This is how students are using AI for university admissions and saying goodbye to expensive consultancy fees

Writing an admissions essay has always been a daunting task. That requirement for university applicants makes or breaks students’ dreams of attending their ideal university every year. Families used to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to “consultants” to help them with paperwork, deadlines and admissions essays, but that is changing, and fast.

AI is revolutionizing how students write admissions essays and apply to universities.

ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta IA, Microsoft Copilot and other artificial intelligence apps are making life easier for stressed out university applicants. Developers have specifically designed tools to help applicants with the admissions process while complicating things for private consultants or admissions agencies who used to charge families thousands of dollars for handling paperwork and writing essays.

Those days are over.

What are some specific programs for university applicants?

There are several apps and online websites that provide free assistance for students who need help with the university application process.

Esslo

The idea of two Stanford University students who were looking to find a way to help university applicants with writing the admissions essay. The name comes from “essay” and “Elo,” which is a system used for ranking in esports and chess. The start-up idea came from asking colleagues what was the worst part of applying to universities.

“What we heard super consistently with college applications was that students had never written an essay like that before,” said Elijah Kim, one of the founders. “It was big and intimidating and it sets the trajectory for the rest of your life, so we heard a lot of stress over that - and we thought we could build something to help.”

The website gives students expert feedback on their essays and line-by-line comments. The program analyzes the applicants’ essays and gives them help with tone, grammar and other ways to write a compelling essay.

University

Uni, the abbreviation for this admissions expert, offers the following to users:

It claims to not be just a chatpot and that its users have been accepted to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton…

Kollegio

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Another website that promises applicants success in their university admissions journey. The program gives students ideas on how to improve their applications and guides them through the admissions process and helps them meet guidelines and write their essays while practicing interview strategies and techniques.

These tools and others promise students they are compliant with university requirements. These tools assist students, but don’t do the work for them. Applicants must submit their essay and work on applying the suggestions that AI gives them to become solid university candidates. As students begin preparing their applications and dreaming about decision day 2025, external university consultants are seeing how AI is hurting their business models as all of their expertise is now free online.