ChatGPT助力申请文撰写：挑战与机遇并存

文章主题：1. ChatGPT 2. 学生信息 3. 应用程序错误

本文作者Gabriel Monteros 孟泰岩

成蹊工坊合伙人，申请文书顾问

Gabriel在耶鲁大学获学士学位，主修历史、中文和政治学。近十年来，他帮助数百名中外学生入读理想学校。美国综合性大学本科录取包括斯坦福大学、哥伦比亚大学、布朗大学、芝加哥大学等；顶尖文理学院录取包括阿默斯特学院、斯沃斯莫尔学院、波莫纳学院、卡尔顿学院等；其他国家的大学本科录取包括多伦多大学、牛津大学、新加坡国立大学等

Before I explore the major issues of using ChatGPT, it is important to establish exactly what goes into successful application essays. In fact, many people who believe that ChatGPT can substitute for experienced application guidance have that mindset because they misunderstand the function of application essays! Correcting that misunderstanding is important to ensuring that students have a successful application season.在准备美国大学申请材料的时候使用ChatGPT会产生许多的问题。在我探讨这个话题之前，更重要的是我想和大家先达成一个共识：一份成功的申请文书究竟包含了哪些内容？事实上，许多人觉得ChatGPT能代替富有经验的申请顾问，其根本原因就在于——他们误解了申请文书的功能！为了确保学生有一个圆满的申请季，对申请文书有正确的理解极其重要。

What Makes Good Application Essays?

什么才能算是好的申请文书？

American colleges and universities see education asa community endeavor of diverse minds. They want to know how the student will fit in, what perspectives and experiences she will offer her peers, and how she will engage with others. In the American mind, the idealized college experience is one where historians have lunch with engineers, where poets debate philosophy with economists, where biologists and computer programmers play together in music bands. Students aren’t just learning and building with their professors, but also with each other.美国大学将教育看作是一个由不同思想组成的社区工作。他们想要了解学生将如何适应这个社区，她会为她的同伴们提供什么样的观点和经验，以及她将会如何与他人建立密切联系。在美国人的观念中，理想的大学经历应该是在学校里，历史学家会和工程师共进午餐，诗人可以和经济学家辩论哲学，甚至生物学家和计算机程序员能在乐队中一起演奏。学生不应该是仅仅只从他们的教授那里学习，同时也要和同伴互相探讨。

As such, admissions officers want to “go beyond the numbers” to understand the student as a “unique individual” (American culture tends to believe that all people are “unique” in some way) and how she will contribute to the diversity and vibrancy of the campus community in addition to thriving in the classroom.

因此，招生官希望在“成绩之外”能够看到学生是如何作为一个“独特的个体”（美国文化倾向于所有人在某种程度上都是”独特的“），在课堂上茁壮成长的同时，还可以为校园的多样性和活力做出贡献。

This is where essays come in! Unlike all the other parts of the application such as letters of recommendation, SAT scores, and school transcripts, essays give the student a chance to communicate directly with the admissions officer, in their own voice. Students thus have to think carefully about what they want to share about themselves in such a small space. Will the admissions officer want to meet the student after reading the essay? Can they envision the applicant being an important part of their college community?

文书便是由此而来! 它和申请过程中需要提交的其他材料（如推荐信、SAT成绩以及学校成绩单等）不同，文书给予了学生一个可以以自己的方式直接与招生官交流的机会。因此，学生必须仔细思考在有限的篇幅中如何展示自己。在读完这篇文书后，招生官是否会有冲动想要见见这个学生？他们能设想这样的申请人成为大学社区的一个重要组成部分吗？

Thus it is important to note the larger strategic implications of essays in college applications. Because it is the part where the student has the most communicative power, good application essays become the “glue” that binds together the parts of the application. There may be a lot of different, distinct information presented in the recommendations, grades, activity lists, etc. The essays provide a chance to link some of that information together to create a single picture, a single narrative that should be compelling to the admissions officers. The best essays are ones that leave a clear message that remains in the minds of the admissions officers long after they have finished reading the application. This is no easy task!因此，留意到文书在大学申请时拥有更大的战略意义很重要。因为它是学生最具有沟通能力的部分，一份好的申请文书就像粘合剂一样将申请材料的各个部分结合在一起。在推荐信、成绩、活动清单等方面可能展现了很多不同的、独特的信息。文书提供了一个将这些信息整合联结在一起的机会，以此来创造出一个对招生官有吸引力的一幅画面，一个故事。最好的文书一定是那些招生官阅读完申请后仍能在他们脑海中长久地留下清晰的信息。这不是一件容易的事！

Why ChatGPT is a Bad Choice?

