@lookingforward “…contrary to CC’s belief, it’s not so much something that “impresses” adcoms as holding to a standard or the standard expectations.”
I agree that it is reasonably structured, which points to a specific expectation as opposed to an unstructured impression. Still, if two applications grade out similarly, the Adcom may believe that one of the two candidates is just more compelling. Something about the aggregate of the application made more of an impression.