That's the rub - essays are used for a reason.

- can be submitted anonymously to remove gender/race bias

- easily transmittable for remote applicants or those too poor to afford in-person testing

- low to no cost for applicant to create other than time

- easy to grade/analyze quickly for institutions recieving hundreds or thousands of applicants at a time

Pull that rug out from under would-be students and you're causing a lot of damage.