Your activities list is one of the most important parts of your college application. Colleges are looking to see your commitment, leadership, and impact in your school and community.
Some students use ChatGPT to write their activity list, thinking it will sound more impressive or professional.
🚨 Mistake!🚨
Using AI to reword, exaggerate, or fabricate your activities list can destroy your credibility and lead to rejection from the colleges you want.
🚨 1. ChatGPT Over-Exaggerates Achievements
When students use ChatGPT to "enhance" their activities, they often ask it to make things sound more impressive.
Here’s the problem:
🚩 AI-generated descriptions tend to exaggerate accomplishments, turning minor participation into "leadership" positions. You don’t want to lie on your application!
🚩 Admissions officers do verify activities—they may check with teachers, advisors, or school records. Especially if there are multiple applicants from your school, they will notice that all of you happen to be captain of the debate team.
🚩 Exaggerating achievements is considered dishonesty. If found out, your application will be rejected. Your admission could be rescinded or you could even be expelled if the college eventually finds out that you misrepresented yourself in your application.
Example of a Real vs. AI-Exaggerated Activity Entry
❌ AI-Written (Exaggerated & Misleading):
"Founded and led a tutoring nonprofit that raised thousands of dollars and impacted hundreds of underprivileged students."
✅ Reality:
"Coordinated local tutoring sessions for middle school students, supporting 15 students over a year."
Don’t forget: admissions officers have access to the internet too. For truly impressive achievements, there is usually a virtual footprint to back up your claims.
If needed, an admission officer may contact your school, club advisor, or coach. If they can’t verify your activities, your application will be rejected.
🚨 2. ChatGPT Makes Every Activities List Sound the Same
Admissions officers read thousands of applications every year. If your activities list sounds too polished or formulaic, they’ll immediately suspect AI involvement.
🎓 Common AI-Written Mistakes in Activities Lists:
🚩 Overuse of corporate-style buzzwords ("Leveraged strategic leadership to optimize student engagement")
🚩 Unnatural phrasing that doesn’t sound like a teenager wrote it
🚩 Generic descriptions that look good but say nothing
🔥 Example of a Real vs. AI-Written Entry
❌ AI-Written (Generic & Overly Formal):
"Spearheaded the innovative restructuring of the school’s robotics program, optimizing collaboration and efficiency to drive regional competitive success."
✅ Reality:
"Led weekly robotics team meetings, helping develop a new design that advanced us to state finals."
💡 Your activities should reflect YOUR unique contributions, not AI-generated fluff.
🚨 3. ChatGPT Fails to Capture Your Real Impact
The best college application lists share more details than a basic description. But ChatGPT doesn’t know what you actually did, so it can’t help you expand on your accomplishments.
💡 Instead of using AI, ask yourself:
✔ What was MY role in this activity?
✔ What skills did I learn or use in this activity?
✔ How did MY work impact others
✔ What do I want admissions officers to know about me from this activity?
🔥 Bad vs. Good Example of Showing Impact
❌ AI-Written (No Personal Detail):
"Developed initiatives to enhance community engagement, resulting in higher participation rates."
✅ Student-Written (Shows Real Impact):
"Created a social media campaign that increased our club’s membership from 10 to 40 students in one year."
💡 Colleges care about what you actually did, not the amount of thesaurus words AI can cram into one sentence.
🚨 4. AI-Generated Activities Lists Don’t Align with the Rest of Your Application
If your personal essay sounds like YOU, but your activities list sounds like a bored office worker wrote it, that’s a red flag.
📌 Admissions officers compare your essays, activities list, and letters of recommendation. If your activities list sounds too different from the rest of your application:
🚨 They’ll assume it was AI-generated, or at the very least, written by someone else.
🚨 They’ll question your credibility.
🚨 They may reject your application for dishonesty.
💀 Colleges value consistency. If your activities list doesn’t match your story, you’re in trouble.
🚨 5. Colleges Are Using AI-Detection Tools to Flag Applications
If you think admissions officers won’t know if you used ChatGPT, think again.
💀 Colleges Are Now Using:
✅ Turnitin AI Detection – Flags AI-written text in student applications
✅ GPTZero – Detects AI-generated content with high accuracy
✅ Other internal AI-checking systems – Some schools have their own detection tools
💣 Bottom Line: Even if ChatGPT seems like a quick fix, colleges know how to catch it.
✅ How to Write a Strong Activities List WITHOUT ChatGPT
AI isn’t the answer. But here’s what you CAN do to write a powerful, authentic activities list:
✔ DO Be Specific – Instead of vague descriptions, highlight your real contributions.
✔ DO Use Action Verbs – Words like "organized," "led," "developed," "created" help show impact.
✔ DO Show Results – Use numbers when possible (e.g., "Raised $5,000 for the local food bank")
✔ DO Be Honest – Your credibility and integrity are the most important things.
✔ DO Get Feedback – Teachers, mentors, and counselors can help refine your descriptions.
Remember, your activities list is meant to highlight YOUR real achievements. It’s one of the few chances you get to express yourself directly to the admission officers making choices about your future. Don’t let ChatGPT take that chance from you.