Of course it’s tempting to get ChatGPT to write your personal statement—just think of all the time and mental sweat you could spare yourself! It would be like working with an obliging genie; instead of putting in those hours of brainstorming, writing, and revising, you could just key in your pertinent life details along with some basic instructions, and a factually accurate essay with correct grammar, syntax, and spelling would instantly appear on the screen. Indeed, AI has famously been described as a kind of magic, and who doesn’t love magic?
The problem with this, however, is that admissions officers may be using AI detection to identify such essays, and even if they’re not, they can usually tell anyway. Human consciousness is recognizably rich with struggle and soul—unpredictability; surprise; variations in the texture, tone, and flavor of feelings; macro-thoughts made up of micro-thoughts that shift, mutate, and drift apart only to come together in new ways through the process cognitive scientists refer to as combinatory play. These components have a hidden shaping effect on the 650-word narrative you come up with about how you’ve grown and changed and what’s important to you, and that aura of authenticity is what the admissions readers are seeking.
After all, the point of the personal statement is to move your application packet from the information to inspiration as the admissions officers catch your vision by encountering your voice on the page. But don’t worry if it seems daunting to try to shape the swirl of experiences that is your life into a 650-word presentation. At College Match, we’ve been helping students discover their themes and shape their stories for decades, and we’re available to walk through this process with you. https://collegematchus.com/contact-us/