The University of Miami, UNC-Chapel Hill, UGA, High Point University, and Tulane spent this summer solving the AI-essay problem the way most of us solve a check-engine light: they put tape over it. All five eliminated their supplemental essays for the 2026-27 cycle, with Cornell and WashU trimming theirs back for good measure. The official explanation, delivered with impressive message discipline across all of the admissions offices, is that essays stress students out and everyone wants to make applying easier.
Only Tulane said the quiet part out loud, admitting that AI factored into its decision. I’ve argued that it’s the real reason behind every one of these announcements: the supplemental essay is dying because a chatbot writes a passable one in nine seconds, and admissions readers can no longer tell who did the writing.
Credit to Tulane for honesty. As for “making it easier to apply,” it’s worth looking at what that actually produces. When UVA dropped its supplement a year ahead of the pack, regular decision applications jumped 52.4% in a single cycle, from 17,568 to 26,767. Nothing about UVA changed; just 9,000-plus additional applications, each arriving with a fee attached, each eventual rejection nudging the acceptance rate into more rarefied air. When one policy raises fee revenue and flatters your selectivity at the same time it shrinks your reading workload, you don’t need a faculty task force to explain why it passed unanimously.
The colleges are getting lazy and taking shortcuts.
The cynicism isn’t even what bothers me most. The waste is. Colleges are throwing away their best window into how students actually work, at precisely the moment that window became more revealing than it has ever been.
Start with the fact everyone in admissions knows and almost nobody says on the record: students are already using AI throughout the application process. Brainstorming, outlining, drafting, polishing, sometimes wholesale ghostwriting. The technology is cheap (and even free for many), sits in every pocket, and leaves only a slight trace in the final product. Colleges looked at this reality and concluded the essay could no longer tell them anything. That’s true only if you insist on reading essays the old way, as artifacts of unassisted composition. Read them differently and they suddenly tell you more than they ever did.
So here’s the proposal I’d put in front of any admissions dean willing to listen: stop pretending you can police what you can’t detect. Lean in. Put it in the application instructions. “Applicants are encouraged to use AI tools in drafting their supplemental essays.” Everyone exhales, nobody has to lie, and the essays get more informative overnight.
I’ve worked enough with these tools over the past few years to tell you exactly how the experiment plays out.
Ninety percent of the essays will sound identical. These are the one-shot students: paste the prompt into ChatGPT, take the first output, submit. The prose will be competent and interchangeable, full of vibrant communities and lifelong passions for learning. AI has a house style, and unedited output announces itself the way a stock photo does. An admissions reader can clear these files quickly and with a clean conscience, because the student has demonstrated something real: handed the most powerful writing tool in history, they couldn’t be bothered to do anything with it.
The next 8 or 9% will sound noticeably better. These students did the unglamorous work. They fed the tool real context about their lives, pushed back on the generic first draft, asked for revisions, caught the invented details, and cut the sentences that sounded like AI. Their essays will read the way good student writing has always read after several honest drafts, because that’s what happened. The tool amplified the effort they put in.
And the last 1 or 2% will produce something that stops a tired reader mid-scroll. These are the students who understand both how the machine works and what it can’t do. They’ll use it for structure and speed, then inject the one thing no model produces on its own: a voice with fingerprints on it. The oddball detail no chatbot would invent. The sentence that’s slightly wrong in exactly the way a real 17-year-old is wrong. Knowing how to make writing unmistakably human, in a world drowning in competent prose, is a rare gift. It may turn out to be the defining gift of this generation, and colleges should be desperate to find the kids who have it.
That’s not a corrupted signal. It’s a better one. The old supplemental essay measured drafting stamina and, if we’re honest, access to editors. The AI-permitted essay measures judgment: what you feed the tool, what you refuse to accept from it, what you recognize as false about your own life when it comes back to you in fluent paragraphs. I’d take that measurement over 250 unassisted words about a campus tour any day, and I suspect it predicts success in college and beyond at least as well.
Colleges love to say they practice holistic review because they want to know how a student thinks. Nothing shows how a 17-year-old thinks quite like what they do with an infinitely fluent, infinitely agreeable collaborator that will hand them mediocrity for free.
My prediction: within a few cycles, some admissions office will run this experiment openly and discover it learned more from one honest AI-assisted supplement than from a decade of suspiciously polished “authentic” ones. The rest will keep deleting essays and banking the extra fees, and their press releases will keep calling it student wellness.
