@hyxzb23 : I am assuming you are RD, so basically cross your fingers if applying to Emory and other elites (More stats sensitive schools no doubt will like you better). I do not think your personal statement being “serious” will be an issue. Also, what state are you from and are you only considering pre-med or are you also interested in chemistry beyond a vehicle to pre-health (maybe research or industry, you know, actually practicing science, because elites like Emory, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, WUSTL, and Hopkins have applicant pools full of “pre-med since I came out of the womb and not really open to much else”…and I am sure it gets boring reading these apps after a while, even the ones who seem the most statistically qualified and have the strongest ECs)? State can matter because some states (like mid-Atlantic, the larger southern states, and California) are highly represented in the applicant pool.
It is okay to state the interest, just do as you say and quickly branch out from it and perhaps avoid stereotypes about why you are applying to particular schools such as “this school has access to X,Y, and Z non-academic things which are great for pre-healths”. I’m sure, like any normal person who gets highered will think: “Well so many US schools have these resources”)? Perhaps you could sell that interest (or your lab research if you enjoyed it) and maybe even the blog (does not matter if it is popular more so than the quality of content and writing on it and what that content means to you/indicates you could contribute to the campus conversation and intellectual vitality). Emory is very holistic so for all we know, the adcoms may actually take a look. They even send applications to academic departments now if an applicant seems like a good fit and maybe somewhat on the “border”.