A friend who is touring east coast colleges this week with his son sent me a note from the road. I asked him to keep an ear for relevant college information related to college essays. He was happy to report that almost all of the schools admissions reps explicitly expressed the importance of the college essay, and that MIT took the message one step further.
While talking about the student quest for the perfect ACT or SAT score, the MIT admissions person said test scores demonstrated whether a student is academically ready for freshman courses.
After a certain level (higher 600s on SATs for MIT), scores didn’t make much of a difference, she assured parents and students during a tour.
“Students with 750s trying to get perfect 800s on their SATs are wasting their time and would be better advised to put the time and effort into essays,” she told the crowd.
The message: Work on those essays!