Registering for the official ACT essay also costs an extra $25.
-It's theoretically possible that you could perform very poorly on the essay on test day. However, assuming you prepare ahead of time, this outcome is unlikely—generally, you should expect to score in the same range as your most recent practice test indicates. Additionally, it has been acknowledged that the essay has dubious predictive validity, so scoring slightly below your target score on the essay is unlikely to be materially harmful for admissions purposes. Ultimately, you have more to gain than you have to lose by preparing for and taking the essay.
Bottom Line
If there’s a reasonable chance you’ll be applying to colleges that require or recommend the SAT/ACT essay, go ahead and take it. Like most things that have to do with college admissions, that means the starting point for this decision is developing a preliminary college list—it’s as simple and as complicated as that. The good news is that we have plenty of resources to help you on your journey. Below is a summary of the resources we have discussed in this post to get you started. As always, please feel free to contact us with questions about your individual situation.
Additional Resources
North to My Future (free college admissions strategy session)
College Admissions Consulting Programs
The Ultimate Guide to Designing Your SAT/ACT Prep Strategy
The Frontier 49 (GPA and SAT/ACT norms for admitted applicants at 49 popular colleges)
Colleges That Require the SAT/ACT Essay
List current as of August 2021. May not be exhaustive; verify all colleges on your list before making your decision
- Martin Luther College
- Molloy College
- Soka University of America
- United States Military Academy (West Point)
- University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
- University of Montana Western
- Wyoming Catholic College
- Yellowstone Christian College
Colleges That Recommend the SAT/ACT Essay
List current as of August 2021. May not be exhaustive; verify all colleges on your list before making your decision
- Colorado School of Mines (CO)
- Bethune-Cookman University (FL)
- Morehouse College (GA)
- Molloy College (NY)
- Hardin-Simmons University (TX)
- Brigham Young University (UT)
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1These are the approximate national average scores for the SAT/ACT essay sections. Source: CollegeBoard and ACT, Inc. 2017 National Reports. While it is not straightforward to determine median essay scores for admitted students (in contrast to determining median overall SAT/ACT scores for admitted students), certain schools do make this information public. We don't recommend investing significant time in calculating an exact target score for the essay itself; the more meaningful decision is whether or not to take it, and if you are taking it, then preparing sufficiently to achieve a respectable score.