Across the country, students are turning to AI for help drafting one of the most personal pieces of their college applications: the personal statement and college supplemental essays. According to Acuity Insights’ 2024 survey of over 1,000 applicants, 35% of students said they used AI tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly to support their applications, and 76% of those users relied on these tools for the majority of their work. Yet 63% said they didn’t know how much AI use was permissible, and only 42% received clear guidance from schools.

Rather than banning these tools or ignoring them, we need a shared framework that helps students use AI ethically and responsibly while preserving the integrity of the application process.

Here’s a simple framework I propose, adapted from my research on AI literacy and admissions strategy. It’s called SAGE: Source, Analyze, Generate, Edit. Each step guides students through a thoughtful, transparent process in using AI in the essay writing phase of college admissions.

Before using any tool, reflect. What is the story only you can tell? AI can help you identify themes in your narrative, but it shouldn’t replace your voice. Use journaling, voice memos, or trusted conversations to identify experiences that define who you are.

In my book Get Real and Get In, I encourage students to engage in the “When I Was Little” exercise. This activity prompts you to recall your childhood dreams and interests, like wanting to be a roller coaster test-rider or a superhero. These early passions can reveal underlying values and motivations that are still relevant today. By tapping into these authentic experiences, students can craft essays that truly reflect their unique identities.

Avoid asking AI to “write my college essay about X.” Instead: Use AI to brainstorm questions or themes based on your own experiences. Use AI to help uncover what to write about, not how. My custom College Admissions X-Factor GPT is designed specifically for this purpose. The GPT guides you through a series of reflective questions to help identify your unique experiences, values, and intellectual passions.

For example, you might prompt it with:

AI becomes a powerful tool when it reflects you back to yourself. That’s how it adds value to the writing process by acting as a mirror, not a mouthpiece.

Each essay prompt asks something different and reflects the unique values of each college or university. What is the college truly looking for? Use AI as a thinking partner to understand what the prompt is really asking and what part of yourself you want to highlight.

Try asking AI:

AI can be a helpful creative partner, but like any collaborator it should follow your lead.

Used wisely, AI can help you get unstuck. It can suggest structure, compare tones, rephrase awkward transitions, or offer a few ways to start a paragraph. This is especially useful if writing isn’t your strongest skill, or if you’re staring at a blinking cursor and don’t know where to begin.

But there’s a difference between using AI to clarify your message and asking it to invent your story.

Letting AI generate full paragraphs or entire drafts can lead to several problems:

Start with your own ideas. Free-write, bullet-point, record a voice memo; whatever helps you capture your thoughts honestly. Then, invite AI into the process as a second set of eyes, not a ghostwriter.

Once AI gives you suggestions, rewrite them in your own voice. Keep what works, revise what doesn’t, and delete what feels off.

Never submit anything you haven’t reviewed, rewritten, and fully made your own.

Generative AI can improve grammar, streamline wordiness, and suggest more polished phrasing. But only you can ensure the essay reflects your actual experience, values, and tone. If you let AI overwrite your voice, you risk sounding generic or inauthentic.

So what is “voice,” exactly? It’s the unique way you communicate your own perspective. It shows up in the details you choose, the metaphors that feel natural to you, the rhythm of your sentences, and the level of vulnerability you’re comfortable with.

Admissions officers are attuned to what it doesn’t feel real. If your essay reads like it was written by a 35-year-old data analyst, but you’re a 17-year-old aspiring biology major, that mismatch can work against you.

• Use AI to check grammar or vary sentence structure, but not to change the substance of your story.

Think of this step as closing the loop: AI may have helped you get started or stay organized, but now it’s your job to make sure the final product is unmistakably yours.

If you’re a teacher, counselor, or admissions officer, now is the time to create clear, proactive guidance.

Three steps institutions can take:

College essays remain one of the most personal components of an application. That hasn’t changed. What’s changed is the tools that students have available to arrive at that voice. By offering students a framework like SAGE, we can help students gain additional support in the application process and help them to amplify, not muffle, their unique voices.