Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that most colleges don't look at it yet because the essay was recently added to the SAT and the old review systems didn't check for it. I think as time passes more and more colleges will start to look at the essay and set essay requirements similar to the section requirements.
I don't think that's what is happening. I just went through the whole college process, and most recruiters didn't care. If they really, really, really, wanted to see your writing skill, then they had their own tried and true essay screening process. Most of them didn't seem to like it and it just isn't catching on with them. It caused a big stir when they first introduced it and I thought I heard a number of college soundly looking into it. A few years later and the big name schools had either dropped it or didn't give much thought to it.
They really shouldn't either. It is just a factory produced essay. There's even a style that College Board suggests. You do the first paragraph with a literary reference, the second with a personal story, and the third with a schooling experience. Slap on a conclusion and you're done. It does very little to show actual skill in writing.
The colleges that care just ask you to write a real essay for them. The University of Chicago is a good example. They didn't look at the writing score, they just had me write an essay about a picture of my choosing.
I have a feeling that the colleges would like to judge students by their own standard, not College Board's.
I also just remembered the biggest problem. The essay kicks the test into the 4 hour range (if I remember correctly). That was agonizing and seemed much worse than the previous one (I had the joy of taking one pretty early in my schooling).
