Adcoms, how have you been addressing GPT use?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

cometthedog

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I’m sure there has been rampant use of chatGPT for writing, especially for secondary writing. I bet adcoms nationwide are all reading a lot of essays with a similar, robotic tone.

I’m curious: When it’s recognized, how do committees talk about it? Are there skeptics who say you can’t be 100% sure GPT was used? Has it made writing less important for the overall application, since they all sound the same? Or, maybe, has writing become more important, since you might look for applicants clearly writing with their own non-AI voice?
 
Anecdotally, I don't think we worry about people submitting genAI essays instead of writing essays and letting genAI edit. At least one adcom has tested her faculty's sensitivity to detect such essays, and the committee sussed those genAI essays.

I do think that many processes are considering reducing the score "weight"/contribution of essays in selecting candidates for interview.
(Duke undergrad.)
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article285786791.html

Putting too much emphasis on cracking down on genAI use could put non-native-English applicants at a disadvantage, but we need more data.

I think many will rely more on the SJTs once they figure out how.

As it stands, I think writing is going to be treated more as a plus factor with an understanding that one's access to resources such as paid genAI tools may also be rewarded if one puts too much weight on writing. But that's no different from applicants with access to a considerable student support and prehealth advising team. It takes a village to write a personal statement, genAI or not.


P.S. I missed the webinar announcing this debut. I have to catch up on it.
 
Last edited:
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad