Why ChatGPT Won’t Help You Write Your Perfect College Essay
Elton Lin
Let’s talk about ChatGPT!
What does ChatGPT have to do with your college app essays?
Chances are good that you’ve heard people wondering how ChatGPT-influenced essays will affect the college admissions process. It’s guaranteed that the available resources — everything from the advancement of AI to official guidelines from the universities themselves — will always turn over new updates for the most effective strategies. As for now, we’ve experimented with different ways that using ChatGPT can benefit or harm a student’s college application essays.
One facet that makes ChatGPT so impressive is its ability to mimic and reproduce existing writing styles. Because of this, ChatGPT can offer as many ways to write as exist on the internet. This, however, won’t necessarily generate unique or personal essays.
What can ChatGPT do for you?
If you ground your inquiry with strong keywords and good direction, ChatGPT can be a great brainstorming tool. It can generate lists of subject-specific topics or activities to consider writing about. Building on these initial ideas can inspire you to take the next steps in drafting your own essay.
ChatGPT can offer some strong general writing tips and strategies, such as reminders about employing active voice or developing stronger evidence. ChatGPT can also offer some proofreading suggestions, although Grammarly is more reliable.
Like a mirror, ChatGPT can try to help check whether the received main takeaways are the same as the intended character traits or experiences. If its takeaways don’t match yours, then this can help you eliminate irrelevant exposition or add more evidence.
How can ChatGPT hurt your application?
ChatGPT can’t determine what your universities’ admissions readers are looking for. Criteria for successful essays differ enormously, not only between students but also between universities. The best way to approach your Common App Personal Statement is leagues away from that of the UC Personal Insight Questions. As of now, ChatGPT can’t navigate these differences. Plus, the best supplemental essays are built on the personalized research that you do for your dream schools.
No one knows you better than you, which means that no one other than yourself can remember or write about your core memories, your goals, or what made your experiences meaningful. ChatGPT can prod you to recall the types of memories or values that you may have, but without some serious internal reflection of your own, it won’t be possible to tell a meaningful or personal story.
If your writing isn’t consistent, it will be noticeable. Many colleges pride themselves on reviewing applications holistically. A student’s essays are reviewed alongside other data such as English grades, SAT/ACT reading/writing scores, and academic papers. When an admissions officer is trying to get to know you, they’re looking for consistency and growth.
Although ChatGPT can give good general writing advice, its proofreading is not totally reliable. It can’t edit with the same fluidity or common sense as a person, and its replacement suggestions may sound unnatural, or remove the compelling feeling of authenticity or age from your voice.
Our Takeaways
Remember that there is a huge difference between simply being on-topic and building to a compelling theme, persuasive argument, or memorable message. Most admissions teams are reading tens of thousands of essays from students in your major. The defining personal insights or stunning moments of clarity and passion that show the reader who you are won’t come from an idea generator. It has to come from you.
P.S. One last recommendation, especially for the computer scientists out there: absolutely do not try letting ChatGPT write your essay as a neat trick to dazzle the readers! Not only has this idea already lost its shine, it essentially admits to the reader that this student lacks confidence in their own critical thinking, creative writing, or communication skills. We want all of your essays to demonstrate your versatility and capacity to succeed on your educational journey!
(Want to learn more about how we at ILUMIN can guide you through college applications and the essay writing process? Feel free to schedule a free consultation with us, or check out our specific essay consulting services.)