Students forget they can use (the school of their choice) as a reference on how to write the essay.

I loved it. I loved the school when I went there. I just knew Northwest would be the better choice in the long run.

We had to randomly distribute the students overloaded in that school into their second choice. That's the 30 students or so who got their second choice.

It is true that for some students their first choice of school, based on geographical proximity, will be denied because other students' choices are granted in order to advance the overall interest in maintaining racially diverse school enrollments,

(Applying early or contacting professors) shows interest.

When reading an essay, it's immediately obvious if the student put a lot of thought into it. It should reveal something about the person to know the student better since we often don't meet them.