Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Dehumanising Your Med School Application?

AI has revolutionised the world of university admissions, particularly in the field of medicine. A growing number of medical schools now employ some form of AI-powered processing systems to screen student applications. Before your papers even reach an admissions officer, AI will decide whether your application checks all the boxes. 

If universities use AI to filter the candidate pool, why shouldn’t you do the same?

While AI is dehumanising your med school application, and the initial screening step has turned into a simple checklist, universities don’t welcome candidates using it. Tools like ChatGPT are great writing assistants for personal statements and CVs, but relying on them can backfire and get you rejected. 

This blog post will explore AI’s growing role in university admissions and why staying true to your voice is essential. Understanding how to balance AI use and the integrity of your application is the key to ensuring your candidacy stands out for the right reasons.

The key takeaways of this blog include:

• Many medical universities in Europe and beyond use AI to screen student applications.
• AI can be helpful in simple tasks like refining ideas or spell-checking.
• AI cannot reliably fill out forms, conduct study abroad research, or make decisions for you.
• Relying on AI for your med school applications is a form of application fraud.

How Universities Use AI

All universities, and especially the top medical schools in Europe and the Caribbean, receive hundreds of applications each intake season. Screening all candidates, selecting the best ones, and processing applications takes a long time. On the other hand, prospective students push for quicker acceptance results, and AI makes meeting this demand easier. Last year, “80% of officials in higher education said they would integrate AI into their review process”.

While reducing the candidate pool with AI is significantly faster, these tools dehumanise your application. Why? For a language processing model to review your paperwork, it must reduce your carefully written personal statement to a basic keyword checklist. Simply said, if the keywords your application includes are not what the school is looking for - you won’t pass the screen.

Because AI filters applications based on a specific checklist, many candidates get rejected even if they’ve spent a lot of time on their applications. At the same time, knowing this gives you an advantage. While no one but your med school knows exactly which keywords are a must, you can optimise your personal statement or CV to ensure the algorithm can correctly assess your qualifications.

We at Medlink Students completely understand the application criteria for the 100+ best medical schools in Europe and the Caribbean with English-taught medical programmes. We can help you avoid common & costly mistakes that thousands of students make when applying on their own.

With us by your side, you can take advantage of the algorithm to significantly increase your chances of getting accepted to a top med school.

Doing Research on Study Destinations: AI Algorithms vs. Human Touch

Once you’ve decided to pursue studying medicine or dentistry abroad, the first step is to start researching the right programme and destination for you. With hundreds of universities to choose from, AI can be a great starting point for getting a list of potential options. 

However, take these suggestions with a grain of salt - AI tools often generate inaccurate or misleading information. Use AI-generated suggestions as a preliminary guide, but always leave the deeper research to humans - yourself or expert advisors. Language models struggle to make personalised recommendations and take into account individual needs and preferences reliably.

Moreover, AI algorithms are biased and tend to favour the most popular options. This bias may prevent you from exploring less-known universities with equally impressive facilities, faculty, and quality of education. That’s why we offer a free consultation with our expert academic advisors, who can help you narrow down your options and guide you toward making an informed decision about your future.

Should You Use AI for Your Med School Application?

The most significant risk of using AI tools for your med school applications is what universities call application fraud. Admissions officers are skilled in flagging AI-generated essays, as they often lack originality. Simply put, it is very obvious when students rely exclusively on AI. This is why top European universities like Cambridge outright prohibit AI use in applications, even if it is just to support your English use. 

Unfortunately, the current generation of AI tools is not yet perfect and tends to “hallucinate” false information to fill in gaps. Your essay will also be moulded to a predictable, generic structure and lead to an application that can’t stand out. The key to success lies in balancing using AI for assistance and ensuring your individuality and genuine passion for medicine shine through.

Medlink Students’ Student Success Programme is designed with this in mind. We help your application shine by highlighting your strengths and ensure navigating the admissions process is stress-free. There’s nothing wrong with getting expert help, but AI cannot do the work for you.

Is AI Writing for You?

A recent study shows that 30% of college applicants use generative AI for their personal essays. Indeed, the college application landscape is rapidly changing, but be cautious when embracing this change. Many accredited medical universities consider AI-generated personal statements to be a form of application fraud. The reason: AI can strip your application of its authenticity and misrepresent your qualifications.

Personal Statements: Quality First 

Weak essays or personal statements are one of the top reasons for med school rejections. Knowing this, many aspiring students turn to AI-powered writing assistants like Chat GPT. On one hand, these are great tools for improving the clarity and flow of your writing. However, this choice carries significant risks. 

If the university you’re applying to uses AI detectors, chances are your essays will be flagged and rejected according to school policy. But even if your AI-written personal statement passes that screening - it will likely not make a lasting impression. The key to a successful essay is showing your genuine passion for medicine and desire to become a doctor - something only you can authentically convey.

