Ever since AI flooded into the mainstream in late 2022, students, parents, and the counselors who support them have been worried about the inevitable day when parts of the application for admission are being reviewed by machines. That day has arrived at Virginia Tech, but it is not the AI admission apocalypse anticipated among anxious applicants. In fact, the combination of AI and human readers might well lead to better and faster decisions.
I do think that as AI gets better and better at both writing application essays and reading application essays, that colleges will reduce the value placed on these essays and eventually eliminate them. If this happens, I think it will be for the good. I know too many current college students (at fancy schools) whose essays were essentially written by their paid private college counselors or by their parents. So I’m jaded.
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