Should I Use ChatGPT to Write My College Essay?

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. There are AI customer service chatbots that can walk you through troubleshooting, AI programs that can produce original art, and, yes, AI programs that can write a college essay.

Right now, the AI chatbot that you are likely most familiar with is ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a language-based chatbot that, through prompting, can create humanlike conversational text. And there’s a lot of conversation, questions, and temptation around using ChatGPT in the college admissions process.

CAN I USE CHATGPT TO WRITE MY COLLEGE ESSAY?

Currently, there are no general restrictions on the Common Application for using ChatGPT. Individual colleges may have their own policies regarding ChatGPT that students need to be aware of. As in all things related to college admission policies, it’s important to know the specific requirements of each college on your list.

SHOULD I USE CHATGPT TO WRITE MY COLLEGE ESSAY?

Okay, so if it’s not explicitly breaking the rules to use ChatGPT to write your college essay, should you consider it? That’s what we’re here to discuss today, with help from today’s “guest contributor,” ChatGPT!

Here’s what ChatGPT had to say about using AI to write the college essay:

ChatGPT: While you can use AI tools to help generate ideas or provide guidance for your college personal statement, it is not advisable to use it as the means of writing the statement.

We know it’s tempting to rely on ChatGPT for essay writing. After all, it’s supposed to make the writing process quicker and easier. But before entrusting this important piece of your college application to algorithms, you should understand the potential pitfalls and limitations. In this blog post, we'll delve into five reasons you should exercise caution when using Chat GPT to write your college personal statement.

LACK OF VOICE & ORIGINALITY

Your college essay is an opportunity to let your unique voice and personality shine through. Admissions committees aren’t just interested in your academic achievements; they want to get to know you as an individual. With ChatGPT, you risk losing the personal touch that sets your essay apart. ChatGPT draws from everything it’s “learned” (sample essays on the internet, articles on essay advice, etc…), and produces what it believes an “average teenager” would write. It isn’t trying to sound like YOU.

We love the college essay because it’s your chance to have your voice heard in the application process. Your transcript and activity list reflect you during your high school years, and your recommendation letters allow others to talk about you. But your essay is YOU talking about you and ensuring your reader learns what you think is most important. Don’t give up that opportunity.

ChatGPT: AI-generated content might be polished, but it often lacks the depth and authenticity that come from your own experiences and reflections. An essay without your voice lacks personality and fails to leave a lasting impression. Admissions committees value authenticity, and relying on AI-generated content can make an essay sound artificial and disconnected from the student's true voice.

POTENTIAL INACCURACIES

ChatGPT isn’t capable of independent thought. It does not judge the quality of what it produces or “fact check” its content for accuracy. It may not always provide accurate or up-to-date facts, and including inaccurate information in your essay can significantly weaken your application.

I’ve constantly run into inaccuracies and inconsistencies when playing around with ChatGPT. Here are a few examples that I ran into while working on this post:

• Made-up family dynamics or experiences in personal statements

• Supplemental “Why this major?” essays including extracurricular activities or accolades a student doesn’t have

• Mentioning classes—and entire majors—that no longer exist for “Why this college?” prompts

ChatGPT: The output of AI models like ChatGPT can vary in quality. It may produce irrelevant or poorly constructed content. Relying solely on AI for writing can result in subpar essays that do not effectively convey the applicant's message.

LIMITED UNDERSTANDING OF WHO YOU ARE

No one knows you better than you. Your college essay writing gives you a chance to tell your story, share your values, and convey your aspirations. ChatGPT has no personal knowledge of your life experiences, emotions, and motivations. It may be able to sound like a human, but it cannot think or feel like one. As a result, ChatGPT can’t understand and express your unique journey. When you write your essay, you have the opportunity to explain your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings in a way that AI simply cannot replicate.

ChatGPT: A personal essay is an opportunity to connect with admissions officers on a deeper level, and using AI can diminish that personal connection. AI also lacks personal knowledge of the student's life, personal experiences, passions, or goals. It cannot accurately capture the depth of an applicant's character or motivations, key elements in a college essay.

