4 answers
Solah
Student
Hudsonville, Michigan
10
Questions
Asked
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What do I do if my essays keep getting detected using AI for my college application ?
Hello!
I'm in the midst of writing my college essays. For some reason, I'm running through AI detectors and it's saying all different responses (5%, 29%, 60%, 100% etc) when I wrote them out myself.
I also got reviewed by other mentors while I was writing it.
I'm scared that my application will be flagged for AI. What do I do?
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3 answers
Michelle M.
Actress
3276
Answers
Updated
Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Solah !
There are a couple of things that one can do if they use AI for their admissions essays. The first thing is, don't use AI for your application essays. As a college student, you will be expected to compose writing free hand and spontaneously sometimes. You can practice writing independently as well as use websites that can answer your questions about punctuations, and spell check. You can do this !
The second thing I can suggest is to call the college and ask if they have hard copy applications that you can write directly on. When completed, you can hand in all of your application papers, documents, etc. to the Admissions Office on campus. Although this is increasingly rare, some colleges do still provide a paper application for admissions, but it is highly advised (by me) to deliver it in person, not by mail.
A third and less perhaps applicable option may be to not use Common App if you are using it. Apply to the colleges directly on their websites.
Whichever websites you are writing your essays on freehand and without using AI have a detector that is falsely picking up your composition as AI. It can misclassify human writing. It's the writing pattern that the detector associates with AI. Some of these would be predictable sentence structures, low linguistic complexity, or a lack of emotional nuance. Do not feel bad. This can happen if something is professionally written, perfectly with no errors.
If you call or visit the college and explain this situation, perhaps they will mail you a hard copy application package or you can pick one up if it's a local college. You want to be sure that your application gets completed with no glitches and received by the college for review for admission. Take some old fashioned steps for this perhaps ?
If you can upload the essay as opposed to filling in a writing field, write the essay freehand on Word and convert it to a pdf and send it as a pdf if you apply by e-mail anywhere. I am no computer person, but these are definitely the things that I would do if I were in the same situation. I hope this helps !
My advice is to assure that you should not have to modify your writing style as it is unique to you and a program should not interfere with it, making it necessary to write a certain way.
Best wishes in all you do !
There are a couple of things that one can do if they use AI for their admissions essays. The first thing is, don't use AI for your application essays. As a college student, you will be expected to compose writing free hand and spontaneously sometimes. You can practice writing independently as well as use websites that can answer your questions about punctuations, and spell check. You can do this !
The second thing I can suggest is to call the college and ask if they have hard copy applications that you can write directly on. When completed, you can hand in all of your application papers, documents, etc. to the Admissions Office on campus. Although this is increasingly rare, some colleges do still provide a paper application for admissions, but it is highly advised (by me) to deliver it in person, not by mail.
A third and less perhaps applicable option may be to not use Common App if you are using it. Apply to the colleges directly on their websites.
Whichever websites you are writing your essays on freehand and without using AI have a detector that is falsely picking up your composition as AI. It can misclassify human writing. It's the writing pattern that the detector associates with AI. Some of these would be predictable sentence structures, low linguistic complexity, or a lack of emotional nuance. Do not feel bad. This can happen if something is professionally written, perfectly with no errors.
If you call or visit the college and explain this situation, perhaps they will mail you a hard copy application package or you can pick one up if it's a local college. You want to be sure that your application gets completed with no glitches and received by the college for review for admission. Take some old fashioned steps for this perhaps ?
If you can upload the essay as opposed to filling in a writing field, write the essay freehand on Word and convert it to a pdf and send it as a pdf if you apply by e-mail anywhere. I am no computer person, but these are definitely the things that I would do if I were in the same situation. I hope this helps !
My advice is to assure that you should not have to modify your writing style as it is unique to you and a program should not interfere with it, making it necessary to write a certain way.
Best wishes in all you do !
Karin P.
Lecturer, Academic Advisor, Career Coach
1085
Answers
Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Updated
Karin’s Answer
Hi Solah,
I would recommend that you use e.g. Google Docs to track your writing process using word count and version history. You might need some third-party tools for that. If you can document your process, you have proof. An organic writing process looks much different than a cut-and-paste job from an AI.
Also, consider your writing style. Do you start with an empty page and write the whole document from scratch, with many changes and re-writes, in your own voice? In that case, your authentic voice should come through. If you copy bits and pieces that sound good from the internet and put them together to fit your narrative, you are likely to sound formulaic and inauthentic which the AI detection might pick up on. AI predicts text based on probability. So, if everyone uses the same AI, they all sound a bit the same at the end.
I hope this helps! All the best to you!
KP
I would recommend that you use e.g. Google Docs to track your writing process using word count and version history. You might need some third-party tools for that. If you can document your process, you have proof. An organic writing process looks much different than a cut-and-paste job from an AI.
Also, consider your writing style. Do you start with an empty page and write the whole document from scratch, with many changes and re-writes, in your own voice? In that case, your authentic voice should come through. If you copy bits and pieces that sound good from the internet and put them together to fit your narrative, you are likely to sound formulaic and inauthentic which the AI detection might pick up on. AI predicts text based on probability. So, if everyone uses the same AI, they all sound a bit the same at the end.
I hope this helps! All the best to you!
KP
Rhea Dominique Male
Vendor Management
7
Answers
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
Updated
Rhea Dominique’s Answer
This is a serious concern, as AI detection tools are often inaccurate and the consequences in college admissions are high. Your best course of action is to rewrite your essays focusing on your unique voice . To avoid AI flags, use conversational language, inject personal anecdotes and emotional reflection, and vary your sentence structure dramatically. AI struggles with genuine human nuance, self-correction, and contradiction, so lean into those specific qualities. Before submitting, read your essay aloud to ensure it sounds like you telling a story, not a machine summarizing facts.