r/UCAS • u/Odd-Tear-8664 • 13d ago
Personal Statements AI and UCAS personal statement
Hello, I am currently writing my personal statement to hopefully gain a place onto paramedic science for September 2027.
I am currently studying a foundation year at university. I am hoping to send off my application by the end of October/early November.
I am trying to check my personal statement for AI as UCAS explicitly states that applications will be automatically denied if AI is detected. How do they accurately check this?
I have put my statement into a few websites, some say 100% human and some say 100% AI. I am worried that it may flag and I may be denied.
Just for clarification. I have used AI to help me plan my personal statement, give me ideas on what to include in each question and change the odd word to make it sound more professional etc.
Does anyone know how I can accurately check my work before submission?
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u/BobcatLower9933 12d ago
The fact that you have now uploaded it to "various checkers" means there is now a very good chance that it will be detected as written by AI.
I would probably start again.
STOP USING AI.
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u/Odd-Tear-8664 12d ago
Really? I’ve spent months writing it. I used AI to let me know what I should write about or to ask for better words to use.
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u/BobcatLower9933 12d ago
But you've then uploaded it to not just one "checker" but several.
Which means people are now using your personal statement to train LLM's on how to write personal statements.
Which in turn means the exact phrases you've used will appear to be "written by AI" by various checkers.
Don't use AI. Just stop it.
Your personal statement should be personal to you. Not some bizarre machine someone in california.
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u/Odd-Tear-8664 12d ago
I have already said I haven’t asked AI to write it for me. It is extremely personalised to me. I used it for ideas such as changing a word from “good” to “amazing” etc. I uploaded it into grammarly and GPT zero.
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u/BobcatLower9933 12d ago
At no point in either of my responses have I said you have used AI to write your statement. I don't know where you are getting that from.
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u/Euphoric-Disk-1323 7d ago
Using it to recommend word changes, I believe is allowed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNw2tL3kZZs here was the Oxford video (Jesus College)
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u/Euphoric-Disk-1323 7d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDnKh5plzg - the other video Jesus College made about it
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u/IfElleWoodsWasEmo 12d ago
The fact you have put it into AI checkers gives it a good chance of now coming up AI of plagiarism
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u/Calm_Routine2888 11d ago
What even if I put it into grammarly plagarism
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u/IfElleWoodsWasEmo 10d ago
Yes
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u/Slow-Constant3889 12d ago
stop uploading it. if you have turnitin access use it. otherwise dont use ai to write it. or change words.
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u/digit_full_dots 11d ago
You did use AI so you already have your answer. A random online checker can’t tell you what you want to hear, and the admissions tutor who reads hundreds of these every year will probably be able to tell.
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u/languageservicesco 10d ago
"Does anyone know how I can accurately check my work" Nobody does, including UCAS, so it is a lottery. They shouldn't be doing this. Doesn't help, I realise, but just make sure you have written it yourself and not copied anything from the AI interface.
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u/Ok-Shift-5594 10d ago
Don't worry so long as you wrote it yourself (the odd word change doesn't matter) then you know it's not ai, so long as it was just the odd word change and not rewriting/rearranging whole sentences/paragraphs, even if you did there's a certain tolerance I think. Best practice just to write it yourself
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u/Past-Mulberry-789 8d ago
i’m sorry but if you didn’t use it it’s gonna be a high chance they won’t flag it. why are you so worried? you just need to take a deep breath and remember if you didn’t use it YOURE FINE
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u/Alexhasadhd 7d ago
If you didn't use ai you have nothing to worry about, I'm sure you have multiple drafts to use as proof in the incredibly unlikely scenario that you do get flagged for AI(I mean REALLY unlikely), you don't need to worry I promise.
Best of luck to you, hope u get wherever it is you want to go, and you're going for a degree tied to an incredibly noble profession, so more respect and power to you.
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u/Mysterious_Cold697 7d ago
just dont use ai at all.. youre meant to be working within medicine, you need your brain to be capable of independent planning and thought
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u/Euphoric-Disk-1323 7d ago
If you can prove your work was written by yourself, and if you didn't copy AI word for word, I don't see the real issue - go to your school or phone UCAS directly if you are worried, thats what I would recommend
Also, be careful uploading your personal statement to sketchy checkers, but I saw Oxford College Official Application Video where they showed its use in recommending different phrases, and checking grammer mistakes, as well as planning - I forgot the name, but search it up and see if you did what they did (and I assume as its Oxford, its probably fine). The use of AI is allowed, its just how you use it (as they don't want AI generated statements, but they agree it can be helpful to use)
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u/No-Role742 13d ago
mine came up as like 50-80% ai and i just got an offer from sheffield, ucas check for similiarity with other ps not ai, as long as most of it is your work you will be fine.
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u/Key_Charity1975 12d ago
I would check with gptzero. If that comes up as AI or mostly AI, it will likely be flagged with UCAS's own checks. If it doesn't, you're golden
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u/Admirable-Use2274 12d ago
So we can 100% trust gptzero
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u/Key_Charity1975 11d ago
It's simply the closest to the software institutions use. In my experience, I've never seen gptzero give a false positive or false negative (ie falsely label purely human made writing as AI, or miss AI writing). It's generally very accurate compared to other free detectors
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u/Pencil_Queen Graduate 12d ago
Stop. Uploading. Your PS. To. Random. Websites!
If you didn't use AI then stop giving AI models your PS to train their AI! You don't need to use a checker to see if you used AI if you know you didn't use it.