Hey everyone, we need to talk. Parents: the kids are using ChatGPT and other AI platforms to write their college essays, which is not good. Kids: stop using ChatGPT/AI to write your essays, because it’s gonna keep you out of college.
Some of you have probably written your essays with AI, and maybe you think that’s cool and fine, and we truly wish you the best. If you still have some RD apps to work on though, you might want to rewrite that bad boy. And look, some of you probably used AI in a way that’s not totally egregious (help with brainstorming, grammar checks, etc.), and we commend you for not letting it write your entire essay. However, you still may want to take a second look at what you’ve worked on for reasons we’ll get into. But let’s get straight to the point: if you pulled a sentence straight from the page, you’re at risk.
We know AI can make writing seem so easy – but it comes at a cost. We’re going to detail all the big arguments as to why you shouldn’t use AI on your college essays in this post, and we hope at least one of them is convincing to you.
Schools Will Know
As you’ve progressed in your high school career, you’re probably seeing how your teachers are attempting to combat the use of ChatGPT in the classroom. Our clients tell us that they’ve switched to handwriting essays in class, have their work sent through AI detectors, and some schools have ditched essay writing altogether (also bad!!!). Some of you may have submitted ChatGPT work to a teacher and been called out, we know we’ve had to do that with our students before. And even without an AI detector, we can tell when something’s been written with AI. And if we can tell, and your teachers can tell, colleges can absolutely tell.
We read tons of student writing every day, and so do your teachers. Admissions officers read even more. We can tell you that we know how teens write – even really good teen writing still comes across as Authentically Teen™, but something about AI looks and feels off.
We put this one first because it’s probably the most important part. If colleges catch you, you will be automatically rejected. If you’re applying to top-tier colleges, there are thousands and thousands of other students fighting for the same spot. If you use AI, schools will be more than glad to pass on you and give it to a student who is authentic with their writing.
AI Doesn’t Have a Voice
We just talked about how AI feels off when we read it, and there’s a reason for this. AI writing doesn’t have a real voice. Well, that’s not entirely correct – it does have a voice, but it uses that same voice for everyone who uses it for writing. Think about it – you’ve absolutely read some weird AI slop writing on Twitter (we will never call it X) or Instagram or while looking something up on Google. Unless you’ve coded your own AI and trained it on hundreds and thousands of your own words, there is no way that an AI will actually sound like you.
This is the main way that we, your teachers, and admissions officers can tell that you’re using AI. It just doesn’t sound authentic. You know when you’re watching TV and an actor is like, really bad and awkward? To the point of ruining the scene? That’s what reading AI feels like. It’s jarring, and it has absolutely no personality. You have a personality, you should use it.
AI is Regularly Wrong
Okay so apparently a bunch of you are using ChatGPT as a search engine, which is wild. We know Google is broken, but ChatGPT is not any better. ChatGPT often gives faulty and incorrect information, and if you’re using it to do research for essays (esp those Why essays), schools can tell.
If you’re using ChatGPT responsibly, like maybe to assist in brainstorming, there’s not a huge risk there. However, if you lean on ChatGPT too hard for things like grammar, flow, and style, know that it can be incorrect on those as well. Grammar has a lot of hard rules, but it also has a lot of exceptions. And some grammatical quirks might speak to your voice or personality (we’re huuuge emdash people, for example), so if you completely strip your essay of those little voice indicators, it’s not going to feel like you.
It’s Ethically Bad
Academic dishonesty is a term you’ll hear a bunch when you get to college. Using AI to write your essays is at absolute best, a shade of extremely dark grey. Academic dishonesty is an expellable offense at most high schools and colleges. Don’t get into the habit of using AI to write things, because it might come back to bite you in the butt.
Also, for our crunch granola types, did you know AI is like, really bad for the planet? The experts haven’t figured out ways to make it 100% carbon neutral yet (and we’re not Women in STEM, so we haven’t either), so if you really care about climate change and the environment, your best move is to just, like, not use it at all.
It Won’t Stand Out
Colleges like unique, personal essays. We are experts at writing those kinds, but if you use ChatGPT or other AI platforms, your essay is going to sound like a) a lot of other kids’ essays and b) not like a unique person with unique feelings and personality traits.
If you AI-generate a bland, cookie-cutter college essay, not only will it just be bad, but we bet the topic won’t be great, it won’t tell a personal story, and it won’t be relatable to college admissions officers.
The Common App essay is the one place you get to truly show off who you are. Why would you let a machine do that for you?
And Finally, ChatGPT Agrees With Us
We asked ChatGPT if it’s cool to write your college essays with it, and it said no.
Can’t think of a much better argument than that!
If you used ChatGPT or AI to write your college essay, especially for your ED school, you seriously run the risk of an automatic rejection. That doesn’t mean it’s completely over for you, though – you still have RD and ED2 apps to work on. We help tons of students rewrite their Common App essays in time crunches like these, and if you reach out today, you’ll have more time than most to get it done.
Reach out to us today if you need help un-AI-ing your college essays.