@Hunt, I think this is one of the puzzling things about the video referenced. For someone who reportedly wants to mentor and help others, it makes little sense to give advice which is potentially misleading outside of the applicant’s context, and which can give people false hope or unrealistic expectations. It’s fine to say be personal in essays and dig deep, or to develop yourself as a person outside of school as well as academically, but it’s not so great to give people false hope that they can overcome mediocre test scores by writing compelling personal statements without having some other significant accomplishments and/or hooks.