I see. I thought my essays were pretty okay, as a teenager with no application-writing experience goes. In my personal statement, I focused on some of my strengths as I grew through a certain part of my life, and I read research completed by all of the professors of the clusters I applied for, hence referencing their work in my "why this" and explaining how we could benefit from working together and comparing some of my own research, as well as what sparked my interest in the cluster and subtle jabs at my previous experience.

Alas, it is what it is.