@apocalypsedreams Interviews, essays, and recommendations have far lower correlations with college success than GPA or test scores. Many colleges have even dropped the interview or made it optional. Essays can be a wonderful way of finding out more about a student. In the worst case scenario, they are a way of finding out about how much editing a parent or paid surrogate has done. Recommendations have a highly restricted range.
In the NACAC survey, the number of colleges ranking those factors as of “Considerable Importance” were 22.1%, 3.5% (interview!), and 17.3%/15.2% (counselor and teacher recommendations). In contrast, GPA in college prep courses is at 79.2% and test scores at 55.7% (another 7% for AP/IB and 5.3% for Subject Tests).