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Hi. I am confused about the importance of the essay when the student excels academically.

My S is good in academics, goes to a very competitive school that emphasises depth in the coursework. Except for one course in one semester, all his grades have been As. SAT I is 1600. ACT is high 30s. Has done well on all the Math competitions and exams (AIME, etc). He has been working on a math research paper for over a year with a Univ. prof. He is in the top 10% if not top 5% of his class in this very competitive school. He is interested in pursuing a Math major, possibly C.S.(theory), and go on to grad school. However, S is not inclined to sit down and write 'creative' essays, or spend much time on them. Will this hurt his chances with respect to admission in say MIT, Stanford, WashU, Rice or UMich? What about chances for merit scholarships at places like UMich or WashU?