As a college admission’s counselor, I’m always on the lookout for anything that can support and benefit my students in writing that all-important college admission’s essay. I recently learned about a new AI technology, ChatGPT, in talking with colleagues.

What I was hearing from them was alarming.

“This is going to allow students to openly plagiarize their essays,” one colleague declared. I decided to learn as much as I could about this new technology in the hopes of not only educating myself, but also you.

I can definitely share with you that “the jury is still out” on whether this will benefit our students in writing their essays or will lead them down the slippery slope of plagiarism and questionable ethics. Or perhaps signal the demise of the college essay all together.

Jeremy Weissman, Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University, compared ChatGPT to COVID, calling it the “next plague upon education.” Maggie Mello, Assistant Professor of Technology at UNC Chapel Hill applauded ChatGPT. “It has tremendous potential as an assistive technology for faculty and students with learning challenges, such as ADHD.”

So what is ChatGPT and why could it impact the college essay and college admissions for you or your student? 

ChatGPT is a large language model created by Open AI that can help students generate ideas, structure their essay, and improve their writing. It uses artificial intelligence to understand natural language and provide responses that are grammatically correct, relevant, and coherent. (This entire paragraph was written by ChatGPT by the way…)

The college admissions essay is one of the most important documents in a student’s application. It is the first time an admission counselor can get a glimpse into the student’s goals and passions. It’s a chance to show the schools who you really are. The essay needs to be easily understood, self-reflective and a well-written document, in the student’s own words, not those of an AI.

As I often share with families: “Being contemplative isn’t usually a trait found in most sixteen and seventeen-year-old students.” It is normal for students to write multiple drafts to get their 650-word essay as perfect as possible.

To use CHATGPT for anything other than helping with the brainstorming of an essay is unethical and could be grounds for a college to refuse admission. I know there are some colleges who have expelled students this semester for blatantly using CHATGPT.

Listed below are what I consider to be some benefits, challenges, and concerns of this new assistive technology: 

Benefits of ChatGPT and the College Admission Essay:

1. It can help students to brainstorm ideas for their essays. If students are struggling, it will ask questions to generate ideas based on your answers.
2. It can help students to organize their thoughts. Oftentimes, students will ‘get lost in the weeds’ of an idea, writing a lot without considering the structure of the essay, the importance of a clear, well-written topic sentence and a strong closing paragraph. ChatGPT can offer suggestions to help with this aspect.
3. ChatGPT can provide suggestions for word usage, grammar, and vocabulary. It can also suggest different phrasing of words that will make the essay more impactful.
4. As a former special education teacher, I was excited to learn about the organization and structural support that AI can offer some learning disabled students. Oftentimes, these students don’t know where to begin with their writing or how to structure their essay into a coherent piece. These students can have difficulty understanding what’s an important point and what isn’t. It can help these students to stay focused.

Challenges of ChatGPT and the College Admission Essay:

1. This technology doesn’t know YOU. It hasn’t lived the experience that you decided to write about to showcase you, your perseverance and determination. There is a danger that in using this device solely for help in writing your essay and not turning it off, that it will suggest phrasing and topics that don’t accurately reflect who you are and what you have experienced.
2. If you rely solely on this AI, you risk losing your own unique voice in the essay. “Admissions counselors are masters at recognizing when someone else has written your essay,” said Amanda Johnson, U.C. Boulder counselor. If the purpose in writing the college essay is to showcase you in a well-written, self-reflective essay, would an AI really be able to do a better job than you?
3. AI cannot help you in moving forward from a draft to a final essay. It cannot provide in-depth analysis or constructive criticism of your essay.

Concerns of ChatGPT and the College Admission Essay:

1. Since I began my research of ChatGPT, other companies have released their own AI, including some well-known companies, such as Google and Microsoft; and lesser-known companies, such as Moonbeam and Caktus AI, which now provides real resources to cite at the end of essays.
2. In addition to these companies, GPT detectors are popping up, including GPT Zero and Turnitin. These companies detect plagiarism in student submissions and are being used by some university systems.
3. Students are thoroughly embracing this technology. The New York Times reports that the hashtag, #chatgpt has surpassed well over half a billion views on TikTok, as of February. At Stanford University, hundreds of students reportedly used this AI on their fall 2022 final exams, just weeks after the technology was first introduced.
4. Some college admissions counselors aren’t expert at knowing how a seventeen-year-old writes. The same New York Times article referenced above also encouraged readers to pick out the paragraph written by a 4th grader and an 8th grader vs. one written by ChatGPT. Because of my 30+ years of education, I was able to do so. Many college admissions counselors, however, are 22-year-old recent graduates who are getting their Masters degree while working in admissions. I’m not sure if they will be able to discern whether the essay is written by a student or technology.

I’m sure as this technology gets better, it will become more and more difficult to tell whether essays were written by students or by an AI. So, could this be the end of the college essay? Will colleges only rely on quantitative data, such as test scores and transcripts, to determine admissions in the future? I certainly hope not. I believe the college essay is an important component in admissions’ considerations in that it allows all students, even those without a high GPA or test scores, to share about themselves, what they’ve learned and what’s important to them as they embark on their next journey to adulthood. I would hate to see the college essay go away because of an AI tool.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to read and learn everything I can about ChatGPT. I encourage you to do so also. Check out ChatGPT for yourself. Just Google it. It’s free and will give you a glimpse into the power of this new AI technology.

If you have concerns about the college admissions process, I can help. Contact me at: dianne@launchingcollegesuccess.com or 240-285-1920