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I very much agree with vaguy89's sentiment that the essays should very much be about WHO you are rather than WHAT you did. I was really confused about what to write for the Yale Supplement for a long time. It seemed like the logical choice was to just write about one of my EC's, what I learned from it, blah blah blah. But eventually I realized that something personal would really resonate a lot more. My essay wasn't even about why I'm a good person, why I have the right qualities for Yale or whatever, it was just about who I am and what I've experienced. And it was written in a voice that was distinct and honest. IMO it's really easy to lose sight of this and just write something disposable that fits the "college essay" mold really well (I have written my share of these this year...). That makes it easy for adcoms to not care. And when adcoms don't care, it gets a whole lot harder to get through to the admit pile.
That is not to say that the deferred and rejected in this thread fell into that trap, though. Ultimately there are way more than 880 or whatever extremely qualified Yale applicants. Cuts--sometimes arbitrary--have to be made. Yale's decision really is not that important. Talent will shine anywhere, and it seems very likely that everyone in this thread will end up at some equally incredible schools.
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