Why You Shouldn’t Use AI for Your College Application Essays

Applying to college takes a lot of time and effort, especially writing the essays, so you might be tempted to take a short cut with AI. Artificial Intelligence is a great tool for science, but you should create your personal essays on your own. Here’s why:

• The purpose of these essays is for the admissions officers to get to know you. That’s why they are called personal essays. Your essays should reveal your story, your perspective, your personality, your goals, and your values. AI tools cannot capture these aspects of your identity, and they might even distort them or make them sound generic. 
  
  
• Using AI might backfire if you are invited for an interview. The alum or admissions officer might detect a difference between your written voice and spoken voice, and they might question your authenticity and integrity.
  
  
• Developing your writing skills now will not only help you in college, but also in your career. Writing is more than just putting words on paper; it is about thinking critically, organizing your thoughts, expressing yourself clearly, and engaging or persuading your readers. Use AI and you are skipping learning the fundamentals of writing, which is tantamount to a figure skater who has never mastered figures or a pianist who has never achieved proficiency in scales. Fundamentals are the building blocks.

Photo by Ann poan

 

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​Even Caltech, a school known for its superior science curriculum and research in artificial intelligence and machine learning, has created an Ethics and AI Policy for its applicants. The following excerpt from the article presents a great example of what that line is that you shouldn’t cross:

If you are still wondering whether your use of AI in crafting your application is ethical, ask yourself whether it would be ethical to have a trusted adult perform the same task you are asking of ChatGPT. Would a teacher be able to review your essay for grammatical and spelling errors? Of course! Would that same teacher write a draft of an essay for you to tweak and then submit? Definitely not.