Last week, I showed an example of a lackluster college essay presented by Jeff Selingo, author of Who Gets In and Why? Regarding the essay, he wrote:
“I asked admissions deans who already find the essay susceptible to manipulation what they thought of ChatGPT. One dean at a highly selective private suggested it might accelerate an idea floated by some of his colleagues to turn the essay into an independent assessment proctored by a counselor. In such a case, students would be given a random prompt and asked to answer in a specified time period.
I told the dean that I can't imagine counselors will want to do more work in the college application process. “Well, if they really want their students to apply here, then they won’t have much of a choice,” the admissions dean said flippantly.”
My feeling: whatever changes colleges will require, I am glad to do more work to help students write uncommon, human-generated essays. I expect that many students may start with a computer-generated draft: we all use tools to make our lives easier.
That’s the purpose of technology! Since humans began using the five simple machines in the stone age to address basic needs like building shelter and finding food, we’ve created and refined tech to reduce our workload physically and mentally. Think the wheel and the washing machine, the calculator and autopay (which frees up brain space). Then there’s speed. Once machines drove production, markets, wealth, and opportunity grew more quickly. All that adds up to ease.
Our text-generating apps can make writing easier, but they can’t make it better–at least not today. “The right tool for the job” of writing a strong college essay is still the human brain.
This essay is full of clichés, unnecessary words that don’t add meaning, and is repetitive. Any student who had a parent go through an illness could write the same essay. Lacking personal examples, it “tells” rather than “shows.” It actually seems to be machine-generated.
ChatGPT is only as good as what’s been put into it. So far, that doesn’t include the detailed experiences that can only be lived–and written about–by a human.
"Hey!! Happy New Year to you too!! Omg I love it so so much… I'm missing it right now!!! The city’s definitely my home and I’m obsessed with fashion classes (FIT)!! Thanks so much."
"Sure! I love the atmosphere of the campus (Clemson), especially on game days! There is always something to do and the campus is easy to navigate. Everyone is so nice and welcoming!😀"
"School is going excellent, thank you! Colgate is the perfect school for me, and I truly couldn’t be any happier here❤️ The first big reason why I love Colgate is the small classes/exceptional professors. The professors are all very invested in the subjects they teach, most of them actively doing research with other students on campus. This, mixed with the small class sizes, allowed me to immediately develop relationships with my professors and for them to actually get to know me on a personal basis. Another reason I love Colgate is the tight-knit community. Many see a small school as a negative factor when deciding what college to apply to. However, I consider the lower number of students a strength of Colgate. It allows me to get to know many different people well without being completely overwhelmed. I could name many more reasons, but I hope this helps! 😊"
"Yes!!! I love the environment (Boston College). it’s the perfect neighborhood and I always feel super safe walking home from the library late and being out at any time of the day. It’s super easy and close to get in and out of the city as well so I feel like it’s the best combination of locations I could ask for.
I also love how being close to a city--there are always so many events and opportunities to get involved in. The professors have been more helpful than I could have ever imagined. For example, I had a professor reach out to me asking if I was going to be missing a quiz because she knew the track team had a meet and that I am on the roster for the team. She...reached out to see if I needed any accommodations or to change the quiz which was not needed, but greatly appreciated. Professors make it known that they want to be there for you to talk about their class, your career, your future, or just life in general.
Socially, I feel like the overall population is very focused on school so some people will go out with friends on Thursdays and usually on Fridays and Saturdays, but otherwise (going out) during the week is not as normal or expected as it is in other schools, especially from what I’ve heard from my friends at schools in the south.
Favorite classes? My literature class taught by professor Thomas Kaplan Maxfield focused on love…very honest, vulnerable, and realistic. Definitely opened my mind. I also really liked Courage To Know, which was taught by a priest and focused on building relationships and learning how to navigate. Both were awesome."