Most colleges are trying to keep AI out of admissions essays. The University of Michigan’s Honors Program is requiring it.
Their 2026 LSA Honors prompt:
Use an AI text generator to write an essay on the topic “Why is the LSA Honors Program a good fit for me?” Submit the AI-generated essay unchanged. Then write your own essay analyzing it — where did the AI get it right, where did it get it wrong, and why?
For the third year, Michigan’s LSA Honors Program is handing students AI and saying: now show us you can think for yourself.
The Shift No One Is Talking About
The conversation around AI in college admissions has centered on detection — can schools tell if a student used ChatGPT? Michigan reframed the question.
They’re not asking: Did you use AI?
They’re asking: Can you tell when AI is wrong — and why?
That’s what the workplace will demand from this generation.
The student has to read the AI essay closely, spot the generic claims, find where the logic is thin or the writing follows a formula — and articulate all of it in 750 words.
Why This Matters Beyond Michigan
A 2025 Kaplan survey found that 50% of admissions officers view AI use in applications unfavorably. Most schools are still focused on prohibition and detection. Brown bans AI in applications entirely. BYU threatens to rescind admission. Yale calls it “application fraud.”
Michigan chose a different path: test the skill, not police the tool.
AI-generated essays aren’t bad because they’re “cheating.” They’re bad because they’re generic. A 2025 Cornell study found that AI essays sound competent but feel hollow — they lack the specifics and self-awareness that make a personal statement personal.
The Connection to Everything Else
It’s about what kind of thinker your teen is becoming.
AI is already handling first drafts across industries. The analyst who accepts an AI-generated market summary without questioning its assumptions is less valuable than the one who catches the flawed reasoning. The lawyer who submits an AI-drafted contract without spotting the ambiguous clause is a liability.
Read carefully, evaluate whether it holds up, explain why it doesn’t — that’s what separates people who use AI as leverage from people who get replaced by it.
It’s also what the SAT measures. The ability to read dense, unfamiliar material and make precise judgments under constraint.
Michigan just made that connection explicit. The question is whether your teen is building that capacity now.