“Can I Use AI for Ideating My College Application Essay?”
I was just essay-brainstorming with a student who asked me this question. Here are some of my thoughts on the topic:
List It All
Before you type in a bunch of prompts to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, pause and reflect on why you need a technological tool to help you list your hobbies, interests, favorite school subjects, best friends, relatives, foods you can’t live without, songs that make you dance, or TV shows that you’ve binged multiple times. In other words, ask yourself WHY you need an AI generator to help you figure out WHO you are.
Clean Slate
A student just told me that any time he tries to come up with an original essay idea, he gets so impatient and frustrated with the process that he asks Claude for help. The experience of confronting a blank page freaks him out. I suggested he think of it as a clean slate not a blank page. Colleges want to get to know students and have granted them permission to write about any topic in any tone of voice they choose. I told this student that he can be angry, sad, funny, honest, snarky or sincere; the possibilities are endless. The student then sent me the most soulful paragraph about racing his grandpa across the lake near his house. Not only did it reveal details concerning nature and the environment, two subjects that the student intends to study in college, but the writing showed a depth of loving emotion that AI can’t quite replicate. At least not yet!
I Did It Myself
The pride of ownership is huge with the finished college essay. One senior just sent me a note saying she didn’t think she had it in her, this ability to write this well about a topic as difficult as the one she chose. I said, “I knew you had the chops.” While she was working on her narrative, did she express frustration with the drafting process? The “One more time, please” from me? Of course she did. Did she push herself to find the singular, the uniquely-her descriptions, dialogue exchanges and metaphors? Oh yes indeedy! Did she get into her first-choice college? That was icing on the cake.
Stay away from AI programs that will most likely generate canned ideas that are being pitched to other students who plug in similar prompts. Do the hard work of finding those fabulous ideas that only exist in your mind, no bot’s. And draft the heck out of your content. You might just get a note from an AdComm like a couple of my students did this year!
JUN