Do Colleges Know a Student Uses AI for their College Essay?
This question gets asked of me ALL THE TIME: Can college admissions officers tell if a student hired someone or used AI to write their application essay?
How Will College Admissions Officers Know If You Use AI?
Years of reading experience. An increasing number of tools are being used to automatically detect AI interference in the writing process, using AI to catch itself. Outside of that, though, Admissions officers are adept at identifying AI interference in the writing process. They read thousands of essays every year, and many have long-tenured careers in admissions.
Malcolm Gladwell’s [10,000-hour rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book%29) from Outliers states that 10,000 hours of dedicated and focused practice are required to become an expert in something. While the veracity of this is debated, it is little wonder that admissions officers are experts at identifying and parsing the writing of high school students; their main job is to find unique, authentic student voices.
It’s important to note that neither admissions officers nor AI-detecting tools are infallible. Each has a failure rate and offers false positives. This is true of most tests, but with the high stakes in college admissions, some schools are hesitant to use them.
After all, a 2% false positive rate doesn’t sound very high, but we’re dealing with huge numbers, and the consequences are significant. Would you believe 173,651 (undergraduate and transfer) students applied to UCLA last year? At a 2% false positive rate, 35,300 were falsely accused of using AI to generate their application essays and were consequently rejected. (This is a hypothetical example; I am not saying that UCLA uses these tools or rejects students this way; I want to illustrate the problems caused by huge numbers).
So, will colleges know if you use AI? Probably. And if they do, it could have serious consequences for your application.
AI writing is pretty easy to identify; even my AP English students can detect it
Yes, AI is technically proficient and writes without typos or odd grammar terms, but being skilled is not the same as being good. It lacks the original ‘flavor’ and unique style that can make your essay stand out. It’s important to remember that AI writing has limitations, and relying solely on it for your college application essays may not be the best choice. Your own authentic voice and unique perspective are what will truly make your application stand out.
To examine this further, I asked ChatGPT to answer one of UChicago’s essay prompts: “What’s so odd about odd numbers?” UChicago asks notoriously weird prompts, which helps highlight this point. Here is a paragraph excerpt using ChatGpt:
As I contemplate the enigmatic nature of odd numbers, I find myself drawn into a world where symmetry is disrupted, and uniqueness reigns supreme. Odd numbers, seemingly simple at first glance, possess a depth of character that sets them apart from their even counterparts. They challenge our perceptions, spark curiosity, and, ultimately, reveal profound truths about the essence of diversity and individuality. In a world often driven by uniformity and conformity, odd numbers are a testament to diversity’s beauty. Odd numbers defy such tidy categorization, unlike even numbers, which neatly pair off into twos. They refuse to conform to the norm, proudly asserting their independence and distinctiveness. In their refusal to be divided evenly, odd numbers celebrate the richness of variation and the vibrancy of difference. They remind us that our unique quirks and idiosyncrasies make us truly extraordinary.
Moreover, odd numbers possess a captivating allure that transcends mere mathematical significance. Consider the mesmerizing patterns that emerge when odd numbers are arranged in sequences or series. From the elegant spirals of the Fibonacci sequence to the intricate fractals of chaos theory, odd numbers inspire wonder and awe in their infinite complexity. They invite us to explore the boundless realms of mathematical discovery, where every oddity promises new insights and revelations.
Yet, odd numbers’ most intriguing aspect lies in their elusive nature. Despite centuries of study and exploration, odd numbers continue to defy complete understanding. Their inherent unpredictability challenges mathematicians to push the boundaries of knowledge and creativity, constantly seeking new ways to unlock the mysteries they contain. In this perpetual quest for understanding, odd numbers are a tantalizing puzzle and an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
In conclusion, what’s so odd about odd numbers? Everything and nothing. They are simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, mundane and magical. They embody the essence of diversity, the beauty of complexity, and the thrill of discovery. As I embark on the journey of higher education, I am eager to delve deeper into the fascinating world of mathematics, where odd numbers stand as beacons of curiosity and symbols of endless possibility.
Uh, What? Can you see what I see? This essay is gibberish. Let’s explore why.
