Ask about MBA Admission Consultants on the online forum, people with no real interest in your future, complete strangers will be happy to tell you “just use ChatGpt”. If you suggest that you need the support of a professional human, they may try to make you feel inadequate.
I sat here on a Saturday morning and took a break from writing this blog post and reviewing my MBA essays. And I would like to write about something that has definitely changed this year. This one.
Compared to the previous year, all essays are now more technically correct. In the past, they may have been a bit disjointed, but now there is a trend. If they might have been cut off, they are now buttoned. More refined, you might say.
However, a clear division line appeared. No, it's not about em dashes.
Some essays are now awfully reading “samessies.” Three tidy lists, symmetrical phrases, and excessive simplicity of time series are not ubiquitous.
But it's not just a matter of style. They lack the peculiarity and emotional nuance that allows them to sing essays with personality and purpose.
The worst part is the blank imitation of insight. What does it look like? “This experience taught me the importance of collaboration and resilience.”
And the transition and overuse of filler (“Looking ahead, I…” and “This experience was a turning point…”) leave me as a reader that I am not moving or convinced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdzegmaat8
Why is AI slop happening in MBA application documents?
Simply put, it happens when using AI to outsource much of your thinking, reflection and writing. AI can only remix what you saw before. The moment it shaped you, you don't know the difficulties or unusual choices you made in your career, or Authentic Why you want an MBA?
So when it provides an essay, what you get is some collective thinking echoes. Some pretty sound generality, but not a revelation.
Even if candidates write their own drafts, they often give AI tools over and over again to make them more “concise”, “clear”, and “unique”.
And in the process of boiling things over and over, you become a crisp, pulseless sentence. Essays lose the natural rhythm and vividness that indicates human existence.
Hidden risks of AI-powered MBA enrollment coaches
Part of the identity comes from AI coaches that appear everywhere. You know that kind: voice and chat coach with AI in MBA applications, prices are really low, built by alumni of top programs and sold as “I built the tool I wanted”.
That sounds fascinating. Until I look under the hood.
The problem with most AI admissions coaches is how they are built. They inevitably rely on publicly available information. That is, they are trained on the school's own marketing materials and content created by admissions consultants like me. In fact, I have seen my MBA path cited in these tools being awful (it's fine, my mission is to share my knowledge freely and generously).
But what's even more surprising is that these AI consultants will take not only your personal input, but also the input of all other users. The output is then drawn from its collective pool. This means that a “personalized” essay ends as a statistical average of hundreds of other applicants. And when an application reads like an average, that's exactly how ADCOM handles it.
An MBA admissions coach with actual admission expertise can help you become the opposite: candidates with clarity, specificity, and a voice that belongs to you alone.
How about AI detection?
I keep asking the same question: “Can I flag my MBA essays to AI?”
However, detection is not the actual risk and much greater risk. the Unintended plagiarism.
When using AI, you may be trusting tools trained in other people's essays. This means that you can give them phrasing, structure, or ideas a little too close to existing materials.
You don't know. However, plagiarism detection tools are a problem that can actually destiny MBA applications, unlike AI detection.
If any of this thinks I'm anti-Aai, I need to stop you here. AI has incredible capabilities and uses appropriate and clever methods. It can do everything an MBA admissions coach does. But it's not that easy to use in a proper and clever way.
So you're wondering: “How can I use AI in a smart way in an MBA application?”
Petia Whitmore: “Clearness and polish are no longer enough. Humanity has become a new frontier that stands out in the MBA entrance race.”
If you choose to use AI for your essay, it is absolutely essential that you do not write or rewrite the material for you. As a thinking partner, we use someone who will delve deeper, reveal stronger, completely unique insights and push you to deliver them more accurately.
Below are three important steps to using AI in your MBA application:
1) Ask the correct question.
skip: “Rewrite this to make it sound better.” Instead, ask to help you. For example, close by by saying, “Are you using too much detail or not enough?”
2) Use it to test your strategic focus.
Question: “What part of this essay does not clearly support my message?”
3) Get options instead of overriding.
It helps you learn how to use AI to improve your writing methods.
Bonus Tip: Talk to AI!
Typing takes time, so typing and prompting AI often skips the details and loses the nuance. It also filters your thoughts. We present discussions and ideas in writing that are different to what we speak.
When we speak, we express ourselves more freely and more instinctively. And that unfiltered story is often the clearest path to your most human and compelling story.
Humans to rescue
At MBA ABC, my candidate gets two things that are not seen by a typical AI coach.
1. A detailed structured resume and essay guide About the actual building blocks of powerful MBA essays. They are based on the experience of the evaluator, not the AI packaged marketing slogan.
2. If you choose a short guide to using AI in the right way, As a brainstorming partner, he is not an editor, and certainly not a ghostwriter.
For candidates who are already using AI tools in their work, this approach is much more useful, safer and ethical.
But this is the absolute crucial part of MBA ABC. I personally review each participant's resume and two school essays. In other words, the essay drifted into AI's “superficial polish” trap. It sounds pretty but empty there, and can pull back towards the material, specificity and depth that actually moves the enrolled reader.
It's simply the difference in applications I read it often And it's really really It stands out.
MBA ABC opens twice a year, and invitation lists get first access before they promote more widely. If you would like to participate in the next cohort, you can join the invitation list. MBAABCInvite list.
Frequently Asked Questions about using AI in MBA Applications
Help: My MBA essay flags for AI use. what do i do?
First, take a deep breath. AI detection tools are notorious for generating false positives, especially well-written, structured text. If you write your own essay, you don't have to worry about AI detection. But if you don't, check the essay with a keen eye for specificity. Revise excessively common parts, replace them at a specific moment, phrasing only you I'll use it.
Will AI use be detected? Will I be rejected by using AI in my MBA application?
Relying on AI to generate a complete essay, especially one that sounds flat or generic, can enrollees notice. Many schools do not use formal AI detectors and do not have a policy to prohibit AI. However, trained readers can enable the typical spot tones and patterns of AI. Do you use AI as a tool to clarify structure and brainstorm? That's good. Do you want to use it to shortcut reliability? danger.
Is it ethical to use AI to support MBA essays?
It depends on how you use it and what the school policy is. Asking AI to assist in brainstorming or suggesting clear phrasing is unlikely to be considered unethical by the MBA program. Do you want to hand over the generated content to AI as your own? It crosses the line. Ethical use adds value to your thinking, but does not replace your reflection, effort, or insight.
How can I use AI without sounding like everyone else?
specifically. Use examples that only you can convey. Include details of your life, work, or values. AI is great for helping structure and clarification rather than creating ideas.
The thoughts of parting
I'm worried that if I press “Publish” on this blog post, my message might be lost.
This is not an AI takedown. I use it every day. I'm grateful that I can do that. And I know that many of you are trying to use it in a clever and responsible way.
Here's what I'm saying: clarity and Poland is no longer enough. Humanity has become a new frontier that stands out in the MBA admissions race. Use the tool. As an MBA student and business leader, you need to understand and use them with intelligence and depth. And that's exactly what your MBA application needs too. It shows you not the person looking to cut corners, but someone who can use AI in judgment, context, and nuance.
From then on,
Petia
Petia Whitmore, former dean of MBA admissions and former managing director of the GMAC Tour (formerly MBA Tour), works with thousands of candidates and partners with all major MBA programs in the US and Europe.
