In Sweden admission to most majors is jdone on pure numbers. You have several categories, grades, grades if you've added courses after graduation, högskoleprovet (kind of like the SAT i think) and then some others. Everyone is ranked and if you're ranked higher than there are places you're in. You also have specific courses you must have read to be qualified to the course. The idea of having to send in an essay, having to have done extra-curriculars, having to show your love for the school you're applying to well enough and then maybe being rejected because of something completely out of your control is so stressful. I get that there might be benefits to having those extra selection criteria but for the individual student it just seems like an enormous amount of anxiety. And an enormous amount of work for the schools.