In the 2025-2026 application cycle, colleges made some of the most significant changes to essay evaluation in a generation. The reason? Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some schools have dropped numeric essay scores. Others have begun to warn applicants that AI-generated text could cost them their admission. And a growing number of universities have added supplemental prompts asking students to reflect on their own relationship with AI. As someone who has reviewed thousands of applications for Stanford and UC-Berkeley while working in college admissions, here’s what I think families need to understand about what’s happening behind the scenes in admissions offices.
How Colleges Are Using AI to Review Applications
The 2025-2026 application cycle has reflected a continuation of the trend for students to submit more total applications. Common Application reports that the total number of applications submitted has climbed to 9.4 million, representing a 5% increase in application volume as compared to 2024-2025. This increase has resulted in larger, more competitive applicant pools and lower overall admit rates.
Between the months of November and March, admissions officers at top colleges are responsible for reviewing a staggering number of applications. As students submit more applications, college admissions teams are implementing efficiencies that will allow them to turn around admissions decisions to applicants in time for standard notification dates.
One school that stands out for its use of AI to improve efficiency is Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech received over 57,000 applications for its freshman class in 2025. Juan Espinoza, Virginia Tech’s Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, explains that while a human averages two minutes to read an essay, the AI tool used by the university can scan 250,000 essays in less than an hour. Espinoza notes, however, that AI essay review complements rather than replaces a human reader, and that official admissions decisions are made by people and not AI.
Long before the introduction of ChatGPT, in 2019 early adopter UNC-Chapel Hill incorporated AI tools in its application review process. UNC-Chapel Hill employs automated scoring software to evaluate grammar and writing ability in application essays, ultimately assigning each essay a score between one and four. This standardized approach reduces the role of human subjectivity in essay review, allowing admissions staff to focus on content rather than mechanics. Reviewing applications for hours a day in a condensed time period, burnout among admissions officers is a real problem, and AI can help relieve the burden while ensuring a consistent approach to essay review.
Can Colleges Detect AI in Your Essay?
AI can be used by admissions officers to gauge whether a student’s essay is their own work or whether it includes AI-generated content. Most colleges have statements about academic honesty, and some now specifically include AI in such statements. Caltech goes so far as to say that admission will be rescinded to applicants found not to have abided by the school’s AI policy.
Colleges have many AI detection tools at their disposal, and while not foolproof, these tools look for common patterns and consistent sentence structure, tipping off admissions readers that AI may have been used. The UC system specifically mentions their use of detection technology, indicating, “UC runs plagiarism checks on applications, and if your PIQs are found to have been generated by AI with unattributed sources, you could be disqualified from UC admission entirely.”
What This Means for Students Applying in 2026
So as a student applying to college in 2026, what is an acceptable use of AI in the essay writing process, and what is a step too far? In my years of reading admissions essays, I can tell you that the students who possess genuine intellectual spark and interesting personal qualities are not asking someone else (bot or person!) to write their essays. The most compelling students care so deeply about their chosen topic that their words almost jump off the page. So, while it’s typically okay to use AI to gather your thoughts or do a minor grammar check, heavier use of generative AI risks making a student’s voice sound generic, or worse, jeopardizing a student’s admission. Applicants should be sure to carefully review the AI use policy of each of the colleges to which they apply, such as this one published by the University of Virginia.
Navigating each college’s AI policy while keeping your essay genuinely yours is harder than it sounds. If you’d like guidance on striking that balance, we’re glad to help.
Why Essays Still Matter – Just Not the Same Way
Even as AI changes the admissions landscape, the essay is an incredibly important component of the holistic review process, offering the potential to provide a personal snapshot that stands in stark contrast to quantitatively focused transcripts and standardized test scores. As Duke interim Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Kathy Phillips explains, essays “continue to offer a more holistic view of who applicants are as individuals, allowing human readers to identify nuances that distinguish the many highly qualified students.” Admissions officers look to the essay to gauge a student’s intellectual vitality and genuine curiosity. Caltech frames this message clearly, stating, “Your essays are where we hear your voice. Relying on AI, specifically large language models such as ChatGPT or Bard, to craft your essay will dilute your unique expression and perspective… overuse of AI will diminish your individual, bold, creative identity as a prospective Techer.”
Colleges Are Now Asking About Your AI Use
As AI is increasingly a part of our daily lives, some colleges have begun asking students to explain in supplemental essays the role that AI plays in their lives. Duke, for example, asks applicants to write about a time when they did or did not choose to use AI technology, and why. In addition to essays specifically focused on a student’s use of AI, the Common Application also now includes a disclosure section in which students are asked to note any AI tools used.
Key Takeaways
While a few colleges (like UNC-Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech) have clear, public-facing statements about how they use AI in the application review process, most colleges are taking cautious, gradual steps to increase the efficiency of their processes through AI use.
One thing, however, is clear – in 2026, currently available AI technology cannot replace human application evaluators. While AI can aid the process, in order to ensure equity for applicants and to meet the institutional priorities of colleges, humans must remain in the driver’s seat of the holistic review process.
Likewise, students are drivers of the essay writing process. No chatbot will be able to reflect you as genuinely as you can reflect yourself. At Top Tier Admissions, our Senior Private Counselors have years of experience guiding students to write impactful, authentic essays that showcase genuine interests and intellectual capacity. From comprehensive private counseling to Application Boot CampⓇ and hourly essay guidance packages, Top Tier Admissions offers a range of services to meet your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
• Do colleges check for AI in application essays?
There is not a published list available of which colleges check, but yes – assume that any college to which you apply may be using tools to detect students’ AI use.
• Can I use ChatGPT to write my college essay?
Your essay must be written in your own voice, reflecting your own experiences and perspective. No one else, and no AI tool, can do that for you. That said, AI may be used in a limited capacity for light brainstorming or a minor grammar check. Any heavier use risks making your essay sound generic, and could jeopardize your admission entirely. Be sure to review the AI policy of every college to which you apply.
• What happens if a college detects AI in my essay?
They may decide to deny you admission to their school. If you have already been admitted, there is a chance that a college would rescind your offer of admission.
• Do I have to disclose AI use on my college application?
Yes, it’s important to list any use of AI in the appropriate section of the Common Application, and/or other sections as requested by the specific college(s).
• How can I make my college essay sound authentic and not AI-generated?
Write in a natural tone that is reflective of your own writing style. Ask yourself – could anyone other than me have written this essay, and did anyone else, generative AI included, write some or all of my essay? If the answer is yes, then you have more work to do.
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