Personal Statement

I need to write a personal statement for a scholarship. I’ve composed it entirely on my own but consulted ChatGPT to see if it was suitable and to receive a more refined version while maintaining the original meaning. However, the university has stated that using ChatGPT is not allowed. Will they be able to tell if I’ve used it?

You can use ChatGPT as a grammar checker, but ensure it only corrects grammar without revising or altering your ideas.

We used ChatGPT in the following ways:

  • As a thesaurus to avoid repeating words too frequently.
  • Occasionally, to generate suggestions for phrasing and turning a phrase.
  • At the end, to ask if the response addressed the prompt and to clarify whether the writing was clear.

If you rely on ChatGPT’s rewording for the entire statement, it’s likely they’ll recognize it, as ChatGPT tends to use similar phrasing and sentence structures. It’s best not to use it for complete sentences.