UNC uses AI in admissions review process, documents show how
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Audio edited by Luther Walker.
Application essays reviewed by the UNC Office of Undergraduate Admissions are auto-scored based on writing quality, according to a document obtained by The Daily Tar Heel that detailed UNC’s admissions reader guidelines for the 2022-23 application cycle.
In a statement to The DTH, UNC Media Relations wrote that when the Office of Undergraduate Admissions reviews admissions essays, it uses, or plans to use artificial intelligence to do a basic evaluation of grammar and writing.
Students review their admissions files
UNC class of ‘23 alumnus Aidan Hunt, who reviewed his admissions file in 2020,said that the person he spoke with during the appointment told him that essays are computer-scored on a scale from one to four based on writing quality.
Students at any public university are able to review their admissions file due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
UNC sophomore Owen Fay reviewed his admissions file in 2024 and noted in a Reddit post that his essay also received a computer-generated score.
UNC Media Relations did not answer questions about how the AI tool conducts its essay evaluation.
According to the 2022-23 admissions reader guidelines, the computer-generated essay score reflects the quality of word choice, sentence structure, sentence variability, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, length and more in an applicant's essay.
The reader guidelines explain that the essay score may give the reviewer an idea of the writing quality, but reading the entirety of the essays will give the reviewer “a more accurate sense of a student’s writing abilities.”
Media Relations wrote to The DTH that there was no one from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions available for an interview about their essay review process.
“There is no legal obligation to require and/or read essays for undergraduate application review,” Media Relations Manager Beth Lutz wrote in a statement to The DTH.
UNC requires applicants to write three essays — one in response to their main Common Application prompt and two short answer questions.
“Essays are crucial for a comprehensive review, and we read all three to better assess our applicants,” Lutz wrote.
University uses AI-Infused software
The 2022-23 admissions reader guidelines state that the auto-generated essay score is found on the Slate Reader Dashboard. Slate for Admissions is a tool that is meant to streamline the admissions process. It includes a number of features including Reader AI, a tool that pre-reads documents under review, such as essays or recommendation letters, and summarizes what a reviewer needs to know about those application materials.
“With this new feature, users have a summarizing tool and a well-trained colleague that understands what is under consideration when evaluating various types of documents,” the 2024 Slate Summit Executive Summary states when describing Reader AI.
Hunt said that when he reviewed his admissions file, he was shown his application in the Slate platform.
Hunt said he met with a staff member on Zoom who screen-shared a document that contained Hunt’s application materials and a two-page evaluation of the materials on Slate. The Slate platform contained his auto-generated essay score along with his SAT score, his GPA and his scores in the admissions office’s four categories for evaluation — performance, program, extracurricularsand personal qualities.
Media Relations did not respond to questions directly asking if the admissions office uses Slate to review essays.
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The University expects applicants to write their own essays, the statement from Media Relations said. The statement also said that when prospective students apply, they must affirm that they adhere to the University’s Student Code of Conduct, which prohibits academic dishonesty.
Wendy Briley, a college counselor at Briley College Consulting in Wake Forest, said admissions officers use essays to determine what characteristics applicants embody and whether they align with the mission and values of the particular institution.
“This is your opportunity to let admissions officers know who you are as a person outside of what they're already going to see on the application,” Briley said.
Media Relations did not answer a question about the influence of the auto-generated essay score in determining a student’s final admission decision.
How UNC values the essay
UNC’s 2023-24 Common Data Set ranks the application essay as “very important” to a student’s application. The CDS is a report that all colleges are required to publish that ranks the importance of different college application materials, Briley said. Materials are ranked as very important, important, considered or not considered.
“No decisions on whether to admit a student are made by AI or anyone outside of the admissions committee,” Lutz wrote.
During Hunt’s documents review appointment, he said the staff member told him that the essay score is not that important to an applicant’s final admission decision.
Presentations from Jan. 6, 2023 show that the Office of Undergraduate Admissions needed to move 175 global applicants from the waitlist/deny pool to the admit pool, 700 North Carolina residents from admit to waitlist/deny and 450 North Carolina residents from waitlist to deny.
The presentations stated that application readers should pay attention to auto-generated essay scores, as well as an applicant's extracurricular activities and personal qualities when reversing admissions decisions to meet certain quotas.
Ava Butzu, a former senior admissions counselor at the University of Michigan,said that their Office of Undergraduate Admissions never used AI to score essays or for any other part of reviewing applications. Current admissions counselor, Alicia Czinski,confirmed that Michigan still does not use AI in its review process.
While Butzu worked at Michigan, she said the admissions office never discussed using AI in its review process. Butzu said understanding the context of a prospective student’s application — their school’s average SAT scores, academic offerings and clubs — was a key part of how readers evaluated applications, which is part of why Butzu said she thinks the Michigan admissions office doesn’t use AI in the review process.
“I think there's a huge point of pride about that,” Butzu said.
Butzu said she thinks that using AI to evaluate college applications could take away some of the humanity in the review process, especially because of the likelihood that many applicants are now using AI to write their essays.
Streamlining the admissions process through AI
Butzu said she understands why AI might be an appealing tool in the college admissions process. At Michigan, admissions officers read applications from Nov. 1- Feb. 1, and doing the same task for 40 hours a week could become exhausting, Butzu said.
“I hated it sometimes because it's just like a drudge,” she said.
Michigan received a record number of over 105,000 applicants during the 2023-24 application season. UNC received over 73,000 applications for 2023-24, also a University record.
Hunt said he got the impression from reviewing his admissions file that his application reader likely had a large volume of applications and had to review Hunt's application quickly. In the comments left by his application reader, Hunt said many words and phrases were abbreviated “as if they're writing a text message” — “ppl” for people or “jryr” for junior year.
Briley said she thinks AI will help streamline the admissions process as universities must review applications faster due to the uptick in applicants.
“I think maybe as a kind of a first review, it will definitely take away some of that time that is required,” Briley said. “And then maybe really allow the admissions officers to spend some more deep digging into those applications.”
Briley said she has recently been hearing a lot about AI being used in the application review process from communication with admissions officers at different schools. According to Inside Higher Ed, 17 percent of universities in the U.S. are using AI in admissions.
While Briley said she sees the benefit of AI as a tool for admissions, she said it is not without its faults. Briley said she knows students who have had their essays mistakenly flagged for AI-generated content by these graders.
“It certainly will not replace the individual reader or the committee, but it can certainly aid them when they are reviewing," Briley said.
University desk writer Alissa Shyshkova contributed reporting to this story.
