u/Fun-Reveal-60

I've never really understood why so much of college and scholarship applications comes down to writing essays. I understand the purpose, but as someone who enjoys mathematics, I'd much rather be given a problem-solving challenge than asked to write about myself. Solving problems is where I feel I can best demonstrate my strengths, while essays mainly reflect how well I can write. I know writing is an important skill, but I sometimes wish applications gave students more opportunities to showcase their abilities in the areas where they naturally excel.

When AI first started becoming a major topic in education around early 2023, I remember having a professor who seemed to suspect AI whenever an assignment was poorly written, contained weak arguments, or had sources that didn't quite match the content. It felt like almost every issue with a paper was suddenly being viewed through the lens of AI, even though students had been submitting poorly researched assignments, questionable citations, and confusing writing long before tools like ChatGPT became widely used. The atmosphere in class became a little strange because it seemed like everyone was worried that a mistake, an awkward paragraph, or a citation error might immediately raise suspicions. Looking back, I can understand why many educators were concerned because AI was new, rapidly spreading, and very poorly understood at the time. At the same time, it felt like there was a period where some professors were trying to navigate unfamiliar technology and occasionally over-attributing problems to AI. Now that universities have had a few years to adapt, policies seem clearer and discussions feel more balanced, but I still remember how chaotic those first months were.

Imagine starting your summer semester already stressed from compressed classes and deadlines, only for Turnitin to flag your very first assignment at 79% AI when you literally wrote the whole thing yourself word for word. The only thing I used AI for was researching ideas and understanding the topic better, but the actual writing was completely mine, which makes the whole situation even more frustrating. Now instead of focusing on surviving the semester, I’m already anxious about how my professor might look at me over the very first assignment. It honestly feels like one report can immediately put you on edge for the rest of the course.