GMAT Essays (AWA)

I'll be taking the GMAT again in February. When I took it the first time I scored well on the AWA and Verbal sections but did so poorly on the Quantitative section that I need to retake the test. I had considered skipping the AWA this time but decided against it after reading other posts on the topic.

So my question is about how Ad Coms look at the AWA score considering it is separate from the main GMAT score. The schools I've talked to say they will take my highest GMAT score but will they do that for the AWA score as well? For example, if I score higher on the GMAT this time but my AWA score from the first test was higher, would they use those scores?

Thanks and sorry if this is in the wrong forum.