For me, i believe that with a baseline academic requirement that is met (before even granting an applicant an interview), other important stuff can then be explored, for example, background and again conviction.The faculty can find out from the applicant that he/she has spent 6 months doing volunteer work, or attachment to a hospital to gain insight from the interview. This is opposed to knowing it from an essay (who can’t write and who can vouch that its true?). They can then further question the applicant on lessons learnt and how it has changed his/her beliefs or approaches to medicine. Wouldn’t this be a rather good interview question?In fact, it is so good that almost every medical interview asks something similar – prior exposure to medicine, and/or what you have done to gain insight? This distinguishes those who just want to “help people” from those who have taken a pro-active approach to determining one’s life career choice.