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UNC confirms admissions essays are reviewed by Durham-based company's technology

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Documents obtained by The Daily Tar Heel revealed the use of Artificial Intelligence in the UNC admissions process. The Durham-based company Measurement Incorporated provides the technology for the essay review.

The Measurement Incorporated website states that the company offers automated scoring for writing through their Project Essay Grade engine. 

The UNC Office of Undergraduate Admissions uses advanced automated technology created by the company to review for grammar and writing, UNC Media Relations wrote in a statement to The DTH.

The PEG engine is machine-learning, according to the Measurement Incorporated website. Machine learning is a subset of the broader category of AI that uses mathematical models of data to teach a computer. 

The DTH previously reported on UNC's use of AI in the admissions essay review process. Media Relations did not share what technology the office used at the time of the previous story's publication. 

 The PEG engine doesn't read essays to assign a score like a human grader would, Measurement Incorporated Chief Strategy Officer Corey Palermo explained in a paper about the company's technology. Instead, Palermo wrote, the engine matches various characteristics that an essay may have with the scores assigned by human essay graders and uses those comparisons to predict a score for the essay.

“This is similar to the machine learning Netflix applies to subscribers' viewing habit data and Amazon applies to customers' page‐view and purchase data to make recommendations,” Palermo wrote.

Despite multiple attempts, The Daily Tar Heel was unable to reach a Measurement Incorporated representative for comment by the time of publication. 

Measurement Incorporated was founded in 1980 and provides different educational assessment services to various organizations.

According to their website, the PEG engine is trained based on scores given by the company's most accurate raters. This practice, the website states, ensures the accuracy and quality of the auto-generated scores. 

Media Relations wrote that Measurement Incorporated's technology provides an additional data point for admissions office reviewers to validate their scoring.

“The applicant evaluator reads each and every essay and all other application materials for an individual applicant,” Media Relations Manager Beth Lutz wrote.

The auto-generated essay score is one of multiple scores that the admissions office uses in determining an admissions decision, according to UNC's 2022-23 application reader guidelines. The four main categories for evaluation include performance, program, extracurriculars and personal quality.

UNC Class of ‘23 alumnus Shivan Shah, who reviewed his admissions file in 2020, said he thought the content of his essay factored into his score in the personal qualities category. He said the person who reviewed his application left specific comments mentioning his essay.

“They're just looking for how you are as a person and if you'd thrive in the UNC community,” Shah said.

Admissions Ambassador and UNC senior Mary Elizabeth Policastro said all applications are reviewed holistically, which means that one reviewer evaluates all materials in prospective student's applications.

“It's a very intensive process of training and going through those applications,” Policastro said.

Anika Singh, a senior at Green Level High School in Cary who was accepted to UNC on Friday, said learning that the University uses AI in their review process left her with mixed feelings about her acceptance.

Singh said she didn't learn about the University's use of AI in the application review process until after receiving her acceptance, and she wished that the University had been more transparent about that aspect of their review process. However, she said that as long as the admissions office was using AI ethically, she thinks it could be a useful tool for streamlining the admissions process.

“I think that it is smart if they're using it to maximize efficiency and using it in a way that's fair to the people who are applying,” Singh said.

@alice__scottt

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