The biggest worry of college applications is how you will be perceived by admissions officers. This small group of men and women at each school get the final and only say on who gets in and who doesn’t. They are fully aware of the gravity of this task, and take it very seriously, but this doesn’t make it any easier for high school students, who are often unsure what admissions officers want from them, especially as different schools put out conflicting pieces of information.
This is only heightened in the age of artificial intelligence, with countless services and applications promising to help you create the perfect applications without effort, all while colleges grow increasingly strict about not wanting any applicants to use AI in their submissions. In this article, we’re going to break down AI policies at top colleges, and explain what admissions officers actually want to see from your application.
What are AI Policies for Admission to Top Colleges?
Every college sets their own policy; these are developed independently, but these colleges are able to see what their fellows do, and they do exist in the same environment, with many of the same perspectives and concerns. Thus, these policies often have quite a bit in common. We aren’t going to be able to list out every college’s policy, but here’s a chart featuring the policies of top schools in the US for use of AI in admissions:
| University | AI Policy for Applicants |
| Brown | They allow the use of tools for spelling and grammar review, but not for generating any part of your application |
| Caltech | You may use AI to review grammar, brainstorm, or do research, but not to write or rewrite application materials |
| Carnegie Mellon | They advise against using AI for anything except grammar and formatting checks |
| Columbia | Columbia does not have an official policy, but they discourage the use of AI, and expect all application materials to be your original work |
| Cornell | AI may only be used to help with brainstorming or for spelling and grammar checks, not creating essays |
| Dartmouth | Dartmouth does not have set policies on the use of AI in admissions listed on their website |
| Duke | Duke does not have any policies on the use of AI listed on their website |
| Emory | Emory allows students to use AI as a writing coach, but it should never create the writing you submit to the school |
| Georgetown | Georgetown does not have a written AI usage policy for applicants available on their website |
| Georgia Tech | AI may be used to edit and refine your ideas, but all submitted work must be your own |
| Harvard | Harvard does not have a written policy on their website about the use of AI in applications |
| Johns Hopkins | You may use AI tools for brainstorming or basic proofreading, but all of the writing must be your own |
| MIT | MIT does not have a specific written policy on their website on the use of AI in your application |
| Northwestern | AI can be used for brainstorming or basic proofreading, but never for writing your essays directly |
| Princeton | All work submitted must be your own, which precludes the use of generative AI in writing your essays |
| Rice | AI may be used to help brainstorm, but all of the essays must be written by you alone |
| Stanford | Stanford does not have a written policy on AI use in applications on their website |
| UC Berkeley | Berkeley does not have a written policy on AI use in applications on their website |
| UCLA | UCLA has no set policy on the use of AI tools in the application process |
| UChicago | UChicago has no written policies on their website on the use of AI in applications |
| University of Michigan | You are forbidden from directly using AI text, but can use an AI to brainstorm or structure your essay |
| UPenn | You may use AI tools to help brainstorm or proofread, but not to generate the text of your essays |
| UT Austin | UT Austin has no listed policy on their website on the use of AI in applications |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt does not allow students to use AI to replace their own work in any part of the essay process |
| Washington University in St Louis | You may use AI to research colleges, but they prefer it not be used in essays at all, even to proofread |
| Yale | You may use AI to check your grammar or spelling, or for general advice, but not for the writing process itself |
What we can see here is that most schools have policies, and these policies generally ban the use of AI in any substantial way. There are some differences; some schools may be okay with the use of AI in brainstorming while others are not, but no schools with AI policies are okay with students using AI tools to write their essays, in whole or in part.
That some schools do not have written AI policies does not mean those schools are okay with you using AI to write their essays either. Air Bud rules do not apply in this situation. We are not sure why some schools have not yet created written policies on the use of AI, but those that do have a remarkable consensus: admissions officers don’t want to see it in your essays.
