Why Students Should NOT Use ChatGPT for Scholarship Essays

Introduction

Scholarship essays are a golden opportunity for students to showcase their personality, goals, achievements, and challenges compellingly and authentically. They allow students to stand out from the crowd and persuade the scholarship committee that they deserve the award. However, writing a scholarship essay can also be a daunting and time-consuming task for many students, especially if they have multiple deadlines and limited guidance.

Some students may be tempted to use ChatGPT, an AI-powered language model developed by OpenAI, to generate their scholarship essays. ChatGPT can produce human-like text based on context and past conversations, and it can also create images, voice, and custom GPTs for various purposes. However, using ChatGPT for scholarship essays is a bad idea for several reasons. In this article, we will explain why students should not use ChatGPT for scholarship essays, and what they should do instead to write effective and original essays that can win them scholarships.

Why ChatGPT is not suitable for scholarship essays

One of the main reasons why ChatGPT is not suitable for scholarship essays is that it is not reliable or accurate. ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it is not perfect. It can make mistakes, such as grammatical errors, factual errors, logical errors, or irrelevant content. For example, ChatGPT may generate a sentence like “I want to study medicine at Harvard University because I love animals and I want to help them.” This sentence does not make sense, as Harvard University does not offer a veterinary program. Moreover, ChatGPT may be unable to capture the specific requirements or preferences of the scholarship organization or the prompt. For instance, ChatGPT may not know that the scholarship organization values leadership skills, or that the prompt asks for a personal story demonstrating resilience. Therefore, using ChatGPT for scholarship essays may result in poor quality and low relevance, harming the chances of winning the scholarship.

Another reason why ChatGPT is not suitable for scholarship essays is that it is not ethical or honest. Scholarship essays are meant to be personal and authentic, reflecting the student’s own voice, values, and experiences. Using ChatGPT to generate scholarship essays is a form of plagiarism, as it is passing off someone else’s work as one’s own. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence, and it can have severe consequences, such as disqualification, rejection, or even legal action. Furthermore, using ChatGPT to generate scholarship essays is dishonest, as it is deceiving the scholarship committee and the readers. It is unfair to other students who work hard and write their own essays and disrespectful to the scholarship organization and the donors who offer the opportunity. Therefore, using ChatGPT for scholarship essays is a violation of academic integrity and moral values, which can damage the reputation and credibility of the student.

How to write a good scholarship essay

Instead of using ChatGPT to generate scholarship essays, students should write their own, following the best practices and tips outlined below. Writing a good scholarship essay may not be easy, but it is not impossible. With proper planning, research, writing, and revision, students can create original and effective essays that can win them scholarships.

Plan ahead and research the scholarship organization and the prompt

The first step to writing a good scholarship essay is to plan ahead and research the scholarship organization and the prompt. Planning ahead means setting a realistic timeline and sticking to it, allocating enough time for brainstorming, drafting, editing, and proofreading. Researching the scholarship organization and the prompt means finding out as much as possible about the mission, vision, values, goals, and expectations of the scholarship organization, and understanding the purpose, theme, question, or topic of the prompt. This will help the student to tailor their essay to the specific audience and criteria, and to demonstrate their fit and interest in the scholarship.

Write a focused and relevant personal story that demonstrates your values and qualities

The second step to writing a good scholarship essay is to write a focused and relevant personal story that demonstrates your values and qualities. A personal story is a narrative that describes a significant event, experience, or challenge that the student has faced or overcome, and how it has shaped their personality, goals, or aspirations. A personal story is a powerful way to capture the attention and emotion of the readers, and to show them who the student is, what they have done, and what they want to do. A personal story should be focused and relevant, meaning that it should have a clear theme and message, and that it should relate to the prompt and the scholarship. A personal story should also demonstrate the student’s values and qualities, such as leadership, teamwork, creativity, resilience, or passion. These are the traits that the scholarship committee is looking for, and that can set the student apart from other applicants.

