<p>Some people are telling me that Northwestern only looks at the CR and M sections of the SAT - is that true?</p>
<p>No… They consider everything. However, a good CR and M score also reflect well on an applicant.</p>
<p>A way to assess this is to look at the admissions scattergrams at College Data. They compile and graph the average GPA and SAT for accepted and rejected students. If a section of the SAT is ignored, the spread between accepted and rejected will be small, as it will reflect only the correlation of that section with other measures. Alternatively, if an SAT section is considered by Admissions, it will have a direct effect, and you will see a larger spread between the accepteds and rejecteds. Take a look at the Northwestern scattergrams for various measures such as SAT 1600 and 2400, and tell us whether you think Northwestern is considering or ignoring SAT W.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?classYear=2012&schoolId=1803[/url]”>https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?classYear=2012&schoolId=1803</a></p>
<p>since I haven’t had much experience looking at SAT scatter plots, I really couldn’t tell. However, compared to other universities, the spread seems average - a bit small but comparable with other universities’.</p>
<p>they look at all the scores; typically, M+CR are more important than the W score, but if you have a 800 M and a 750 CR but a 650 W, then that won’t look as impressive, despite the excellent 1550 M+CR score</p>
<p>Northwestern is probably not much different than other schools in regarding CR, M & W. By looking at the scattergrams from a lot of schools you’ll find that the the W surely counts. The spread in W between accepted and rejected is such that there must be a direct admission effect, not merely random or correlative with other measures.</p>
<p>Overall, to my reading appears that CR has greater spreads than both W and M. It is a very useful exercise to get the feel for for admissions at many different schools of varying selectivity. The uber competitive schools have lots of rejects amongst the acceptees bunched up in the 4.0 x 2400 corner. They look for applicants with acceptable scores that make the readers leg tingle. With the less intensely competitive schools, if you’ve got the grades and SAT’s, you’re in. Northwestern seems to be in the latter group.</p>
<p>hehe299792458:</p>
<p>Your question IS an informed one. I’m not sure many of the posters here understand where you’re coming from. Northwestern, for the first few years of the writing section, made it clear that although required it would NOT be used in admissions decisions. They felt that the test, so new on the scene, had not yet demonstrated any reasonable correlation with undergrad performance. </p>
<p>While I suspect the section’s credibility has increased with NU’s admission’s committee, it’s still probably a somewhat weaker CR and math sibling. While I’m sure writing scores are looked at, a low score will unlikely deter an otherwise positive decision yet a particularly high score may help boost chances. The only way to know if this year is truly different is to ask the admissions people.</p>