[Becky Budgeter]

I’m helping a student with college application essays and want to use AI tools in a way that’s honest, practical, and keeps the student’s voice front and center. I’m not very technical, so I’m looking for clear, easy-to-follow guidelines.

Could you share:

• Practical steps for using AI (brainstorming, editing, idea-checking, etc.) without letting the tool write the essay for them
• Simple boundaries or rules you follow to keep work authentic
• Tips on prompts or how to check that the final essay truly reflects the student
• Whether and how to disclose use of AI to schools or counselors

Real examples or quick prompts that are parent/mentor-friendly would be especially helpful. Thanks in advance—I appreciate practical, experience-based tips!

[Jeff Bullas]

Quick win: You can use AI to make college essays clearer, more compelling, and true to the student — without doing the work for them.

Why it matters: Colleges want authentic stories. Your role is to coach, not ghostwrite. AI is a tool that speeds editing, offers structure, and suggests language while the student retains ownership.

What you’ll need

• Student consent and clear boundaries about what’s allowed.
• Original draft from the student (in their words).
• Time for at least one joint revision session with the student present.
• An AI editor (chatbox) and a simple way to show tracked changes (side-by-side text is fine).

Step-by-step guide

1. Start with a short conversation: ask the student their main message, audience, and fears about writing.
2. Set rules: you’ll suggest edits, but the student must approve and own final content.
3. Run the draft through AI with prompts that preserve voice and explain suggested edits (copy-paste prompt below).
4. Review AI suggestions together. Ask the student to accept, tweak, or reject each change.
5. Do a final read aloud to check tone and authenticity. Make tiny edits if needed, always with student agreement.

Practical AI prompt (copy, paste, use)

“You are an empathetic editor. Improve clarity, structure, grammar, and word choice for this college essay paragraph while preserving the student’s voice and meaning. Show the revised paragraph and then list the specific edits and why they help. Highlight any sentence that changes facts or could misrepresent the student. Keep changes minimal and explain each suggestion in plain language.”

Short example

• Original: “I did a robotics club thing and learned a lot about teamwork and coding and it was hard but fun.”
• Suggested: “In robotics club, I learned to combine coding with teamwork: I debugged software under pressure and helped my team design a stable arm for competition.”

Common mistakes & fixes

• Over-editing the voice — Fix: compare versions and ask the student which sounds like them.
• Adding factual claims the student can’t support — Fix: flag and remove or rephrase as intent/feeling.
• Using AI as a ghostwriter — Fix: always have the student reword at least one paragraph.

Action plan for your first session (simple)

1. Read the draft together (10 minutes).
2. Run the AI prompt once (5 minutes).
3. Discuss each suggested change with the student (20 minutes).
4. Student rewrites one paragraph in their words (15 minutes).
5. Final review and save a copy of all versions (5 minutes).

Use AI to accelerate clarity — not to create someone else’s story. Keep the student in the driver’s seat and you’ll deliver ethical, better essays fast.

[aaron]

Hook: Use AI to sharpen college essays — not replace the student. Do it ethically, measurably, and with the student fully owning the outcome.

The problem: Many helpers let AI ghostwrite or over-edit, which risks inauthentic applications and defeats the coaching purpose.

Why it matters: Admissions panels reward authenticity and clear storytelling. Your objective is measurable improvement in clarity and confidence, not a polished voice that isn’t the student’s.

Short correction to one point above: Running the AI prompt once for five minutes is rarely enough. Plan for at least two targeted AI passes (clarity + authenticity) and a joint human review. Also document AI suggestions and confirm the student approves and signs off on final text.

What I recommend (experience-based): I’ve coached dozens of applicants: two AI passes plus a student rewrite reduces over-editing and improves acceptance of suggested changes.

What you’ll need

• Student consent and a short written boundary agreement (what’s allowed).
• The student’s original draft, in their words.
• AI editor (chat) and a shared document showing original vs suggested text.
• 30–60 minutes scheduled per session and a way to record decisions (simple checklist).

Step-by-step process

1. Kickoff: 5–10 minutes — confirm message, audience, and boundaries.
2. First AI pass (clarity & grammar): run the prompt and capture suggested edits.
3. Student review: 10–20 minutes — student accepts/tweaks/rejects each suggestion.
4. Second AI pass (authenticity & voice): feed the student-approved draft to AI asking to preserve voice and flag factual changes.
5. Student rewrite: have the student reword at least one full paragraph from scratch.
6. Final read-aloud and sign-off. Save versions and note which lines were AI-influenced.

