College application essays: Change or let lie?

Elon Musk has done it again: he’s in the news. At times, his clickable comments are bombastic and jarring simply for the sake of turning heads. But his and other experts’ call for a pause on all AI systems is a thoughtful and long-awaited suggestion for meaningful public discourse about a technology few appreciate the ramifications of — without some careful consideration and maybe regulation, AI might do more harm than good.

In academia, we’ve seen the iterations of artificial intelligence begin to subvert any semblance of fair education metrics — though some felt the cries of critics were unfounded or simply stemmed from the stodgy few afraid of new technology. The newest version of ChatGPT (version 4), however, should silence that debate.

For example, let’s take AI’s impact on the college application essay. AI not only has killed it; it is already starting to rot.

With version 4, AI detectors are basically useless — and they were hardly foolproof before. Changing just a few sentences was usually enough to get an AI detector to declare that text was written by a human. 

But what about the quality of the essays? Can essays written by ChatGPT actually help students get into colleges? Absolutely.

ChatGPT is almost incomprehensibly good at copying the style of writing that a person inputs, so students can easily use essays that got other students admitted to top schools and have ChatGPT write their essays based on those essays. Obviously, this is a problem. 

Johns Hopkins University, for example, has released over 40 “essays that worked” — great application essays from admitted students.

I tested how well ChatGPT could imitate an “essay that worked” and was astounded by the results. I took the first essay, pasted it into ChatGPT, and then told ChatGPT to answer a separate essay prompt in the style of that essay. ChatGPT produced what I would have called one of the best student-written application essays I had ever read. Here’s the first sentence: “Growing up in a family of avid gardeners, I always found solace amongst the vibrant hues of flowers and the calming whispers of leaves rustling in the wind.” The essay grows in beauty and strength to support the discovery of the person’s calling: environmental conservation and sustainability. The analogy of gardening is woven throughout: “I am still pruning and planting, learning and growing. I have come to understand that the beauty of my garden lies not in its final form but in the ever-evolving journey of self-discovery and growth.” Fantastic essay. Written by no one.

We already knew ChatGPT could write decent essays. Now we know it can write essays that would put it in the top 1 percent of essay writers. Students also can just tell ChatGPT to “rewrite this and make it better.” And it does — for free and in under a minute. 

Granted, ChatGPT has only amplified what was already an (ignored) problem: many students with well-off parents already do not write their own essays. Just Google “write my college application essay for me” and you’ll see what I mean. And, even if students write their own rough drafts (often with coaching on what to write about), their drafts are then so highly processed by professional essay editors that the original essays become almost unrecognizable. This common practice is likely one reason that essay quality is more highly correlated to wealth than SAT/ACT scores. At least with the SAT/ACT exams, students need to actually learn and then demonstrate their knowledge and skills on test day, whereas the wealthy can hire professionals to do some or all of the college essay writing for their kids.

Colleges say they want students to be authentic in their applications. If that’s true, colleges need to change their process for application essays or discard using personal essays altogether. There is no worse way to get to know applicants than by judging them on work that might not be their own and which might say nothing true about them.

If we heed the advice of experts such as Musk and pause AI development, let’s not leave it to the richest and most powerful to decide what happens next. In every level of our lives, we should think about how AI may infiltrate our systems and processes — both for the better and for the worse. In higher education, the answer is not discarding the application essay; it’s crucial for students to have the opportunity to show admissions officers who they are as people. But, if essays are kept, they should be verified. If colleges care about equity half as much as they say they do, they will change their process so that students can be judged on their own writing and their own true, personal stories.

David Blobaum is a nationally recognized expert in the entrance exam and college admissions industry. He serves on the board of directors and is the director of outreach for the National Test Prep Association, which works to support the appropriate use of testing in admissions. In 2013, he co-founded the education company Summit Prep, which does SAT and ACT tutoring. Follow him on Twitter @David_Blobaum.