Kaplan Survey: Most Pre-Law Students Don’t Think Law School Applicants Should Be Allowed to Use GenAI in Admissions Essays
October 02 2023 - 8:55AM
Business Wire
The verdict is in: 66 percent of pre-law students rule that law
school applicants shouldn’t be allowed to use ChatGPT or other
GenAI tools to help them write their admissions essays, according
to a survey by global educational services provider Kaplan; 14
percent say they should be allowed to use it, while the remaining
20 percent aren’t sure*. The results come as a trickle of JD
programs begin to announce school-specific policies, with some like
the University of Michigan Law School explicitly banning applicants
from using GenAI, while others like the Sandra Day O'Connor College
of Law at Arizona State University explicitly allowing it. But
preliminary results from Kaplan’s 2023 law school admissions
officers survey find that the majority of schools have yet to
implement any policy regarding the role that GenAI can or cannot
play in applicants’ admissions essays.
Pre-law students who don’t think GenAI should be allowed shared
the following reasons:
- “The use of AI in a personal statement makes an individual's
personal statement disingenuous. It is also an act of plagiarism
because the work is not the student's own.”
- “I think it takes away from the other applicants who actually
do know how to write and research and such. It feels like it's
cheating me out of a position.”
- “Using GenAI would defeat the entire point of writing a
personal statement, which I believe is to express a key part of
your identity in a short but impactful piece.”
But one student who favors allowing GenAI said, “Banning the use
of AI in personal statements does nothing but penalize students
willing to play by the rules. We need to learn to work with AI
instead of against it.”
“Pre-law students took their admissions exams on Test Day
without the use of GenAI and built up their GPAs without using it
either, so it’s not entirely surprising that they think it
shouldn’t be a part of the admissions process either. One common
thread in the survey results is the concern that it would unfairly
level the playing field for applicants who are not strong writers,
in addition to permit inauthenticity,” said Amit Schlesinger,
executive director of legal and government programs, Kaplan.
“Preliminary results from Kaplan’s law school admissions officers
survey show that as the 2023-2024 application cycle begins, most
schools have no policy at all, but we don’t believe that’s a
tenable position, as they are going to get more and more questions
from prospective students who want guidance and guardrails.”
*The online survey was conducted in September 2023 of 389
aspiring lawyers across the country who are members of Phi Alpha
Delta, the largest professional law fraternity in the United
States.
Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings
Company (NYSE: GHC)
Twitter: @KaplanEdNews
About Kaplan
Kaplan, Inc. is a global educational services company that helps
individuals and institutions advance their goals in an
ever-changing world. Our broad portfolio of solutions help students
and professionals further their education and careers, universities
and educational institutions attract and support students, and
businesses maximize employee recruitment, retainment, and
development. Stanley Kaplan founded our company in 1938 with a
mission to expand educational opportunities for students of all
backgrounds. Today, our thousands of employees working in 26
countries continue Stanley’s mission as they serve about 1.2
million students and professionals, 13,000 corporate clients, and
4,000 schools, school districts, colleges, and universities
worldwide. Kaplan is a subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company
(NYSE: GHC). Learn more at kaplan.com.
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