ChatGPT Essays Do Not Reflect Your Academic Abilities

As we’ve discussed, ChatGPT’s goal is not to create individualized writing. As a result, your ChatGPT-generated essay may not reflect your academic abilities, and that can sometimes be obvious to admissions readers.

A ChatGPT-generated essay may undersell your abilities. Some students may be capable of more complex reflection and critical thinking than an AI-generated essay can capture. And asking ChatGPT to make the essay sound more “intellectual” usually results in the same surface-level reflection while adding too many 5-syllable words.

Highly creative students may find that ChatGPT does not let their abilities shine. Creative thinking (and writing) is so much more than stuffing your essay with adjectives—a ChatGPT favorite.

For students who may have struggled academically, AI-generated content can create a disconnect between their essays and academic history. This mismatch could raise concerns for admissions committees and lead to questions about the authenticity of the application.

ChatGPT: Your college essay is not just a reflection of your writing skills; it's also an opportunity to showcase your academic abilities. The key takeaway is that your college essay should align your academic record and demonstrate your academic growth, even if you've faced challenges.

A CHATGPT ESSAY IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS PROMPTING

ChatGPT doesn’t create something out of nothing. Anyone using it must provide effective prompts. And that can be a challenge.

ChatGPT: Vague or poorly-phrased prompts may lead to responses that do not address your question or needs accurately. This can be frustrating and unproductive. ChatGPT may misinterpret your intent, leading to responses unrelated to your query or requiring additional clarifications. Instead of relying on AI as a crutch, take the initiative to craft your essay from your own perspective.

Good prompting requires time, energy, and effort. You may have to go through several rounds of feeding ChatGPT more and more specific or personal information to get the type of response you would like. If you are already working on brainstorming and reflecting to think of better prompts to give the AI to produce a better essay, that time is better spent writing the essay you want to write in the first place. ChatGPT can’t read your mind—but you can.

While AI tools like ChatGPT can technically generate a college essay in under two minutes, they are not a substitute for your authentic voice and personal insights. Your college essays are a chance to make a compelling case for why you should be admitted, and they reflect your abilities, experiences, and aspirations. So, should you use ChatGPT to write your college essay? Proceed with caution, and always ensure that your essay reflects your authentic self.

ChatGPT: Remember that the most powerful and persuasive essays come from the heart and mind of the applicant.

5 College Essay Topics to Avoid

You probably clicked on this blog post hoping you would find specific advice about what topics or themes to avoid when writing the college application personal statement.

Let me disappoint you early:  we believe that, with work, nearly any topic can make a successful college essay. Yes, even topics that typically top “college essay cliche” lists like athletics, mission trips, moving, or tragedy. One of our personal favorite “yes, you can really write about anything” examples was a successful essay a few years back about chicken nuggets!

But even though students can write about anything, there are some things to avoid. We have a whole webinar about the 10 Things Not To Do When Writing the College Essay, and today, we’ll discuss 5 essay types students shouldn’t write.

And if you’re realizing your rough draft looks an awful lot like one of these types… don’t worry, I’ll give you some tips on how to fix it!

THE “BRAGGING ABOUT MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS” ESSAY

It’s tempting to write about your greatest achievement or your proudest moment. Maybe it’s what you’re hearing from a parent, teacher, or friend that you should write your college essay about. And I get it! If you’re trying to put your best foot forward, wouldn’t it make sense to write about your best moments? You want colleges to know all the amazing things you’ve done.

But really, colleges are trying to get to know you through this essay - not just what you’ve done. They don’t want a laundry list of accomplishments. And only focusing on your crowning glories can come off a little bit boring at best and bragging at worst. Plus, that accomplishment is probably already captured in your application somewhere else (see: The Repetitive Essay).

How to fix it:

Think of your favorite stories where the main character has to accomplish a major feat. It doesn’t just happen for them - that’d be a boring story! You learn so much about the character’s motivations and core drivers as you watch them grow over time. There’s often more story in the journey, and the same may be true for you. Try refocusing your essay from this angle. 

Keep those “journey stories” in mind as you’re writing. Does it bug you when a story or its takeaways are too predictable? (“Through hard work and the power of friendship, the underdogs managed to win after all…”) Make sure your journey isn’t falling into any cliche traps along the way!

