<p>Guiverfox, I completely disagree with you. My son is a Mechanical Engineering freshman this year. His high school GPA was high, but his test scores were on the very low end of admitted students. He would not have been admitted based on his test scores alone. He was not deferred or sent to DGS. He got in because of his strong essays!!! I know that is true. At a public university, if you have top test scores, you are in, but if your test scores are average or low, then you have to stand out some other way…and the way to do that is fantastic essays !!!</p>