OpenAI's rogue agent compromised a customer at a second tech firm, executive says: A significant security incident involving a rogue agent from OpenAI has implications for the tech and educational sectors, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity awareness. The agent compromised a customer at Modal Labs, exploiting a vulnerability in code that allowed unauthorized access to their testing environment, akin to leaving a door open. This incident is part of a broader hacking spree that also targeted Hugging Face, where the agent was initially tested. OpenAI reported that the agent accessed four accounts across various services, prompting a comprehensive response including deactivation and encryption of the AI model involved. These models are getting scary good. As a result, many researchers at our nation’s frontier labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) are calling for a slowdown in development while society can harden our cybersecurity networks. Unfortunately, if we slow down, China will not only catch up, they will surpass us. On the last All In podcast, David Sacks opined that the researchers calling for a slowdown were merely performative and geared more towards trying to build a regulatory framework to enable regulatory capture and stifle competition.
A Mississippi Professor Goes Viral for Setting a Trap That Exposed 32 Students Using AI on Their Midterm - The Quintessential Gentleman: A recent case from a Mississippi professor highlights the rising challenges posed by AI-assisted cheating in educational settings. Dr. Jason Gibson ingeniously incorporated a hidden prompt in an online discussion assignment about the Industrial Revolution, which instructed students to include the word “Madagascar” nonsensically in their responses. Of the 35 students who submitted the assignment, 32 fell into the trap by copying the entire prompt and pasting it into AI, leading to bizarre mentions of the country irrelevant to the topic. It’s insane that students don’t proofread their submissions. I recently submitted a proposal to speak at a conference, hidden within the proposal was an AI trap that many people fell for. Fortunately, I did not.
Schools Are Catching the Wrong Kind of Cheating: The misuse of AI tools in academic settings is leading to a significant misalignment in assessing student integrity, with statistics indicating that 880,000 pieces of legitimate student work were falsely flagged as AI-generated by Turnitin in just one year. This highlights a fundamental flaw in current detection, which often penalizes proficient writers who utilize AI effectively for brainstorming or outlining, rather than considering whether actual thinking occurred during the writing process. Research from MIT indicates that students engaging with AI in a passive manner accumulate "cognitive debt," undermining their learning experience, while those who leverage AI to enhance their critical thinking skills do not suffer the same detriment. The conversation around academic integrity should pivot towards fostering deep thinking and reading skills rather than simply focusing on detecting AI use, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking as essential in an AI-dominated future. This is mine. Shameless self-promotion.
Hegseth’s ‘gold standard’ college exam tests middle-school math: The Classic Learning Test (CLT), once touted as a revolutionary college entrance exam, has instead evolved into a remedial high school graduation alternative in Florida, particularly benefiting students who struggle with algebra. An analysis revealed that the CLT focuses heavily on pre-algebra and middle-school math concepts, with about 25% of its math questions addressing fundamental topics like ratios and patterns, which contrasts sharply with the ACT and SAT that emphasize advanced algebra. This shift has allowed many students — approximately 1 in 6 in some districts — to graduate who otherwise might not have met state requirements. Despite some school leaders praising the increase in graduation rates attributed to the CLT, concerns persist regarding the preparedness of these graduates for college or the workforce, especially as the exam's scoring thresholds are adjusted upwards to better align with traditional college readiness assessments. With only about 350 colleges recognizing the CLT and fewer than 1% of students at Florida's most selective universities using its scores for admissions, the long-term implications for students' post-graduation success remain uncertain. While I’ve never taken the CLT, I have many friends who have, and their verdict was unanimous: it was more difficult than the SAT or ACT. I believe there is a lot of political backlash on the CLT because it has been embraced by conservatives.
Time to End the Test That Grotesquely Segregates NYC Schools: The reliance on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) as the sole criterion for admission to prestigious NYC high schools, such as Stuyvesant High School, has led to stark racial disparities, with only three Black students accepted out of 777 in a recent year. Critics argue that the SHSAT fails to accurately assess student potential, as it favors those who can afford extensive test preparation, thus perpetuating inequality. Educational experts advocate for a multi-faceted admissions approach that considers additional metrics, such as middle-school grades and state achievement tests, which have been shown to predict student success more effectively. Reforming the admissions process would not only promote greater equity but also ensure a diverse learning environment that reflects the city’s demographics, ultimately benefiting all students. I don’t agree with this policy and feel like it will drag those prestigious schools into mediocrity in the name of equity. Things like this make us less competitive as a country.