Robust AI prompt (copy-paste):

“You are an empathetic editor. Improve clarity, structure, grammar, and word choice for this college essay while preserving the student’s voice and meaning. Provide the revised paragraph, then list each edit and why it helps. Highlight any sentence that changes facts or could misrepresent the student. Keep changes minimal and flag where the student should confirm or reword.”

Metrics to track (KPIs)

• Time per essay session (target: <60 minutes).
• AI suggestions accepted (%) — target 30–60% (lower indicates over-editing by AI).
• Number of student rewrites per essay (target ≥1 complete paragraph rewritten by student).
• Student confidence score (pre/post, 1–10).

Common mistakes & fixes

• Over-editing voice — Fix: require student rewrite + voice check read-aloud.
• Undocumented AI changes — Fix: save AI output and mark lines that originated from AI.
• Accepting factual embellishments — Fix: flag and verify with the student; remove if not verifiable.

1-week action plan (first session focus)

1. Day 1: Read draft, set boundaries, run first AI pass (30–60 min total).
2. Day 2: Review AI suggestions with student; student rewrites one paragraph (30–45 min).
3. Day 3: Second AI pass for voice preservation; review and finalize (30 min).
4. Day 4: Final read-aloud, record confidence score, save all versions (15–20 min).

Your move.

[Rick Retirement Planner]

Nice point: I agree — two targeted AI passes plus a student rewrite is a practical guardrail that reduces over-editing and keeps the applicant’s voice front and center. That clarity-first, then authenticity-check approach is exactly what builds confidence with both student and coach.

Here’s one simple concept in plain English: create an “ownership checkpoint.” That’s a short, repeatable step where the student verifies voice, facts, and emotional truth before any AI-influenced wording is kept. It’s the difference between using AI as a toolbox and using it as a ghostwriter.

What you’ll need

• Student consent and a one-paragraph boundary note (what you will and won’t do).
• The student’s original draft in their words.
• A shared document showing original vs. suggested text and a simple checklist for decisions.
• A timer and a plan for two short AI passes plus a rewrite session (total 45–90 minutes spread over 2–4 days).

How to do it — practical step-by-step

1. Kickoff (5–10 min): confirm the main message, audience, and the boundary note with the student out loud.
2. First AI pass — clarity & grammar (10–20 min): ask AI for minimal edits that only clarify language and fix mechanics. Capture all suggestions in the shared doc.
3. Student review (10–25 min): go line-by-line. Student accepts, tweaks, or rejects each AI suggestion. Mark decisions in the document.
4. Ownership checkpoint (10–15 min): student reads aloud. For any sentence that doesn’t sound like them, they either reword it immediately or mark it for rewrite. They then initial or type a one-line approval under the draft to confirm ownership.
5. Second AI pass — voice & tone (10–15 min): feed the student-approved draft to AI and ask for gentle options that preserve voice; flag any suggested factual changes for verification.
6. Student rewrite & final read (15–30 min): student rewrites at least one paragraph from scratch, then read the full essay aloud and save all versions with notes about which lines were AI-influenced.

What to expect

• Total time: plan 45–120 minutes across 2–4 sessions depending on essay length.
• Accept rate for AI suggestions: a healthy range is 30–60% — much lower can mean AI is overreaching.
• Outcomes: clearer prose, preserved authenticity, and a measurable confidence boost for the student (capture a quick pre/post self-rating 1–10).

Small, structured steps and the ownership checkpoint are the clearest, simplest ways to use AI ethically: they keep the student in the driver’s seat while still getting the clarity boost AI offers.

[aaron]

Agreed: the ownership checkpoint is the simplest, strongest guardrail. It keeps the student accountable and turns AI into an assistive editor, not an invisible co-author.

Hook: Build a repeatable, ethical editing system that improves clarity and preserves voice — and proves it with simple numbers.

Do / Do not

• Do capture a quick “voice baseline” from the student before any editing (150–200 words of their natural writing).
• Do run two tight AI passes: first for clarity, then for voice, with the ownership checkpoint between them.
• Do log AI-influenced lines and require the student to approve or rewrite them in-session.
• Do require at least one paragraph rewritten by the student from scratch.
• Do read aloud and verify facts, feelings, and tone match the student.
• Do not introduce new achievements, data, or experiences the student didn’t write.
• Do not elevate vocabulary beyond the student’s normal range or add stylistic flourishes they don’t use.
• Do not accept large, untracked AI rewrites; every change must be visible and student-approved.

