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AI is here to stay. It will only integrate itself further into our daily lives and understanding of processes, learning, and potential. We must engage in conversations about its thoughtful implementations, opportunities for collaboration, and inherent risks. If we don’t, opportunities will pass us by, and important decisions will be made for us!
In the application review process, AI offers efficiency and equity, handling initial screening and data-driven tasks so that admissions officers can focus on subjective and contextual factors like personal statements, interviews, and unique circumstances. AI can ensure consistency and streamline processes, while humans can ensure that drive, initiative, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and unique perspectives are centered.
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Even if you think that AI is going to be a better composer of English language prose than you are, it is not going to be better than you are at speaking for you. —Mark Dunn, Senior Associate Director for Outreach & Recruitment, Undergraduate Admissions, Yale
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đź“ŚÂ 50% of colleges use AI as part of their admissions process. This could be anything from running chatbots on their website to cleaning & organizing data in applications (i.e., parsing data in self-reported transcripts) to running initial screenings of applicants.
đź“ŚÂ 23% of colleges report that they plan to incorporate more AI into their admissions process in the next year.
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- Fast & Equitable Data-Processing
- AI can mine and organize transcripts and test scores to create uniform data sets.
- When designed properly and tested routinely, AI can be used to remove explicit biases in the initial screening stages.
- Categorization: While decision-making should remain a human-driven undertaking, AI can be valuable for creating similar pools of candidates for review. This could be especially helpful for identifying overlooked talent and students whose lack of resources may put them on the outer edges of a human reviewer’s considerations.
- Consistency Review: AI can quickly compare all components of a student’s application to check for tone and content consistency, helping to flag potential issues of plagiarism and, yes, even AI.
- Predictive Analysis: AI can help schools predict which students are most likely to accept admissions offers, helping schools decide where to focus their recruitment resources and efforts.
- Consistent Communication: AI can assist with routine communication between admissions offices and applicants via chatbots and provide updates triggered by application status changes.
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Though admissions teams might not be constantly running “AI checks” just yet, it’s best not to completely rely on ChatGPT to do the work for you. After all, isn’t applying for your dream college fueled by genuine passion? Never let that go, and let your voice shine through as you send your application.
— Undetectable AI, “Can College Admissions Detect ChatGPT in Applications?”
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As universities experiment with ways to incorporate AI into their processes, they are also approaching and acknowledging AI’s potential role in student’s work in different ways. For the 2023-24 college admissions season, one in three students admitted to using AI to help with their essays. This “help” ranged from brainstorming to content generation to the use of heavy-handed stylistic polishing tools.
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In 2024…
đź“ŚÂ 6 out of the top 20 schools have directly addressed AI in their undergraduate application
đź“ŚÂ 10 out of the top 24 private schools have directly addressed AI in their undergraduate application
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The Common App platform categorizes the use of AI for content generation as the same fraudulent offense as plagiarism. Some schools—notably and vocally, Brown University—emphasize this distinction as well.
Brown… reiterates our own independent policy that the use of artificial intelligence by an applicant is not permitted under any circumstances in conjunction with application content. While an applicant may use artificial intelligence to assist with spelling and grammar review, in the same way as any other platform that supports basic proofreading, the content of all essays, short-answer questions and any other material submitted by an applicant must be the work of that individual.
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Meanwhile, other schools are open to conversations about how AI can be used thoughtfully and build accessibility.
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As an innovative, teaching and research institution, Boston University encourages the exploration of new technologies and recognizes the growing importance of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. However, the Board of Admissions believes that the most compelling personal statements are representative of the writer’s authentic voice–a nuance that generative AI tools have yet to achieve. If you opt to use these tools at any point while writing your essays, they should only be used to support your original ideas rather than to write your essays in their entirety.
As potential future Terriers, we expect all applicants to adhere to the same standards of academic honesty and integrity as our current students. When representing the words or ideas of another in their original work, students should properly credit the source.
Boston University, Statement on Generative AI
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Further Reading
- TLDR; A Harvard graduate used ChatGPT to apply again and… didn’t get into Harvard.
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