Using AI in admissions ‘more equitable and transparent’ – study

Times Higher Education

Paul Basken

October 13, 2023

US colleges and universities can shape well-rounded and diverse student bodies by using artificial intelligence tools to assess admissions essays, according to a University of Pennsylvania-led research team that conducted a test run on more than 300,000 applications.

The researchers submitted 150-word application essays from the students into a program that hunted for signs of seven different personal qualities, and said the process produced holistic assessments of the students with “minimal bias” and with overall accuracy in predicting eventual graduation success.

“The finding,” said a lead author, Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at Penn, “is that we can reliably detect personal qualities” using AI tools.

AI has been changing or threatening to change established practices across much of society, including higher education. In terms of college admissions, the questions and concerns have largely focused on how institutions could or should address the challenge of students using AI technologies to write their admissions essays. Some campus admissions offices also have begun working with AI-powered tools, mostly to cull and compare basic data such as high-school grade scores, although some have taken steps in the direction of using AI to synthesize large volumes of other applicant submissions materials including essays.

The Penn-led study involved nearly 310,000 students who applied to US institutions nationwide in 2008 and 2009. The research team had colleagues from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Denver and Virginia Tech, and their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

Among the advantages of using AI tools in admissions, Professor Duckworth said, is the possibility of allowing more transparency in the process – if institutions are willing to make public the details of their systems.

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