how much do schools care about your ssat essay?

Prep School Admissions
21

<p>me too.</p>

<p>tencharrrrrr!
ssrs.</p>

22

<p>I don’t think they really consider those essays, especially since you only get a few minutes to write them.</p>

23

<p>What about the essay that Middlesex makes you write at the interview? I would assume the SSAT essay and that essay have a lot of weight since you really didn’t have a major essay to write with the Middlesex application.</p>

24

<p>most schools will Not see your essay. It is physically difficult to read. The only time the ssat essay counts is when you are getting A’s in English, your English teacher rec calls you the next Hemingway and you have a super low score - in that case the schools will request to see it, (especially if they are interested in you). Otherwise its just a subset on a test</p>

25

<p>I wondered about the legibility of it. I have seen the scans of the SAT essay when my son took that and it was kind of fuzzy, but readable…his penmanship notwithstanding.</p>

26

<p>My essay was: “Some people change in light others change in head. Do you agree or disagree with this statement. Use examples from experience or literature.”</p>

<p>This really threw me off. Worst. Essay. Ever. To. Exist.</p>

27

<p>^ im glad i didnt have that one. dont worry, mine was probably worse than that.</p>

28

<p>Wow elmo, I don’t even think I understand what the prompt means!</p>

29

<p>mine was “is it better to judge people by their actions or their intentions” and I wrote something about how intentions tell more about who a person is, but after they do something you can never know for sure what they ment.<- yes I did spell it that way : ( it was a major fail…</p>

30

<p>@mhmm where did you get that information from? I am pretty sure the school will at least look at the essay if they require it for the admissions process.</p>

31

<p>Oh whoops I meant heat. Either way… absolutely insane.</p>

32

<p>it makes a bit more sense with heat. but, i still dont know what it means.</p>

33

<p>I found a post from the user emdee on this thread, <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/787025-ssats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/787025-ssats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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34

<p>I think the SSAT essay is very important, but not in the way you might think. They use it to see if your essays were your own. If you have a kid who writes on a 5th grade level in his SSAT test, but then hands in a wonderful, thought provoking essay, it makes you wonder. I had a student who was in 8th grade but who wrote compelling, top essays, that you could hardly beleive she wrote. An admissions dean told me that they loved her writing, and were so happy when they pulled out her SSAT essay and it was more of the same!</p>

<p>I think it is important for international students too. Many agents in China, for example, write the essays for the student, so schools are careful to compare the SSAT essay.</p>