I’m not doing this to mock AI’s writing; the fact that it can generate text at all is remarkable.
The first and most noticeable critique is factual. The essay doesn’t provide a clear understanding of odd numbers or how they function. It uses beautiful, if somewhat repetitive, words to describe them but never defines them. This lack of clarity can leave the reader feeling uninformed and disengaged. Indeed, the entire conception of math in the essay is…off slightly. It references the “Fibonacci Sequence” and “fractals” like its name-dropping, yet neither relies specifically on odd numbers.
Second, this essay uses a lot of words to say very little. There is no grand message underlying this essay, no lessons learned, no higher points made. Odd numbers are kind of neat. Ok. So what? An essay for college needs to tell admissions officers something about you. This is the hardest with the UChicago essays, but that’s the fun of it. You must show them how you think and interpret the world around you. Remember that you want to convince them they want YOU on their campus because you have something worthwhile to offer. This doesn’t do that.
The use of language also stands out. As an AP English teacher for over 29 years and having read thousands of college essays, I am sure the grammar is technically good; however, the word choice and diction are…off. People write sentences that can flow into patterns, but AI has far less variety. Each sentence is similar in length and structure, and their connections are often identical. When I taught AP English Language, I stressed the importance of having sentence variety- simple, complex, compound-complex sentences. More interactive sentences are needed to make the reader feel like they are directly experiencing the narrative (story) with the writer. AI is not a style but rather the utter lack of one; it’s a blended morass of Wikipedia sludge put into a blender. It knows a lot of words and can use them correctly in a sentence, but it struggles to say anything.
Overall, the UChicago essay does not do what a good college essay should. It inspires no feelings in the reader, elicits no excitement, and tells us nothing about the writer. As I say to my clients, PATHOS must resonate with the reader. Of course, it is possible to get rewrites of ChatGPT responses and have them edited and revised. But this only adds new facades to try and obscure the central problems.
The core foundation is still rotted, no matter how bright the paint on the exterior is. The only way to fix the language is to do it yourself. The only way to add your thoughts to an essay is to add them yourself. The only way to make an essay into the kind of statement colleges want to read would require an amount of editing such that almost nothing of the original would be left.
At that point, for that much-expended effort, why not just do it yourself in the first place?
Colleges Know When You Use AI
Sure, with numerous drafts and edits, it is possible for your essay to sound more human or to make ChatGPT incorporate the edits you suggest. At the end of the day, though, admissions officers will still be able to tell whether a student wrote a paper or not. This technology is impressive, but it is still far from being able to craft the kinds of narratives that admissions officers need. Admissions teams are looking for a narrative with a “story” that evokes some kind of human emotion, such as joy, despair, hopefulness, love, etc. ChatGPT cannot convey true emotion.
I understand why ChatGPT is appealing. Writing essays is hard, and staring at a blank page with the pressure building is a terrible feeling. The thought that a shortcut exists, that with the push of a button, AI can solve all of your problems—well, who wouldn’t want that to happen?
Of course, as with all things that sound too good to be true, ChatGPT is not a miracle cure for college essays.
At the end of the day, colleges want to admit you for who you are. Your struggles and triumphs, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the passions you’ve pursued. They want to see who you are and who you may become with their help. An essay written by an AI may sound pretty, but it will never truly know you nor be able to share with colleges all the things that make you a great applicant.
Will colleges know if AI writes your essay? I hope so. Because any essay you write for colleges should have a piece of you, sharing your story and soul with admissions officers. AI cannot do that, for it has no story of its own to tell, only the vague shadows of the tales of others.
Final Thoughts
AI is an amazing and exciting tool with broad implications and many applications in our fast-changing world; however, college essays are not one of those uses. I hope this article has illustrated why AI is not the miracle cure you may want for your applications. In fact, I would say, BE CAREFUL even playing around with something like Grammarly because it could show up to an Admissions Officer as AI, which could put your application immediately in the “reject” pile.
Author: Andrea Juskaitis of Sky Blue College and Academic Coaching can help you find your “voice” in college application essays. Click on the Contact button to reach out for expert essay guidance.