“I wouldn’t say none are able to articulate, but that too many can’t.”
You say that often but it’s less and less true. Many unhooked kids can articulate well what and how they can contribute, and how the university can benefit them. The students that get into MIT or Princeton or Yale have good enough essays but not for Stanford or Harvard, or is it that they don’t meet an institutional need (legacy, athlete for Harvard, first-gen, urm for Stanford, e.g.)? If these kids were getting across the board rejections, sure, but they’re not, if they get into Yale, I’m assuming they have higher order thinking you talk about.