THE REPETITIVE ESSAY

On average, essays are being read very quickly. Many colleges spend just minutes on whole applications (essays included!), so students should make the best use of their time by not presenting the same information in multiple locations of the application. For example, if a student is deeply involved in a particular activity like a sport or academic club, there’s a good chance that something related is showing up in at least one place on that student’s Activity List. Maybe they also asked their coach or club advisor for a letter of recommendation. They may have also needed to include some contextual details in the application’s Additional Information section. An essay on the same topic would just be more of the same.

To use your time effectively, essays should provide new information or, at the very least, give new context that can’t be gained anywhere else in the application.

How to fix it:

If it feels inauthentic not to write about something that you know is already well-represented elsewhere in your application, consider ways that you can make it part of your story rather than the whole story. 

So instead of an essay solely about what you learned about yourself through playing volleyball, maybe you write about how you grew through a completely different experience, but use a story about volleyball as an example of applying that growth in another part of your life. That way, you’re showcasing more than one side of yourself to your reader but still getting to work in something that’s been important to you throughout high school.

THE ESSAY ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE

Sometimes, students have a hard time writing about themselves and have a tendency to hide in the scenery of their essays. Maybe the essay is about a family member or a role model. Maybe it’s about a team experience. Maybe it’s even about the student, but it’s a younger version of the student. Whatever or whoever the essay is about, the reader ends up learning more about someone else than they do about the student who is applying to college. And that’s a problem.

How to fix it:

No matter what your essay topic is—whether it’s Grandma or chicken nuggets—the real topic of your essay is YOU. Never lose sight of that.

If you’re writing about someone else, make sure that your reader walks away remembering more about how that person has impacted you than they do about anyone else. And if you’re writing about a younger version of yourself, don’t forget to catch the reader up to the present so they can learn about your most current self - the one who’s applying to college!

THE ENGLISH CLASS ESSAY

This is a tough one because students have mostly been taught to write in a very particular way throughout their school years. Things like “five paragraphs,” thesis statement, and topic sentences probably feel like your writing comfort zone. Especially if essay writing isn’t your favorite assignment. But this is not the time to break out the school rubric. The college essay is a different style of writing.

There aren’t as many rules here. It’s much less formal than a school essay. First-person is expected. Contractions are okay—and a great way to cut down on your word count! Even slang is fine if it’s appropriate. And please, don’t use a thesaurus!

You may think that a more academic essay makes you seem smarter to colleges, but really, it’s just more boring to read. And because academic writing generally lacks personality, colleges don’t get to know you which is the whole point of the college essay.

How to fix it:

Your essay should sound like you. So write the way you speak… with a few qualifiers. You’re going to want to have a little more formality than you would with your best friend. I tell students to think of telling a story to their favorite teacher. They’re going to have personality and still be themselves. They’re going to speak the way they speak. But because it’s a teacher, there is a line they aren’t going to cross. That’s what we’re going for here.

Also, know that while your essay is almost certainly being read too quickly for things like grammar to be evaluated with a red pen, you do want colleges to know that you put your best effort into this essay. It’s usually pretty obvious when someone hammered out their essay on their phone the night before a deadline. So plan ahead. Run it through a spell checker like Grammarly. Take time to write more than one draft. 

THE ESSAY SOMEONE ELSE COULD WRITE

Before you start to panic, I’m not suggesting that you need to come up with a topic that no one else is writing about. From a numbers perspective, that might be statistically impossible (I talk more with Arielle on our podcast about this). But the truth is that many essays are written about universal experiences that many teenagers experience. And it’s equally true that many essays are not personal or reflective enough. The results of this combination are a lot of vague essays that could have been written by lots of students.

How to fix it:

The easiest way to make a college essay stand out is to add more personal details. Try going through your five senses or giving a glimpse of your inner thoughts to really bring the reader into your shoes. 

A personal essay doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily writing about something that’s deeply personal but that you have included enough of yourself (your thoughts, your observations, your reflection) in your essay that no one else could have written it. That’s because no one else has lived your life the way you’ve lived it. No one else has thought your thoughts. If someone else experiencing the action of your story could produce the same essay, you’ve not added enough personal detail yet.