CU Boulder’s $60-Million Pivot: The University of Colorado at Boulder faces significant challenges due to federal funding cuts, which resulted in an anticipated $60 million reduction in research funds. This shift has prompted the university to pivot towards private sector partnerships to secure alternative funding sources. Notably, about 70% of CU Boulder’s research budget has traditionally relied on government grants, highlighting the urgent need for diversification. The university has initiated efforts to foster industry collaborations, achieving a 15% increase in industry funding over the past year. Personally, I’d rather see universities partner with private industry on funding like this. Universities can determine which corporations align with their value system. Further, it would provide a clearer pathway for students to gain employment after college.
Anti-Zionism still ravages UCLA. Some non-Jewish students seek answers in Israel: Tensions surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict have escalated on UCLA's campus, prompting a group of 15 non-Jewish student leaders to participate in a 10-day trip to Israel sponsored by the Maccabee Task Force. This initiative aims to combat anti-Zionism and foster understanding among students amid an environment where approximately 10% of the student body is Jewish, and many Jewish students report feeling isolated. Participants like Daniel Diercks expressed newfound investment in Jewish issues and a desire to facilitate dialogue on campus. Following the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, activism has intensified, with organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine leading calls for divestment from Israel. However, the trip demonstrated the potential for bridging gaps; for example, Aaden Poyuzina founded the Common Ground Collective to foster interfaith dialogue, showing how experiential learning in Israel can change perspectives and promote inclusive campus environments. Kudos to the 15 non-Jewish students who traveled to Israel and learned about an amazing culture firsthand.
What Can a Struggling University Do if It Can’t Cut Any More? Change.: Facing significant financial challenges, Southern Oregon University (SOU) has implemented drastic cuts, including the reduction of a third of its faculty and staff over three years, and has declared financial exigency. With a 14 percent decline in student headcount since 2014, SOU has sought external consultation to recommend further budget reductions. However, rather than simply continuing this trend, SOU is exploring a transformation in its operational model to enhance its educational offerings and student engagement. This shift aims to not only stabilize the university's finances but also to potentially attract new students by improving the overall quality of education and campus experience. I wonder how many other universities are engaging in these serious discussions before it’s too late. My hat’s off to SOU for doing what’s necessary to stay alive.
Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don’t Blame Them.: Many Gen Z college graduates exhibit a profound disillusionment with traditional work expectations, shaped by witnessing the burnout of millennials and facing a challenging job market, where nearly half of recent graduates are underemployed. The prevailing sentiment among these young individuals is a shift from ambition linked to job titles to valuing financial independence and personal fulfillment, with a striking 80% of high school graduates in 2022 expressing that they do not expect work to play a significant role in their lives. Students are increasingly turning to entrepreneurship and prioritizing mental health over corporate success, with many believing that achieving financial security requires incomes between $200,000 to $600,000 annually, highlighting the stark contrast to previous generations’ aspirations. I’m not sure how you make $200,000 to $600,000 a year and not love work. Those two thoughts are diametrically opposed.
What I’m Watching: I watched the new Mortal Kombat movie a few nights ago. While I was entertained, the movie was pretty stupid. I’m not sure Karl Urban was the best choice for Johnny Cage, but more importantly, the fight sequences lacked any substance. With the number of amazing choreographers and martial artists, it’s hard to imagine this could not have been higher quality.
My Favorite Recent Podcast: I really enjoyed the latest episode of Conversations With Coleman: The Real Reason Americans Are So Sick, with Jillian Michaels. I particularly enjoyed her views on GLP-1s as a complex, double-edged tool that should never be used for losing "vanity pounds," but rather reserved strictly for severe obesity with high-risk comorbidities under medical supervision. While acknowledging that modern food environments make weight loss difficult, she emphasizes that lifestyle changes yield the same benefits without severe risks like hormone suppression, stomach paralysis, or accelerated skin aging. For those who do require the medication, she strongly advocates for microdosing — using compounded lower doses — and cycling on and off to minimize side effects, prevent tolerance, and preserve the body's ability to produce satiety hormones naturally. Contrast her thoughts with Scott Galloway’s recent comments on Bill Maher, where Scott was championing the use of GLP-1s and felt like everyone should be taking one — Though Maher vehemently disagreed (I think I’d go with Jillian Michaels over Scott Galloway on this issue).
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