The evolution of (y)our applications

Am I the only one who feels like his applications are improving DRAMATICALLY from one to the next? I submitted Stanford on the 22nd and I dunno... it just felt like it could and should have been better. I submitted UCLA today and feel like it was a far superior app. It's hard to qualify why. Sure, Stanford's app is harder, but I don't think that's it.

I'm starting to feel like getting my head around the interface that Apply Yourself's schools employ has a lot to do with it. It wasn't until I was futzing with my submitted Stanford appl that I discovered that I could print an application in html, open it in Word, and spell-check everything! What a lifesaver! Had I know that I could do that during the Stanford app I wouldn't have let the word "engineeering" slip under the radar (dammit!). Also, you really MUST view your application in pdf at the very end. If you don't a good portion of what you've included may be truncated (for some silly reason the fields often allow more characters than are actually put in the final pdf that the school sees - sloppy).

My general "why am MBA" essay has also improved as well. For some reason, an additional 2 days has made a difference, never mind that I started on it weeks ago. Already, my Berkeley and MIT essays feel better than my UCLA and Stanford ones.

This may all be in my head, but it sure feels that way... anybody else?

My advice for people who are applying R1 in 2008: apply to Harvard just for the exercise (because of their early deadlines). Really.