What Admissions Officers Really Want, and Why AI Can’t Do That
Admissions officers want to understand who you are as a person and student. The reason they ask for all those supplemental essays is to better understand who you are. It may surprise you, but they aren’t just trying to stress you out and give you more work to do; they really do care about your answers to these questions, and they read them carefully to gain insights into the kind of person you are, and how you think about the world.
Coming at it from this perspective, it makes much more sense why admissions officers don’t appreciate the use of AI in essays. AI tools can create polished writing, but they do not understand nor speak for you. They don’t know your wants or passions, they have no sense of your inner life or desires, and they cannot impart who you are or what really matters to you.
In addition to this, AI writing is often quite bland. It has a degree of polish, but it is all glitter and no substance, as satisfying as a meal of painted cardboard. When admissions officers have to read thousands or tens of thousands of essays each season, they can become quite tired of this boring sameness. If you cannot find it worth doing to write an essay, admissions officers may question how much you really care about their school.
What This Means for Your Applications
We always advise students to avoid using AI in their applications, and reading what colleges think about the use of generative AI helps show why. While not every school has an official policy on the use of AI, from conversations with admissions officers, and what they’ve expressed in webinars and Q&A sessions, none of them enjoy reading AI generated essays.
The easy takeaway for your applications then is that you probably shouldn’t use AI, not for drafting or editing your essays, not for activities lists, not for ideas on application strategy. This seems self-evident, but is also quite difficult for many students to implement, since these tools are becoming so pervasive.
To help you implement this in your own essay writing, here are places where students often seek to rely on AI (which colleges specifically dislike when they see), and how you can approach them instead:
Brainstorming
Picking an essay topic is hard, one we spend a lot of time working on with students. It is tempting to ask AI for help, but the issue is that if every student asks AI, it will generate the same or similar responses for all students, thus leading to your essay being quite similar to those written by other applicants.
Instead, when you are looking at essay topics, you should make lists of your activities and passions, and then a list of your core values. Draw connections between these, and look for unusual connections. Maybe football taught you discipline and teamwork, or maybe it taught you creativity or gave you a respect for environmentalism. How? That’s a good question, and answering it makes for an interesting essay.
Essay Writing
This is the core thing every college with an AI policy bans, and which even colleges without an explicit AI policy forbid through anti-plagiarism rules. There is no easy work around for this, you actually have to sit down and write the essays for yourself. This can be hard, but that’s rather the point.
The best trick is that an essay does not have to be perfect to start with. A first draft is almost always bad, and that’s okay. Create an outline, write it out, and see where you stand. It won’t be perfect, you won’t have showcased your ideas fully, and that’s okay. The only way to become better at writing is to do it, there are sadly no shortcuts to this, but the experience of doing it will help with future writing projects.
Editing Your Essays
Colleges are generally okay with using AI for baseline edits, but these are the same edits proposed by any good spell-checker. The issue with major AI edits, rephrasing and restructuring and rewording, is that it removes you from what is supposed to be your essay. The traces of personality and individuality are what flavor these essays, what makes them interesting and worth reading.
Instead, we advise asking a third party to look over your essay and give feedback. Your
English teacher, your counselor, your peers, your parents, all can give you advice on how to improve your essay, without overwriting what makes it really yours. Just remember that these people shouldn’t write your essay for you; the whole of it must be your own.
Final Thoughts
Technology changes, and so does college admissions, but what colleges have been looking for from students has been remarkably consistent over the past decade or so. The individual details change; the standards they have, the kinds of projects which impress them best, but what they want are bright and passionate students, ones who love learning for its own sake, and who will contribute meaningfully to the campus community if they are accepted.
We hope that this article has given you useful insight into how admissions officers approach applications, and why they don’t like seeing students use AI. If you want help crafting your own essays with the help of experts, and creating the best work that you are capable of, then Ivy Scholars can help. Our mentors are masters of the admissions process, and are highly skilled at helping students show off their best traits to admissions officers. Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can help you on your admissions journey.
