admissions officers read 30,000 essays a year. they know what chatgpt sounds like. they've been reading it since 2023 and the pattern is obvious to them by now.

that doesn't mean you can't use ai. it means you need to use it smart.

what admissions officers catch

the generic narrative. "growing up in a diverse community taught me the value of different perspectives." every ai produces this. it's the statistically safest thing to say. it means nothing.

the perfect structure. intro hook, three body paragraphs, reflective conclusion. it's the five-paragraph essay format that chatgpt defaults to. real personal essays are messier.

the absence of you. chatgpt can write about overcoming adversity without any specific adversity. it produces essays about growth with no evidence of actual growth. admissions readers notice when the person is missing from the personal essay.

where ai helps

getting started. the blank page is paralyzing when the stakes are "this determines my future." ask ai to give you a rough draft based on your experiences. react to what it produces. what did it get wrong? what's missing? those reactions are your essay starting to form.

structure suggestions. you have five disjointed paragraphs about different experiences. ai can help you find the thread that connects them into a narrative.

editing for clarity. once you've written your draft, ai can identify confusing passages and suggest clearer phrasings. quill does this in real time without overwriting your voice.

the golden rule

every sentence in your essay should pass the "only i could write this" test. if any sentence could appear in any applicant's essay, replace it with something specific to you.

the time your lab partner dropped a beaker on your notes and you had to reconstruct your data from memory. the conversation with your grandmother that changed how you think about your major. the moment you realized you were actually good at something you'd been faking.

ai can't generate these. you have to.

the final pass

once your essay is written in your voice with your stories, run it through paraai's paraphrase. not to change the content — to ensure any lingering ai patterns from the drafting process are gone. the fine-tuned models add natural variation while keeping your meaning and voice intact.

some schools run application essays through detectors now. untraceable ai writing protects you from false flags — whether you used ai for brainstorming or wrote the whole thing yourself.

your essay should sound like you on your best day. not like chatgpt pretending to be you.