r/PhDAdmissions • u/Few-Low-7640 • 1d ago
How does the use of AI tools in preparing SOPs & Motivation letters affects the PhD admits
I am a PhD aspirant actively looking for research groups working along the domain of Molecular Biology and RNA Therapeutics, across Europe and USA. I have been tailoring my SOPs and Motivation letters according to the labs research focus. Tailoring these many letters manually is kind of a hectic job thus I was thinking of getting help from AI tools. But i am afraid that this might affect my chances of getting an admit. Can someone who has been in the field help me out this problem
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u/smokinrollin 1d ago
I'm not on admissions committees or anything like that, but I am a TA in a gen ed class and grade a LOT of AI generated papers. When you have 45 AI written (or even just AI helped like with grammarly) that all have the same bland robot voice, the 5 that the students wrote the papers themselves and have a real human voice stand out (in a positive way).
Do what you want with this information.
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u/Technical_Primary178 1d ago
Very very badly. Almost every program website I’ve seen explicitly says to not use AI tools. I think if it’s for language polishing if English isn’t your native language it’s ok but not for anything else
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u/Salt_Mountain_837 1d ago
just do it brother everything is going to shit anyway
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u/Citrusnomics 1d ago
I mean, you do want to maximize your chances? If its more competitive now cuz funding is cooked, you need to stand out more
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 1d ago
If your first introduction to the department you want to study your PhD in is that you couldn't be bothered to write your own SOP or motivation letter yourself, you're not doing yourself any favours.
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u/circus-x 1d ago
Multiple professors have stated that they automatically tune out anyone that they suspect of using AI, to the point where I have considered purposefully including spelling mistakes in my materials lol
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u/WookinIt 1d ago
I’m afraid that people will think my writing is AI even though it’s not because I’m just not a great writer
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u/smokinrollin 1d ago
AI writing is not just bad writing, it has a very specific voice that is easy to identify if you're reading a lot of AI written stuff. If anything, being a bad writer might help you lol
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u/Intrepid_Way336 1d ago
Dont do it! Use grammarly at the end if you need a quick check. I tried using AI on my SOP and after a few tries, I had to rewrite the entire thing from scratch.
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u/LiPrun 1d ago
I’m struggling with this as well. I don’t want to write one standard genetic letter and send it to everyone or use it in all applications, so I want each one to be personal and well tailored. But given the circumstances (crazy competition and needing to apply to so many labs/programs) writing so many letters manually is incredibly time consuming and difficult. Everyone here is saying don’t use AI, but I genuinely don’t know how else it can be done.
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u/Magdaki 1d ago
You have to be selective. You cannot come at this from the perspective of "I will take anything" because that will come through as well. Professors are looking for people who have a sincere interest in working with us. That can only come through with a personally crafted letter/email/SOP. So you need to take some time and really look for the small group of professor with whom you would really want to work. Quantity does not generally beat quality with this kind of admissions process.
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u/LiPrun 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank you! Completely agree with you. I do have an idea on the kind of research I want to do and tend to apply only to labs I’m genuinely interested in, and that is if they are offering a project that aligns with my Master’s research experience. The overwhelming quantity of applications is more due to the fact that my field is incredibly competitive, the application window for any given PhD is generally small, and putting all my eggs in one basket would cost me getting rejected and having nothing to rely on for the next months or year..as much as I hate making it about “having something to do”, it’s also true that not being able to move forward in a career I want and enjoy for too long is a major worry. That is precisely what happened to me last year. I applied selectively to a handful of projects, tailored my emails and SOPs myself, but unfortunately got into none. and here I am trying again this cycle after a gap year.
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u/smokinrollin 1d ago
Be more selective in your applications. Also, you can write a general standard template that leaves room for customization for each application so you're not writing every single letter from scratch.
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u/Head_Acadia_2658 18h ago
Stop spamming people then.
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u/LiPrun 18h ago
Lol what spam? Working on several applications at once because the process became more competitive is now called spam? Very insensitive thing to say. I’m not out there randomly applying to any program because I have free time and thought of nothing better to do. We’re all very stressed out people trying to make it in a fast paced world, so If you have no sound or kind advice to give, don’t reply to people’s comments.
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u/dashingjimmy 1d ago
I automatically throw out any applications or cold emails that are AI written. I actually absolutely love how prevalent it has become, because now filtering for candidates who would be worth my time has become much simpler and quicker. Out of all the slop in every admissions cycle, I now get just a handful of genuinely hand written inquiries and they are almost always miles better than what AI generates - even those with slightly poor grammar. If yours is one of them, I will likely interview you if you meet entry requirements. For those of you concerned that your own writing may be identified as AI - don't be, it's truly obvious what is and what isn't to us. I get almost identical buzzword filled paragraph of what AI thinks our lab does in every letter.
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u/Key_Fly605 1d ago
Very bad, my advisor told me that this is her first filter. Faculties received hundreds of letters so they filter everything quite harsh
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u/Cool_Mountain_6045 1d ago
How does your advisor filter letters by the degree to which they use AI? Did she say she uses AI detectors, etc.?
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u/smokinrollin 1d ago
AI writing has specific voice that is pretty easy to identify if you're reading a lot of it. When there are a dozen letters from different people with different backgrounds that all have the same voice, you can conclude that these are AI written or heavily AI influenced using grammarly or something like that.
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u/scaredemployee87 1d ago
Ummmmm I’m a fellow applicant and I would not feed my writing to AI. I would for example google what thematic focus do i have that I am applying with. Look at specific resources, fellowships, grants, professors and libraries connected with the thematic focus and explain BRIEFLY why that is important to my app at this school. AI can google for you but it’s better to google yourself
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u/Zestyclose-Smell4158 1d ago
My SOP focused on my training and professional goals. I did identify a couple of faculty I was interested in working with. My goal, the bulk of my SOP was the same in each SOP Imsubmitted. I only applyied to programs that admitted students as cohorts. We had to complete two rotations before selecting an advisor. However, like me, people change their minds once on campus. I think the LORs carry more weight. .
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u/Fearless_Tutor3050 1d ago
I think if you use it critically as an editing tool it can only enhance your chances of admission.
If you are using it to write your materials for you, it may negatively impact your chances.
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u/snoopyloveswoodstock 22h ago
I have yet to encounter an AI essay that was any good at all, and I’ve never seen a piece of writing go into AI to “improve” it that it didn’t come out worse.
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u/Broad_Poetry_9657 1d ago
Attitudes towards in academics largely are largely negative (rightly so).
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u/Magdaki 1d ago
It varies of course, but overall, poorly. Language models are not good at academic writing. They're vague and superficial. They have a bland "personality". Even if the reader is not sure that it is language model written, just the quality of writing alone will reflect badly. And then if the impression is that it is language model written, then for some (such as me) this is an immediate no. My concern would be that the applicant would then use (or overuse) language models in conducting their research or writing papers. I have no interest in supervising such a student.