Got a 6 on AWA, will that help?

by **boston007** Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:26 am

I got a 6 opn the AWA. Will that be a boost at all to admission at a top tier school? Or do schools only generally care that you performed adequately?

Also, something I don't understand on the scoring. A 6 out of 6 landed me in the 87th percentile. How is that possible? Do they not give out scores in the 90th percentile?

Thanks,

Tom

by **StaceyKoprince** Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:41 pm

Most schools just care that you do better than about a 4.5 (or maybe a 5 for the ultra competitive schools). It's great that you got a 6, but it probably won't make a major difference in the admissiosn decision, unfortunately. But congrats on getting that score - it's still a great score!

Also, the highest percentile is 87, because 6 is the highest score. Nobody can score higher than that. About 13% of test-takers get a perfect essay score - which is another indication that the schools don't care too much about this score. If they did, they'd want more granularity about the test-takers.