Don’t need competitions. Don’t need to show you excelled. Do need to make valid commitments, consider what the tippy tops want to see. Relevant. Do need eyes wide open.
This isn’t entirey about some notion of genuine. There’s a lot in real life we do because it’s necessary or right. Think about it. Just having some passion doesn’t make it meaningful to adcoms going through roughly 40k apps, looking for the attributes they value.