为什么ChatGPT是一个糟糕的选择？

You have probably realized by now that strong college applications aren’t just about writing nice sentences. They require a lot of “thinking work”, student reflection, and careful guidance from empathetic mentors who understand college admissions. With that in mind, as well as an understanding of the nature of LLMs, let’s discuss four reasons why ChatGPT is a poor choice for writing admissions essays.你现在可能已经意识到，强有力的大学申请并不仅仅是能写出漂亮的句子。他们需要大量的 “思考工作”、学生的反应，以及了解大学招生并且富有同情心的导师的精心指导。考虑到这一点，当然还有对LLM（大语言模型）性质的理解，让我们来讨论一下4个为什么ChatGPT是撰写入学文书的一个糟糕选择的原因。1) ChatGPT lacks the individual context of the student and her admissions strategyChatGPT缺乏学生的个人背景和她的申请方案With over a decade of experience helping students with applications, I know that the most difficult part of application essays is not necessarily the writing, it is the brainstorming. Coming up with a topic, finding compelling anecdotes, and linking together different parts of the student into an effective story takes time, deep thinking, and skill. You have to explore a student’s life, generate moments for growth, and understand what is valuable for an admissions officer to know. I like to say that writing the essay is only 10% of the work for application success!根据我超过十年帮助学生申请的经验，我认为申请文书最困难的部分不完全在于写作，而是集思广益的过程。想出一个主题，找到令人信服的轶事，并将学生的不同方面连成一个有效的故事，这个过程需要时间、深入思考和技巧。你必须探索学生的生活，产生成长的时刻，并理解什么是对招生官有价值的了解。我可以这么说，写出一篇文书只是申请成功中10%的工作!If a student uses ChatGPT for the essay, they will not engage in the important “thinking work” and hurt their application chances. All the specific information that makes a student who she is as an individual — the life stories, the personal beliefs, the memorable anecdotes — will be missing.

尽管学生花费大量时间向ChatGPT提供关于自身的具体信息（这可能需要数小时），但该技术仍无法判断哪些个人细节是最有趣的、哪些应该进一步开发，以及哪些应该被废弃。

如果学生使用ChatGPT来写文章，他们将不会参与到重要的 “思考工作”，并损害他们的申请机会。所有使学生成为一个独立个体的具体信息——生活故事、个人信仰、令人难忘的轶事，都将被遗漏。即使学生花时间向ChatGPT提示关于她自己的具体信息（这或许将需要好几个小时！），该技术也无法确定哪些个人细节是最有趣的，哪些应该被更多地发掘，哪些应该被搁置。

Moreover, ChatGPT is not an admissions expert.

该系统无法判断一个可能适合某个学生的论文主题是否对另一个学生来说可能是糟糕的。它不了解学生申请中的薄弱环节以及需要解决的问题。基于学生的成绩单、推荐信和活动记录来判断某个故事是否真实，或根据学生的整体录取策略来确定哪些故事是可信的，这对于该系统而言都是不可能的。

此外，ChatGPT也不是招生专家。它不知道对一个学生来说可能很棒的文书主题对另一个学生来说可能很糟糕。它也不了解学生申请中的薄弱环节是什么，或者需要解决哪些问题。它更不能根据学生的成绩单、推荐信和活动来确定哪些故事是可信的，不能确定学生的总体招生策略是什么。

在撰写文章时，运用ChatGPT作为提纲速成的方式或许能节省部分时间，然而这可能导致文章缺乏深度思考、头脑风暴和策略性考虑。请务必牢记，成功跨越任何挑战都需要逐步前进，不能一蹴而就。

在构建文书时使用ChatGPT作为捷径可能会节省一些时间，但结果会因为缺乏引导性思考、头脑风暴和战略考虑而受到影响。记住，一步跨不到天边。2）ChatGPT produces generic, superficial resultsChatGPT产生一般的、肤浅的结果I’ve had several people show me application essays completed by ChatGPT, hoping that I would walk away impressed. Instead what I’ve seen is well-written, grammatically correct, and… superficial, cliché, and boring. They are the exact type of essay that admissions officers see a thousand times and forget about as soon as they move on to the next application.有几个人给我看了由ChatGPT完成的申请文书，希望我能够留下深刻印象。相反，我所看到的是写得很好、语法正确的文章，然而……肤浅、陈词滥调以及无聊。这些文书正是招生官们看了无数次，但一转到下一个申请就会忘记的那种类型。

