<p>There aren’t a lot of rules for the essays–other than length.</p>
<p>I think there’s some risk in it because it isn’t customary. But if #YOLO is exactly the expression that your essay calls for at that point, and no other wording would do as well to capture your intended meaning and your personality, then I’d say, do it.</p>
<p>I also think–with no disrespect toward BrownParent intended–that anybody who’s working in a college admissions office is likely to be familiar with both a hashtag and the acronym YOLO. College admissions tends to be a young person’s job. And even if your reader is an older person who’s been doing it a long time, he or she will be surrounded by younger, hipper people at work.</p>