<p>
I once read an essay by a kid applying to Caltech the year my son applied. (And I’d told him there was a bit of a conflict of interest there!) Anyway it was a nice essay, I made a comment, he made a change based on it (that I never would have though of doing), and blew that thing out of the park. I was not surprised when he got accepted. Most of the essays were fine, but didn’t grab me particularly.</p>