SLO has never accepted essays as part of their admission review but yes, many of the CSU’s and UC’s have gotten even more competitive for the last few years.
Also so many applicants apply to same competitive majors across both college systems, that admit rates for these majors such as CS/Engineering can be less than 10%.
I feel sad that there is so much pressure on some of these HS kids to perform and never get a chance to enjoy their time in being a kid.