College Essay AI

Are you in the process of writing your college essays and struggling with writer's block? In an ever-changing world, artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be the new go-to for students having trouble brainstorming how to get started on tackling many aspects of college applications, such as essay writing and proofreading. Incorporating AI tools into your college essay writing can help you streamline your writing process, overcome creative hurdles, and elevate your essays to new levels of clarity and coherence. However, it is easy to lose that personal touch in your essays when using AI tools. This article is here to discuss the use of AI in your college essays so you can make an informed decision if you want to use it. 

College Essay AI

• Don't use AI to entirely write your college essays. AI can only search for and produce information that has been programmed into its system, which takes away from the personal aspect of the essay and leads to a loss of authenticity. 

   

• If you choose to use AI to kickstart your brainstorming, don't copy-paste the exact words given by the AI. Use it as a baseline to phrase the concept in your own words. 

   

• Don't forget to provide a citation for any AI-generated content if you have used it (only if your college allows the use of AI). 

   

• Don't use AI if the college you are applying to has explicitly stated that they do not allow the use of AI, even in preparing drafts. The consensus on AI use is still an unclear topic for most universities so if you have any questions, reach out to an admissions officer to fully clarify if the respective college allows the use of AI tools in college essays, even if it is just for proofreading or drafting. Or better yet - craft your essay yourself and use traditional tools such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Grammarly to proofread your work and check for errors. 

   

• Don't trust everything you see on AI. For example, if looking at application deadlines it is best to check the respective college website or the Common App dashboard as AI is not perfect and can make mistakes. You want to ensure you have all the correct information as missing any deadlines due to AI errors could be detrimental! 

   

• Don't start your essays at the last minute. Many students are tempted to use AI as a fast solution after procrastinating on their essays. However, this is risky as it does not account for any technical issues, AI maintenance or downtime which could mean that the AI tool is inaccessible for a certain period of time. Starting early allows you to have enough time to think of ideas yourself, create a draft and proofread before the final submission, which prevents temptations of using AI as a quick solution in a time crunch. 

   

• If you do choose to use AI in the essay writing process, make sure to do so only after you have written the entire essay yourself. You could use it to check for grammatical errors, repetitive words, etc. 

   

• Overall, it would be advisable not to use AI in the writing process as many colleges are still adapting to the fast-paced growth of AI and there is not much clarity on what is or is not allowed in terms of AI use in college essay writing. However, if you still wish to use AI, do not use it to write sentences or paragraphs but only to check for any errors in the work after you have finished writing everything yourself.