There Are No Shortcuts: Why AI Generated Admissions Essays Fall Short

Although students may be tempted to use AI to write their applications essays for them, in a word, it just does not “work!” That is a bold statement, but when you analyze the purpose of application essays and how colleges utilize them to evaluate candidates, it makes sense. In the broadest terms, the essential purpose of the essay is to allow colleges to get to know applicants – to see what makes them unique – and help them determine if they will be a good fit on campus. With this backdrop in mind, the real issue boils down to this: Can AI effectively and thoughtfully reflect on a student’s life and experiences and generate an essay demonstrating their unique value?

Can it fool the experts?

The Washington Post published an article in January, 2024 that sought to answer this question. In the experiment, they generated essays with ChatGPT. They also selected essays written by a Post intern who used these essays to get into Harvard. The authors of the article submitted these essays, side-by-side, to Adam Nguyen, a former Ivy League admissions counselor. Nguyen was asked to read the essays, to identify which were written by AI and to comment on their quality and effectiveness. The results, while not surprising to us, were enlightening.

The article noted that, “At first, Nguyen was impressed by the AI-generated essays: They were readable and mostly free of grammatical errors. But if he was reviewing the essay as part of an application package, he would’ve stopped reading.” Regarding an AI generated essay, Nguyen was quoted as saying, “The essay is such a mediocre essay that it would not help the candidate’s application or chances. In fact, it would probably diminish it.”

The article went on to examine Nguyen’s annotations and comments on the AI essay, noting that while ChatGPT can be good at mimicking human writing in some ways, it is not good at being specific and can be bad at completing a thought. It also highlighted that ChatGPT often writes in a random manner, about which Nguyen stated, “At this point, almost halfway through the essay, I’m beginning to get a bit annoyed with the jump from important topic to important topic.” Nguyen also noted that the AI essay included random details with no connection to the narrative, as well as commenting that the ChatGPT language was trite and lacked originality.

Can it tell your story?

We have a few takeaways from this article, as well as our own observations after experimenting with AI. First, for the purposes of the Common App essay, AI is not fooling anyone. It is called a personal statement for a reason – it is only effective if it is truly personal. Admissions officers can spot it a mile away. Second, while AI can attempt to sound human, that is inherently generic. It cannot sound like “you” which is exactly what colleges are looking for. They need to be able to hear your unique story in your individual voice. Finally, the most insightful and powerful essays have one thing in common – an introspective look at students’ experiences and unique qualities that will bring value to campus communities. Nobody, and more specifically, no technology, is better qualified to communicate this than students themselves.

So, like with most things in life that are worth doing, there is no shortcut! The Common App personal statement should be viewed as an opportunity, not a task. It is one of the few instances in the entire application process that allows students to differentiate themselves, and the stakes are as high as can be since dreams have no price tags.