Don’t jump to conclusions. D19 had a no fee no essay (well, “optional” essay) application offer. She did it because it was just a case of checking a box on the common app for her. She got an offer, with some merit $$. To be fair it wasn’t entirely unsolicited as she had visited the school, but I thought the no essay would be a dealbreaker (everyone here says optional essays aren’t really optional if you want to show interest), and it wasn’t. Her stats were kind of average for the school. Sometimes what seems to be looking to increase “selectivity”, isn’t that mercenary.