Is Using AI on College Applications Cheating?
The student who would not touch it
A senior has heard that colleges can detect AI and will reject anyone who uses it. So she uses none. She will not ask a chatbot what "demonstrated interest" means, and she will not run a grammar checker over her essay.
Around her, classmates are asking AI about everything, and a few are letting it write for them.
She is being more careful than any college asks her to be, and it is costing her help she is allowed to have. The classmates who let it write are taking a real risk. Nobody has shown either of them where the line is.
What the rules say
Most colleges that accept the Common App work from its fraud policy. Brown, which adopts that policy, describes fraud as submitting "the substantive content or output of an artificial intelligence platform" as your own work. Brown lists the possible consequences, which include losing an offer of admission.
Beyond that shared rule, each college sets its own guidance. Three examples:
| College | Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Caltech | Grammar and spelling review, AI-generated questions to start brainstorming, and researching the application process | Copying from AI, using AI to outline or draft an essay, replacing your own voice, and translating an essay written in another language |
| Brown | Spelling and grammar review | Using AI to generate essay or short-answer content |
| Georgia Tech | Brainstorming, editing and refining | Pasting AI-generated text into the application |
The three differ at the edges. Georgia Tech is the most open and Brown the strictest. All three agree on the center: the words in the application have to be the student's.
A simple test
Caltech offers a test that works for any college. Ask whether it would be ethical for a trusted adult to do the same task.
A teacher can read your essay and point out a grammar mistake. A teacher cannot write a draft for you to revise and submit. The same goes for AI.
This test settles more than essays. Most of what families want help with involves no application writing at all: choosing courses, planning activities, preparing for the SAT, building a college list, keeping track of deadlines, understanding financial aid. A counselor helps with all of these. Caltech's own list of ethical uses includes using AI to research the application process.
What students are doing
In a survey by foundry10, an education research organization, about a third of seniors applying in 2023–24 said they had used AI for help with their essays. About half of those used it to brainstorm topics or fix grammar and spelling. About 6% of all students had AI write their drafts.
Most students who use AI are using it in ways colleges accept. The small group that hands over the writing is the one at risk.
How Pursiva stays on the right side of the line
Pursiva is built to act as a counselor would under Caltech's test.
Its Essay coach asks questions, points to what the student has written, and suggests corrections one at a time. It will not write a draft, a paragraph or an opening line, and it will not outline the student's essay, even when asked.
Everything else Pursiva does is guidance: course planning, activities, SAT preparation, the college list, financial aid and deadlines. That is the kind of help a counselor gives, and it leaves the writing to the student.
Policies vary and are updated each year, so it is still worth reading the AI guidance of each college on your list.
The careful senior from the opening can relax a little. She can ask AI for guidance as freely as she would ask a counselor, and keep the writing her own.
Sources
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