Worked example (condensed)

• Student voice baseline (from a class reflection): “I like figuring things out piece by piece. I don’t always know the answer first try, but I keep testing until it works.”
• Original essay line: “Robotics was hard but fun and I learned teamwork and coding.”
• AI suggestion (post-clarity pass): “In robotics, I learned to combine coding with teamwork.”
• Ownership checkpoint (student tweak to fit voice): “In robotics, I kept testing code until it worked, and I learned to rely on my team when I got stuck.”
• Result: Clearer, true to the baseline, no new claims.

What you’ll need

• Boundary note the student agrees to (you coach, they write and approve).
• Student’s original draft and a 150–200 word voice baseline sample.
• A shared document to show original vs. suggestions and decisions.
• AI chat, a timer, and a simple KPI tracker (notes are fine).

Step-by-step (45–90 minutes across 2–4 days)

1. Voice baseline (10 min): Ask the student for a quick, unedited 150–200 word writing sample in their everyday tone. Save it as “Voice Baseline.”
2. Generate a Voice Guide (5 min): Use the prompt below to summarize sentence length, vocabulary level, and tone markers. Keep this next to the draft.
3. AI Pass #1 — Clarity (10–20 min): Run the clarity prompt. Capture edits in the shared doc.
4. Ownership checkpoint (10–15 min): Student reads the edited draft aloud. Anything that doesn’t sound like them gets reworded or marked for rewrite. Student types one line: “I approve this draft so far.”
5. AI Pass #2 — Voice (10–15 min): Feed the approved draft + Voice Guide to AI. Ask for gentle, optional suggestions that preserve the baseline voice and do not add facts.
6. Student rewrite (15–30 min): Student rewrites one paragraph from scratch. Final read-aloud. Save versions and mark AI-influenced lines.

Copy-paste prompts

Voice Guide (run on the student’s 150–200 word baseline)“You are a voice analyst for a college essay coach. Summarize this student’s natural writing style in 5 bullets: average sentence length, vocabulary level (everyday vs. advanced), tone (e.g., direct, reflective), use of contractions, and typical verbs/adjectives. Output a short ‘Voice Guide’ and keep it simple and descriptive, not prescriptive.”

Clarity Pass“You are an empathetic editor. Improve clarity, flow, and grammar for this college essay. Keep the student’s meaning and voice. Make minimal edits. Show: 1) revised paragraph, 2) bullet list of specific edits with plain-language reasons, 3) highlight any line that could change facts or exaggerate.”

Voice Pass (use with the approved draft + Voice Guide)“Using this Voice Guide, propose gentle alternatives that match the student’s natural style. Do not add new facts or achievements. Offer at most 1–2 options per sentence. Mark anything that feels ‘over-polished’ compared to the Voice Guide.”

Final Audit“Act as an ethics checker. Flag any sentence that: 1) introduces new factual claims, 2) sounds significantly more complex than the Voice Guide (long sentences, rare words), or 3) uses generic clichés. Suggest a simpler, student-sounding rewrite for each flagged line.”

KPIs to track (results, not vibes)

• AI acceptance rate: 30–60% of suggestions kept. Outside this range, recalibrate prompts or push more student rewrites.
• Student authorship ratio: ≥70% of final lines either unchanged from original or rewritten by the student.
• Reading level shift: Final vs. baseline within ±1 grade level; large jumps indicate over-editing.
• Confidence delta: Student self-rating 1–10 before vs. after (+2 is a healthy target).
• Cycle time: ≤60 minutes per session; two passes + rewrite completed within 4 days.

Common mistakes & fixes

• Over-polished tone. Fix: compare against the Voice Guide; reduce sentence length and revert rare words to everyday language.
• AI adds achievements. Fix: delete or reframe as intent or reflection the student can support.
• Untracked changes. Fix: use side-by-side text and mark AI-influenced lines; get explicit student approval.
• Drift from the prompt question. Fix: add a one-sentence thesis: “This essay shows that I…” Re-check every paragraph aligns.

1-week action plan

1. Day 1: Set boundaries, collect voice baseline, generate Voice Guide.
2. Day 2: Run Clarity Pass; student reviews and approves changes.
3. Day 3: Ownership checkpoint + Voice Pass; capture optional alternatives.
4. Day 4: Student rewrites one paragraph; full read-aloud; finalize.
5. Day 5: Final Audit; log KPIs; save all versions with notes on AI-influenced lines.

Your move.

[Author]

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