How Has AI Affected College Admissions?
By Lydia C.
Given the rising power of Artificial intelligence (AI) tools in synthesizing strings of words, it has affected the college application process in various ways.
On the applicant side, students are able to use these tools to help them brainstorm and research essay application topics as well as to edit and proofread their writing for improved grammar, clarity and spelling.
While we can argue the latter has been done for a while with spell check and grammar check tools in various applications (like Microsoft Word), the major difference lies in the ability to direct copy and past AI-generated essays.
It is therefore good to realize that directly lifting text from AI-generated content, even with manipulations, is considered plagiarism and dishonest. Moreover, a big risk with these actions is the lack of authenticity and human depth that will come across in the application essay.
This lack of human authenticity will compromise the most significant component to a student’s academic record and resume of activities: the opportunity to offer insight into a student’s unique voice and own true lived experiences. While this type of personable, emotional and reflective writing is a meaningful part of the most competitive applications in schools where essays are considered important, this level of human connection is not one that AI can easily capture.
On the college/university side, knowing how AI has affected student writing, the question becomes how have college admissions officers responded?
As far as evaluating personal essays, colleges use both AI computerized detection programs and well-trained individuals to flag AI-writing based on established measures of language organization. Suspicion of AI-written essays can lead to immediate disqualification of applications and/or to the request of additional materials during the admissions evaluation process.
Furthermore, like many processes that require large administrative (“paper-work”) loads, college admissions offices are taking advantage of AI-based language models to triage and sort applications during the review. That is, they can use algorithms that summarize key aspects of recommendations, academic achievements and extracurricular activities to quickly evaluate applications in a higher-throughput manner. This allows more efficient holistic reviews of large application volumes.
Academic institutions are also using AI-models to analyze admissions/enrollment data based on “applicant profile”, particularly to predict how many students will enroll and better guide target admissions numbers.
Lastly, another major way by which admissions offices have been taking advantage of AI-generated tools is by generating automated “chatbot” responders that can provide instant customer service to applicants (i.e. by answering commonly ask questions) that support them during the application process; these can typically be found in their websites.
Other Resources:
Forbes – How AI Is Reshaping the Elite College Admissions Landscape
Forbes – College Admission: An AI Revolution
Insight Into Academia – The Growing Role of Artificial Intelligence in College Admissions
