For these law school application essays, AI is required

By Karen Sloan

Sept 30 (Reuters) - Using artificial intelligence for admissions essays is often discouraged or prohibited. For aspiring attorneys hoping to land a seat at two U.S. law schools next fall, it’s an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. The law schools at the University of Michigan and the University of Miami both introduced optional essay questions incorporating AI on their applications this year, reflecting the technology’s growing role in legal education and the practice of law. The University of Miami School of Law’s new essay requires applicants to submit a detailed prompt for a generative AI large language model like ChatGPT to generate a “comprehensive analysis” that will help them make an informed decision about which law school to attend. Applicants must also provide three to five follow-up AI prompts to help explore their law school options in greater depth.

The essay aims to gauge applicants’ AI competency and provide insight on their motivations for pursuing a law degree, said Katrin Hussmann Schroll, the school’s associate dean of enrollment management.

“It helps me see their maturity level and how they’re thinking about these questions, and whether they’re coming in with the AI skills that are needed as we are expanding AI in the classrooms,” Schroll said. The University of Michigan Law School bars applicants from using AI in their personal statement or essays, except for the new optional essay question that requires them to use AI to answer the question: “How much do you use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT right now?” The essay also asks them to predict how much they will use generative AI by the time they graduate from law school and why.

Michigan Law’s senior assistant dean Sarah Zearfoss said she added the question in hopes of gauging applicants’ AI skills and getting to read some interesting essays — with mixed results. It’s still early in the applicant cycle, but she estimates only about 5% of Michigan Law hopefuls have picked the AI essay from among the list of 10 possible topics.

“I’ve definitely seen some quite good ones—and also many that are, as you would expect, bland or dull,” Zearfoss said.

Miami’s new AI essay has proven more popular, with 45% of applicants submitting responses so far. And while those essays are just one small part of how the admissions office evaluates candidates, they have provided a fuller picture of applicants, Schroll said.

“It’s giving us a unique insight into applicants that we didn’t have before,” she said.

Read more:

AI training becomes mandatory at more US law schools

Students can use AI on applications, Arizona State law school says