29th January 2025

ChatGPT can provide grammatically correct answers to college admissions essay prompts. However, while technically sound, ChatGPT's response is generic and uninspired. When discussing AI with students, it's important to be intentional and realistic. Telling them not to use AI to support their writing efforts isn't helpful because we know they will use it anyway and will continue to do so in college; instead, it's helpful to reassure them that they don't have to be perfect. It's also unrealistic to expect high school students to develop a distinctive writing voice overnight, and AI cannot provide them with that voice. Read on to learn about a few common mistakes in college application essays and how to fix them.

3 Common Writing Mistakes That You Can Fix Right Now

If you are using ChatGPT to write your college application essays, here are a few errors you should avoid making:

1. Overuse Of Time Markers

Transitions and sentences describing time markers should not take up significant material in college application essays, which frequently have a word restriction.

College candidates should be reminded that sure, big language models may provide generalizations about how dual-immersion programs foster cultural awareness or how learning two languages increases flexibility. However, readers won't be able to relate to AI replies on their own.

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Recommendations

As writing instructors often say, ‘Show, don't tell.’ Another way to think about it is to picture a high-definition satellite camera zooming in on a certain moment, making sure to catch all the nuances. This is known as the ‘zoom in, zoom out technique.’

2. Recitation Of Accomplishments

In the essay area, students can explain why their high school extracurricular activities were important to them. The college application's "activities" section encourages applicants to identify all of their extracurricular activities.

 

High school kids should be aware that while working with AI might help them come up with a more spectacular way to describe a leadership position, an academic honor, or their GPA, a college essay that simply lists accomplishments is a waste of words. Typically, college application essay themes focus on conquering a problem or failure rather than listing one's accomplishments.

Recommendations

Encourage students to highlight their humanity. Students in high school don't have to disclose specifics of their traumatic lives or anything else that would make them uncomfortable.

However, they have to be reminded to talk about life's obstacles in a genuine and approachable manner. Additionally, they should be cautioned that OpenAI is unable to replicate a student's healing process in the same manner that the student can.

3. Reliance On Generalities And Clichés

Students occasionally develop the tendency to summarize events as 'meaningful' or as teaching them a valuable lesson about family, love, or life. Although these feelings may be genuine, they are overly generic and fall short of describing the lessons that a pupil has truly learned.

Recommendations

Encourage students to discuss it. A lot of students use AI to get their writing started. They wish to observe the output of ChatGPT and maybe utilize it as a template for their article. However, such an approach gives rise to generalizations and clichés. Asking children to record on their phones and then share their tales with a buddy or instructor is a good idea.

This would be a rough draft of the audio. Students are empowered to view themselves as their writing role models when they record their narrative in their voice while addressing a real audience. Now that they are in charge of their language models, they may rely less on ChatGPT while they complete their undergraduate essays.

Bottom Line

Any educator who has pursued online teacher training courses knows that reputable institutions and colleges want to hear applicants' stories in their own words since only they can do so in a way that is interesting, unique, and genuine. Although ChatGPT does not generate a particularly noteworthy essay, its output highlights important errors that students should steer clear of in their application essays and eventually show college candidates the strength of their voice.

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Written By: Sonal Agrawal