AI and college essays

[Anonymous]

Thought this was so interesting:


In the past three days, I've reviewed over 100 essays from the 2024-2025 college admissions cycle. Here's how I could tell which ones were written by ChatGPT
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1h0vhlq/in_the_past_three_days_ive_reviewed_over_100/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Anonymous]

1. Vocabulary

2. Extended metaphor
(especially, Weaving;
Cooking; Painting; Dance; and Music)

3. Punctuation

4. Tricolons (especially ascending tricolons)

5. “I [verb]ed that the true meaning of X is not only Y, it's also Z”

6. “As I [synonym for advance in my education], I will [synonym for carry or incorporate] this [lesson or value]”

7. “Lord of the Rings” syndrome (multiple endings)

[Anonymous]

My guess, what matters isn't whether AOs have guessed, or detected, whether an essay was written with AI. What matters is whether the essay is at least mildly interesting and comes across as having the authentic voice of the student, vs boring, as if everyone-in-AI's-database could have written it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess, what matters isn't whether AOs have guessed, or detected, whether an essay was written with AI. What matters is whether the essay is at least mildly interesting and comes across as having the authentic voice of the student, vs boring, as if everyone-in-AI's-database could have written it.

But if it has a lot of em-dashes and tricolons, I think it will be a red flag too.
I've seen some good personal authentic voice essays, improved by AI, which have too many em dashes, tricolons, and multiple/prolonged endings.

[Anonymous]

Tricolons are so common. Of course Ai uses them. Everyone does

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tricolons are so common. Of course Ai uses them. Everyone does

Rule of threes!

[Anonymous]

This is interesting, but my kid didn’t use chat gpt and his essay had a lot of the clichés listed. I don’t care. I think it’s ridiculous that schools want you to be able to write an essay like E.B. White or Dave Barry. High school students have to do that plus cure cancer, have a non profit, be a varsity athlete, blah blah blah. I’m sick of it.

The best points in this piece were 1) schools should have proctored writing tests and 2) rich kids have had help with their essays since colleges started requiring essays, but now that everyone has access, admissions officers don’t like it so much.

Can a kid write in clear sentences? Can they express some humanity and interest in learning? That’s all a student should be expected to do at 17 or 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Vocabulary

2. Extended metaphor
(especially, Weaving;
Cooking; Painting; Dance; and Music)

3. Punctuation

4. Tricolons (especially ascending tricolons)

5. “I [verb]ed that the true meaning of X is not only Y, it's also Z”

6. “As I [synonym for advance in my education], I will [synonym for carry or incorporate] this [lesson or value]”

7. “Lord of the Rings” syndrome (multiple endings)

Funny, this is pretty much what AOs say are the best essays, except the metaphor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting, but my kid didn’t use chat gpt and his essay had a lot of the clichés listed. I don’t care. I think it’s ridiculous that schools want you to be able to write an essay like E.B. White or Dave Barry. High school students have to do that plus cure cancer, have a non profit, be a varsity athlete, blah blah blah. I’m sick of it.

The best points in this piece were 1) schools should have proctored writing tests and 2) rich kids have had help with their essays since colleges started requiring essays, but now that everyone has access, admissions officers don’t like it so much.

Can a kid write in clear sentences? Can they express some humanity and interest in learning? That’s all a student should be expected to do at 17 or 18.

Schools don't care about the essay. Parents do. The essay is the only totally unique part of the app, so people ascribe all the variation in admission to it, because they don't understand "orchestra needs an oboe".

[Anonymous]

College essay coach and writing teacher here. The best essays are written in a normal, teen way- whatever comes out when they sit down the first time is where you have to start. It’s very hard to help students who give me AI text at first.

When you mess with the kids’ prose too much, or when you pass essays through AI, they actually get worse. (By mess with them, I mean actually edit them. Suggesting the kid move some things around, or prompting them to think more about whatever, that’s not actively harmful).

The college essay advisors online cause so much stress. Students think they have to be amazing writers but they really don’t. They largely just need to be authentic, coherent, and grammatical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought this was so interesting:


In the past three days, I've reviewed over 100 essays from the 2024-2025 college admissions cycle. Here's how I could tell which ones were written by ChatGPT
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1h0vhlq/in_the_past_three_days_ive_reviewed_over_100/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I worry we live in this era: ChatGPT wrote essays; ChatGPT grade the essays. Did we admit a person or a bot? Or maybe a teaming ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tricolons are so common. Of course Ai uses them. Everyone does

who doesn't use tricolons?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting, but my kid didn’t use chat gpt and his essay had a lot of the clichés listed. I don’t care. I think it’s ridiculous that schools want you to be able to write an essay like E.B. White or Dave Barry. High school students have to do that plus cure cancer, have a non profit, be a varsity athlete, blah blah blah. I’m sick of it.

The best points in this piece were 1) schools should have proctored writing tests and 2) rich kids have had help with their essays since colleges started requiring essays, but now that everyone has access, admissions officers don’t like it so much.

Can a kid write in clear sentences? Can they express some humanity and interest in learning? That’s all a student should be expected to do at 17 or 18.

In Some countries, they just have to pass an exam. None of these stupid CV paddings. And that is a little bit closer to true meritocracy.

[Anonymous]

If your kid uses AI to write an essay, it will be flagged by the AO's AI and dinged.

Just don't use AI to write the essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting, but my kid didn’t use chat gpt and his essay had a lot of the clichés listed. I don’t care. I think it’s ridiculous that schools want you to be able to write an essay like E.B. White or Dave Barry. High school students have to do that plus cure cancer, have a non profit, be a varsity athlete, blah blah blah. I’m sick of it.

The best points in this piece were 1) schools should have proctored writing tests and 2) rich kids have had help with their essays since colleges started requiring essays, but now that everyone has access, admissions officers don’t like it so much.

Can a kid write in clear sentences? Can they express some humanity and interest in learning? That’s all a student should be expected to do at 17 or 18.

In Some countries, they just have to pass an exam. None of these stupid CV paddings. And that is a little bit closer to true meritocracy.

Then your kid should go to college in one of those other countries. In the US, the AO's are putting classes together of people from different background, perspectives and skills that can be brought to the community, whether clubs, sports, music, theater etc.