Counselor wisdom and teacher recommendation, and interview

I have no doubt that this is a real application and the student is exceptionally strong acedemically and he is very motivated in whatever he does. However, what is missing from all his glorious and praiseful recommendation letters are his contribution to the class, his interaction with his peers.  Our counselor told us frankly that admission officers often are turned off by the use of too much adjectives in the letter. They look past that. Admission officers are actively searching for action verbs in the recommendation letters. 

A very good interview does not help much in the admission as long as the interviewer advocates your good traits. A bad interview will definately hurt the chances. The interview is not testing your academic knowledge, but to gather information about you. In hind sight, he missed a chance talking about China when the interviewer was obviously interested in learning about China. It was a perfect opportunity to show off and show your pride.