The harsh reality is that admissions officers literally read tens of thousands of essays every application season. They read countless essays about volunteering in the countryside, or helping a family member, or becoming a leader. Essays that don’t offer more than the typical information, generic style, or shallow thinking are quickly forgotten “in the pile” and thus do not help the student. When students bring me first drafts of their personal statements, I often ask them a simple question: “Is this essay a story only YOU could tell?”If the answer is no, it’s a sign that the essay is of poor quality.“残酷的现实是，招生官在每个申请季都会阅读数以万计的文书。他们阅读了无数篇关于在农村做志愿者，帮助家庭成员，或者成为一个领导者的文章。那些没有提供更多独特信息、普通风格或肤浅思维的文章很快就会被遗忘在“文件堆”中，因此对学生没有帮助。当学生给我带来文书的初稿时，我经常问他们一个简单的问题：“这篇文书是一个只有你才能讲的故事吗？”。如果答案是否定的，那就说明这篇文书的质量很差。ChatGPT by design is meant to be generic and utilitarian, which is the exact opposite of good admissions essays which should be individualized and targeted. Even if you prompt ChatGPT to produce a writing style that is different than its usual output, it still will be reliant on its training data, which of course has none of your student’s writing in it! As such, even if the essays ChatGPT produces are well-written, they do not “stick out from the pile” and separate the student from other applicants.ChatGPT从设计的角度来看是通用的和功利的，这与好的申请文书的特质完全相反，它应该是个性化的和有针对性的。即使你促使ChatGPT产生不同于其通常输出的写作风格，它仍然依赖于其训练数据，当然，这些数据中没有你的学生的写作！因此，即使ChatGPT产生的文章文笔很好，它们也无法 “从一堆文章中脱颖而出”，将学生与其他申请人区分开来。3）ChatGPT is often wrong… and crazy!ChatGPT经常出错……而且很疯狂!After using ChatGPT for a while, one will notice something strange. ChatGPT and other LLMs often just make things up. It will produce incorrect information, logical errors, or create deceptive stories out of thin air. What’s worse, is that oftentimes ChatGPT can sound credible while “lying”, presenting falsehoods confidently alongside proper facts. Maybe it really is human!在使用ChatGPT一段时间后，人们会发现一些奇怪的现象。ChatGPT和其他LLM（大语言模型）经常只是编造事情。它将产生不正确的信息、逻辑错误，或凭空创造出欺骗性的故事。更糟糕的是，很多时候ChatGPT在 “撒谎 “的同时还能听起来很可信，在正确的事实旁边自信地呈现虚假的内容。从这方面来看，也许它真的是人也说不定!

在AI研究者眼中，这些错误被称为“虚构”（Hallucinations），而在LLMs（大型语言模型）中，这是一个仍然在努力解决的问题。因此，任何由ChatGPT生成的写作都必須仔細檢查其準確性，這需要一個有知識的眼光。盲目地依賴ChatGPT可能导致學生提交帶有有害的事實或邏輯錯誤的稿件。

这些错误被人工智能研究人员称为 “幻觉”，是LLM（大语言模型）的一个主要问题，目前仍在努力解决。因此，任何由ChatGPT创建的写作总是要仔细检查其准确性，这需要一双有知识的眼睛。盲目地依赖ChatGPT可能会导致学生提交带有有害事实或逻辑错误的写作。4）Colleges may start using software to detect AI-generated text高校可能开始使用软件来检测AI生成的文本

Colleges and other institutions are already well aware of the problems posed by LLMs. Although AI detection software is in its infancy, and colleges haven’t established clear, internal AI policies yet, plenty of companies are hard at work developing solutions to detect AI-generated text. For example, OpenAI, the organization that created ChatGPT, has already released a tool that helps determine if a document was written by ChatGPT.Despite the unreliability of these tools, they are already being applied in a variety of fields and will likely continue to improve as the demand for them is strong.

高校和其他机构已经充分意识到了LLM（大语言模型）带来的问题。虽然人工智能检测软件还处于起步阶段，而且高校还没有制定明确的内部人工智能政策，但很多公司都在努力开发解决方案来检测文本是否由人工智能生成。例如，创建ChatGPT的组织OpenAI已经发布了一个工具，帮助确定一份文件是否是由ChatGPT写的。尽管这些工具不可靠，但它们已经被应用于各个领域，并且随着需求的旺盛，可能会继续改进。

In the near future, using ChatGPT for a student’s essays runs the risk that she will be caught during the application process. This could not only jeopardize her admissions chances at one school but bar her from attending any college.

在不久的将来，使用ChatGPT来写学生的文书有可能在申请过程中被发现。这不仅可能危及她在一所学校的录取机会，而且可能禁止她进入任何大学。

Next Up: An Example!

下一步：一个例子!

希望您现在已经理解了优秀申请论文所需的内容以及为什么ChatGPT并不是一个适合撰写这些论文的工具。然而，作为一名教师，我坚信，我们不仅应该向人们传授知识，还应展示实际生活中的例子。

希望你现在既能理解什么是优秀的申请文书，也能理解为什么ChatGPT不是好的写作工具。然而，作为一名教师，我坚信人们不应该只是告诉人们信息，还应该向他们展示真实的例子。So, in the next article, I will present you with a case study to demonstrate my point. In it, I will take a college admissions essay prompt and produce writing using ChatGPT. I will then compare that with a successful essay actually written by a student with our careful guidance and walk you through why the student’s essay is stronger. I hope you will enjoy it!因此，在下一篇文章中，我将向大家介绍一个案例研究，以证明我的观点。在那篇文章中，我将采用一个大学入学文书提示，并使用ChatGPT进行写作。然后，我将把它与一个学生在我们的精心指导下实际写出的一篇成功的文章进行比较，并解释为什么这个学生的文章更强大。希望大家能喜欢这篇文章!