Top Tier Admissions Statement on ChatGPT and Generative AI

Many parents and students have asked us about the proper role of ChatGPT and similar AI tools in writing college essays, school assignments and summer application essays. For us, this is both an ethical question and a practical question. Rather than focusing on the ethics of using AI-generated content, we will focus on the practical implications—the limitations and potential consequences when applied to academic contexts. Unlike a research paper, successful personal writing revolves around unique experiences and achievements. ChatGPT might be a useful tool for research-oriented projects (though Generative AI models often provide false information due to gaps in data), but it cannot replicate a student’s authentic voice or generate meaningful personal anecdotes. In your summer program applications and college essays, your goal should be to convey your unique academic interests, your experiences, your ideas and potential. ChatGPT cannot do this for you.

COLLEGES: LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Colleges are starting to put out stern warnings about the use of AI and ChatGPT. UCAS, the UK’s centralized admissions service for higher ed, posted “A Guide to Using AI and ChatGPT With Your Personal Statement” on their website: “Generating (and then copying, pasting and submitting) all or a large part of your personal statement from an AI tool such as ChatGPT, and presenting it as your own words, could be considered cheating by universities and colleges and could affect your chances of an offer.”

They go on to say that they (like most US universities) run student submissions through a program to detect AI. “If UCAS anti-plagiarism software detects elements of a personal statement that are similar to others, the universities or colleges it is intended for may be notified…If your personal statement doesn’t appear genuine, it could affect your chances of being offered a place. AI is good but it can’t replicate your personal thoughts and feelings and convey your own skills and experiences. A bland AI-generated personal statement is not what universities and colleges are looking for.”

Most high schools are crafting their own AI standards and plenty see the advantage of these technologies to help students brainstorm or generate outlines. All of them, however, agree that cutting and pasting is not acceptable without explicit permission from the instructor.

In a recent episode of Yale University’s podcast, “Inside the Yale Admissions Office,” Hannah Mendlowitz, senior associate director of admissions at Yale, said directly, “An applicant who submitted a ChatGPT-generated essay would violate the university’s admissions policy.”

ChatGPT: NOT WORTH THE RISK

Our advice? Learn how to harbor the power of ChatGPT for research or personal projects, but understand how to leverage the technology responsibly. In your personal essays (whether for college applications, summer programs, contests, or English assignments), we counsel our students to avoid ChatGPT entirely. Don’t risk everything by taking this short cut.

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Dr. Michele Hernández

CoFounder at Top Tier Admissions

Michele has been featured in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs including Newsweek, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Atlantic Monthly, The Today Show, CNN, and MSNBC and is an ongoing contributor to The Huffington Post. As an assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth College for four years and the academic dean of a private high school in South Florida, Michele has crafted a unique angle for assisting students in gaining admission to the most selective colleges, incorporating her “inside perspective” on the admissions adventure.

Dr. Michele Hernández has written the best-selling books: A is for Admission, The Middle School Years, Acing the College Application and Don’t Worry You’ll Get In which she wrote with Mimi Doe.

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