Completely agree with the essay being a huge component. My daughter had great grades, great ACT score and good SAT score… and so did many of her cohort that didn’t get in. Her essay set her apart in my opinion.
She originally wrote a very serious essay that was extremely dry and uninteresting. Her college counselors, college consultant and I helped her revise it numerous times and it was still just uninteresting and nothing special. One night after about the 10th revision, she just said, “I hate this essay” and scraped it.
She and her sister were sitting on the couch brainstorming ideas and she jokingly said “I’m gonna write my essay about the Rock”. She went in her room and wrote a hysterical essay about the Rock and his influence on her. She sent it to her counselor and consultant who loved it. Only had 1 revision and sent it in.
The point is: don’t write what you think they want to hear. Write about what you love.