@khanam I generally agree. One thing I do disagree though is I think even for STEM majors, I do believe essays should have some small impact in admissions, but I see TOO MANY STEM majors applicants with GREAT academic stats get denied from good schools. One thing that cracks me up about someone who got admitted saying “My essay showed me how passionate I am about my intended major”, where was that passion when it came to doing well in school classes? Lol Unless there is a definite reason why that applicant could not devote as much time and effort in school academics, I would not be that sympathetic to these types of applicants IF I were an admissions officer. Note that I had a 3.0 GPA in high school but got into an Ivy League college, so I am actually speaking against myself here. Lol Also, in any major, passion alone is not going to be enough; you do need discipline to keep at it. Before anyone accuses me of being biased towards engineering majors, I was a Humanities major and my kid is also going to major in Humanities, so I am not speaking on behalf of engineers etc. Just making some observations which surprised me. After seeing stats of some engineer applicants who got rejected from UCLA and similarly ranked or higher ranked schools, I am SO GLAD that my kid is a Humanities major, not that my kid’s academics stats are weak. I joke with my kid by telling him “You should thank me for passing down to you my Humanities genes.”