Resume Building: Automated or Authentic?

AI-driven platforms can be helpful in deciding what strengths to highlight in your resume, optimising formatting, and tailoring your qualifications to meet specific university requirements. However, avoid relying too heavily on these tools, as AI tends to erase individuality and suggest generic templates. 

University admissions officers are looking for resumes that stand out. Failing to showcase the unique qualities of your candidacy or submitting a resume with false or misleading information will definitely sabotage your chances of getting into med school. You can get help from our student advisors to strategically highlight your best sides right here.

Recommendation Letters: Can AI Help or Harm?

Many high school teachers nowadays use language models to generate their recommendation letters, and just as many ask students to write them themselves. But just like with personal statements, relying on AI to generate your recommendation letters strips them of the personal touch that makes them compelling.

Sure, it might be faster this way, but covering the main points without going in-depth won’t impress admissions officers. Unfortunately, AI cannot capture the sincerity and real insights into your abilities like a teacher can.

Can AI Fill Out and Submit Forms?

The final step in applying to medicine and dentistry courses abroad is actually filling out all the forms and submitting your documents. Certainly, this part takes a lot of time and increases the chance of overlooking mistakes for those applying on their own. Unfortunately, AI tools are not very useful when it comes to this task. 

While auto-filling data directly from your browser is something we do every day, university applications are not always automatable. Often, you’ll have to download the forms and manually fill in repetitive fields. The current generation of AI tools is not able to do this reliably yet.

So, when it comes to streamlining submissions, you’ll need an actual person. If you don’t want to risk any mistakes doing it by yourself, Medlink Students can handle that for you - collect all the paperwork, cover all legal intricacies, fill out the forms, and apply on time.

What AI Can and Can’t Do?

Unfortunately, beyond fixing writing inconsistencies, AI is not as helpful as you might expect. While it can assist with clarity and flow, it often defaults to a generic writing style, making your application blend in with the rest. Even if you spend some time tweaking your prompts, universities can detect AI-generated content using plagiarism and AI checkers.

AI tools offer some help in the early research stages. For example, they can suggest potential medical university matches abroad. However, approach with caution, as the information can be inaccurate. Regardless of how well you tailor your prompts, large language models like Chat GPT are not (yet) capable of comprehensive research.

Their critical thinking abilities are also limited, making it difficult to assess your personal goals correctly. Our Medlink Students academic advisors, however, bring years of experience to the table and have already guided thousands of students through the med school admissions process. Unlike AI tools, we focus on your unique goals and gather and submit your paperwork without overlooking the details.

Using AI Ethically

AI is an excellent tool that can help you polish ideas and double-check your language use. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all things you can consult AI for without worrying about losing your authenticity. 

Just be sure to instruct the model correctly - ask it not to change anything but the writing errors. If you want to minimise the risks of application rejections, stick to basic editing and trust your own voice. Better yet, you can just use dedicated grammar checkers like Grammarly instead.

Interview Prep: The Irreplaceable Human Touch

Most of the top medical schools in Europe and the Caribbean will require applicants to pass an interview before deciding on the student’s admission status. Given the noble nature of a career in medicine, admissions officers want to ensure that applicants have a true passion for it. To test your confidence in your decision, interviews are designed with medical ethics in mind.

Prompting AI to act as an interviewer is a good way to practice your answers, but there are limitations. Your AI mock interview will likely have only generic questions, while the actual interviewer may surprise you and delve deeper into your unique experiences. Besides, predicting what answers your university’s admissions team is looking for is impossible. 

The key is to be yourself and let your genuine passion for medicine or dentistry speak for itself. At the same time, you should prepare and practice without a script - AI use during interviews is not allowed and will disqualify you immediately.

If the interview is something that worries you, we’ve got exclusive exam and interview preparation materials that are created specifically for admission at each of the top medical schools in Europe and the Caribbean.

Conclusion

The key to a successful university application is showcasing your unique qualities. Your personal experiences, insights, and passions are something AI simply can’t capture.

While language models like Chat GPT, Google Gemini, Grok, etc. can be helpful, relying on them to craft your application comes with a big risk. Medical and dental schools in good standing don’t welcome AI use in applications, and if caught, applicants are disqualified. But even if your essay passes through the checks - it will likely lack persuasiveness. 

AI-generated essays tend to follow generic formulas and overlook the importance of authenticity. You’re better off leveraging AI tools for basic editing and leaning on your genuine voice for everything else. Applying on your own is already a daunting experience - worrying about AI detectors will only add unnecessary stress.

It’s challenging to use AI ethically and avoid mistakes. But with the right support from Medlink Students, you can streamline the process and navigate your journey with confidence.

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