Use a professional tone, active voice, and transitional words

The third step to writing a good scholarship essay is to use a professional tone, active voice, and transitional words. A professional tone is a formal and respectful way of writing, that avoids slang, jargon, abbreviations, or contractions. A professional tone shows the student’s maturity and seriousness, and it creates a positive impression on the readers. An active voice is a way of writing that uses the subject-verb-object order, emphasising the action and the agent. An active voice makes the writing clearer, concise, and dynamic, highlighting the student’s achievements and contributions. For example, instead of “I completed the project and my team members”, write “My team and I completed the project”. Transitional words are words or phrases that connect sentences or paragraphs, and that show the relationship between ideas. Transitional words make the writing more coherent, logical, and smooth, and they guide the readers through the essay. For example, use words like “however”, “therefore”, “in addition”, or “for instance” to introduce contrast, cause, addition, or example.

Proofread and edit your essay for clarity and simplicity

The fourth step to writing a good scholarship essay is to proofread and edit your essay for clarity and simplicity. Proofreading and editing are essential processes that check and correct the essay for any errors, mistakes, or inconsistencies in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting. Proofreading and editing also improve the essay for clarity and simplicity, meaning that it is easy to read and understand and conveys the main points and messages effectively. To proofread and edit your essay, you can use tools like Grammarly, Hemingway, or ProWritingAid, or you can ask someone else, such as a friend, a teacher, or a tutor, to review your essay Proofreading and editing your essay will ensure that your essay is polished and professional and that it reflects your best work and effort.

Seek feedback and revise your essay until you are satisfied

The fifth and final step to writing a good scholarship essay is to seek feedback and revise your essay until satisfied. Seeking feedback means asking for opinions, suggestions, or criticisms from others, such as peers, mentors, or experts, who can offer a different perspective and insight on your essay. Seeking feedback can help you identify your essay’s strengths and weaknesses and improve it accordingly. Revising your essay means making changes or adjustments to your essay based on the feedback or your own evaluation to enhance your essay’s content, structure, or style. Revising your essay can help you refine your ideas, arguments, or expressions and make your essay more persuasive and compelling. Seeking feedback and revising your essay until you are satisfied will ensure that your essay is the best that it can be, and that it meets your expectations and goals.

Conclusion

Scholarship essays are a valuable opportunity for students to express themselves and persuade the scholarship committee that they deserve the award. Using ChatGPT to generate scholarship essays is not a smart or ethical choice, as it can result in plagiarism, dishonesty, and poor quality. Students should write their own scholarship essays, following the best practices and tips outlined in this article, to create original and effective essays that can stand out from the crowd and win them scholarships.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions that people may have about scholarship essays and ChatGPT, and the answers to them.

What is ChatGPT and how does it work?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model developed by OpenAI, a research organization dedicated to creating and promoting artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. ChatGPT can generate human-like text based on context and past conversations and create images, voice, and custom GPTs for various purposes. ChatGPT works by using a deep neural network that learns from a large corpus of text data, such as books, articles, blogs, or social media posts, and then produces new text that is similar or relevant to the input. ChatGPT can generate text on any topic, genre, or style and adapt to the user’s tone, mood, or personality or conversation.

Why is ChatGPT not reliable or accurate?

ChatGPT is not reliable or accurate because it is not a human, and it does not have the same knowledge, understanding, or judgment as a human. ChatGPT can make mistakes, such as grammatical errors, factual errors, logical errors or irrelevant content. For example, ChatGPT may generate a sentence like “I want to study medicine at Harvard University because I love animals and I want to help them.” This sentence does not make sense, as Harvard University does not offer a veterinary program. Moreover, ChatGPT may not be able to capture the specific requirements or preferences of the scholarship organization or the prompt. For instance, ChatGPT may not know that the scholarship organization values leadership skills, or that the prompt asks for a personal story demonstrating resilience. Therefore, using ChatGPT for scholarship essays may result in poor quality and low relevance, harming the chances of winning the scholarship.