Rick Clark, the executive director of undergraduate admission at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his team dedicated weeks this summer to an intriguing experiment – they posed as high school students using A.I. chatbots to complete college applications. Each member of the admissions team assumed a different high school persona, from swim team captain to Eagle Scout to musical theater performer. They input personal details about these fictional students into ChatGPT, an A.I. chatbot, which generated extracurricular activity lists and personal essays commonly required for college applications. This experiment aimed to understand how A.I. chatbots could impact the admissions process and provide guidance for Georgia Tech applicants.
Mr. Clark recognizes that students will have access to and utilize A.I., so the question arises: How can they be guided in its proper use? The proliferation of A.I. chatbots, such as ChatGPT, which can produce human-like text in response to prompts, has the potential to revolutionize the traditional undergraduate application process at selective colleges. This could result in either automated plagiarism or equalized access to essay-writing assistance for students. The digital disruption occurs at a critical juncture for higher education institutions in the U.S. After a Supreme Court ruling declared race-based university admissions programs illegal, some selective universities turned to essay questions to foster diversity on their campuses.
The personal essay has long served as a fundamental component of elite college applications, though it has often put immense pressure on high school students to develop a distinctive writing voice. However, new A.I. tools threaten to transform the college application essay into something akin to a generic mix, where students can simply add their own flavor to reflect personal tastes, interests, and experiences. This raises questions about the authenticity and individualization of applicants’ writing samples as admission criteria.
Lee Coffin, the dean of admissions at Dartmouth College, expressed concern about A.I.-generated application essays, stating on a university podcast that the idea of the central component of an applicant’s story being manufactured by someone other than the applicant is disheartening. Moreover, educators worry that students using A.I. tools to generate essay themes and content could hinder their development of essential critical thinking and storytelling skills.
Susan Barber, an Advanced Placement English literature teacher, emphasizes that the college essay process entails discovering a unique writing voice through multiple drafts and revisions. She believes using ChatGPT would deprive students of this crucial journey.
However, some educators argue that A.I. tools might level the playing field. Wealthier students often have access to resources, such as alumni parents, family friends, and paid writing coaches, which help them brainstorm, draft, and edit their college admission essays. ChatGPT could serve a similar function for students who lack these resources, especially in large high schools where overworked college counselors have little time for personalized essay coaching.
Currently, only a few U.S. universities have established clear policies regarding the use of A.I. tools by applicants. The University of Michigan Law School discourages the use of ChatGPT during the drafting process but allows applicants to seek proofreading assistance and feedback from mentors or friends. In contrast, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University permits applicants to use A.I. tools responsibly, as long as they certify the accuracy of the information provided.
Georgia Tech’s admissions team, after experimenting with ChatGPT, takes a middle ground. The university’s website offers guidelines encouraging high school applicants to view A.I. tools as collaborators for brainstorming, refining, and editing ideas. However, applicants are warned against copying and pasting content they did not create themselves.
While ChatGPT may not compare to live writing coaches or astute parents in providing feedback on personal essays, Rick Clark believes it can assist numerous students in getting started on their essays, as it is accessible, free, and helpful. He sees it as progress towards achieving equity.
Although some students see potential in using A.I. tools to draft their essays, many are hesitant due to the lack of clarity surrounding universities’ policies on chatbot usage. The Common App, an organization facilitating online applications to numerous colleges and universities, has not taken a public stance on the matter. However, it requires applicants to certify that their writing and other application materials are their original work. Nonetheless, academic integrity policies have yet to mention artificial intelligence tools.
The New York Times reached out to several universities and colleges, but the majority did not respond or declined to comment on their policies regarding the use of A.I. tools in admissions essays. The University of Michigan’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions stated that they were aware of the technology but had not made any changes to their application process.
While some students, like Ritika Vakharia of Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, have attempted to use ChatGPT to generate ideas for their college essays, they often found the responses too generic. As a result, they prefer to craft their essays themselves to ensure uniqueness, as a basic topic can easily be generated by the chatbot.
In conclusion, A.I. chatbots have the potential to reshape the college application process, and universities are grappling with establishing policies and parameters for their use. The challenge lies in striking a balance between equalizing access to essay assistance and maintaining the authenticity and individuality of applicants’ writing.
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