AI is revolutionizing college applications — but expert warns everyone is starting to sound like clones as a result

Nypost · Aug 19, 2026 · 695 words · By Rikki Schlott

Loss of Individuality AI in Education College Admissions Competition

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What to know about Loss of Individuality

AI is revolutionizing college applications — but expert warns everyone is starting to sound like clones as a result See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 5

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center86%

Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

AI is revolutionizing college applications — but expert warns everyone is starting to sound like clones as a result See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google AI is revolutionizing how families approach the college admissions process — and not just by writing application essays.

Common ground

A new survey from education research firm EAB found that the percentage of high school kids using AI in their college process jumped from 26% to 46% just between this spring and the prior one.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Loss of Individuality story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Virginia Tech shifted from two human readers per application essay to one human and one AI evaluation in the 2025 admissions cycle?
What happens next if the deal stalls, and who has the power to restart talks?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/19/us-news/ai-is-revolutionizing-college-applications…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 5 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified By Reference 4

info Single Source 1

verified

Claim 1: “Virginia Tech shifted from two human readers per application essay to one human and one AI evaluation in the 2025 admissions cycle.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence for Virginia Tech includes a board of visitors update and general AI detection articles, but nothing regarding a shift from two human readers to one human and one AI evaluator for the 2025 cycle.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Anthropic, PBC (stylized as ANTHROP\C) is an American artificial intelligence (AI) public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its flagship product is Claude, a series of pr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Big Tech, also known as the tech giants or tech titans, are the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. It most commonly refers to the five dominant firms in the U.S. technolog…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Tech

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and investor who has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI since 2019. Altman atte…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 2: “At NYU, for instance, the number of applicants has doubled since 2015 while its admissions rate declined by 75%.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While the evidence confirms NYU is a university and mentions that competition has increased and acceptance rates are low, it does not provide the specific statistics that applicants have doubled since 2015 or that the admissions rate declined by exactly 75%.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — NYU Langone Health is an integrated academic health system located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Grossman Long Is…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NYU_Langone_Health

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — NYU Violets is the nickname of the sports teams and other competitive teams at New York University. The school colors are purple and white. Although officially known as the Violets, the school mascot …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NYU_Violets

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-den…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 3: “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also says that it uses AI to produce “data points” about application essays and transcripts.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided consists of general university descriptions and a student essay example for UNC Chapel Hill, but contains no mention of the university using AI to produce 'data points' from essays and transcripts.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill, UNC, North Carolina or Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_a…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of notable alumni of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_North_Ca…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of North Carolina is the public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the public high school North Carolina School of Scie…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “A staggering 57% of parents surveyed employed the technology to help direct the application process.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim is explicitly mentioned in one web search result from 'Amed Post', which attributes the data to EAB. No other independent sources in the provided evidence corroborate this specific percentage.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Esperanto (; Esperanto: [espeˈranto]) is the world's most widely spoken constructed auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 as 'the International Language' (la Lingvo Internacia), it is …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; Greek: Πολεμική Αεροπορία, romanized: Polemikí Aeroporía, lit. 'Military Aviation', sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (Hellenic being the endonym for…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_Air_Force

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The transformation of the United States Army aims to integrate cyberspace, space satellite operations, land, maritime, and air operations more closely together ("multi-domain operations." (MDO)). Mult…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_of_the_United_S…

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 5: “A new survey from education research firm EAB found that the percentage of high school kids using AI in their college process jumped from 26% to 46% just between this spring and the prior one.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence contains general information about EAB as a company and unrelated Wikipedia entries about Borat and Esperanto, but no data regarding a survey on high school students' AI usage percentages.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EAB Global, Inc. is an education company headquartered in Washington, DC, with additional U.S. offices in Richmond, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as interna…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EAB_(company)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The National Security Agency (NSA) functions as the paramount civilian national intelligence and security apparatus of the Republic of Liberia, operating under the direct executive authority of the Pr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency_(Libe…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.