Michigan State UniversityAI Policy for Admissions
- PermissionCan you use AI?No explicit policy
- DisclosureMust you disclose AI use?No disclosure required
- ComplianceHow is it verified?No compliance stated
Generally safe
- Write your application essays entirely in your own voice, drawing on personal experiences and authentic reflections that only you could provide.
- Use AI tools for background research or to understand a program better, but keep the actual writing process fully your own.
- When in doubt about a specific MSU program's expectations, contact the admissions office directly to ask whether AI assistance is permitted.
Things to Avoid
- Do not use AI writing tools to draft, rewrite, or substantially shape any part of your application essays or personal statements.
- Avoid submitting any application document where AI generated or significantly restructured the content — Michigan State's general authenticity certification covers all submitted materials.
- Do not assume that the absence of a stated AI policy means AI use is acceptable; individual programs may have stricter standards than the university-level guidance suggests.
- Verified Feb 2026
“No AI-specific admissions essay policy found on undergraduate or graduate admissions websites”
How to apply | First-year applicants | Michigan State University
College of Communication Arts & Sciences, Information and Media Ph.D.
P4 • AI use prohibitedD0 • No disclosure requiredC2 • Uses screening tools“You should not use AI to write any of the documents listed below.”
View SourceApplies to: personal statement, academic statement, writing sample, CV
- https://admissions.msu.edu/apply/first-year/how-to-apply
- https://admissions.msu.edu/apply/first-year/apply-now
- https://admissions.msu.edu/apply/transfer/how-to-apply
- https://admissions.msu.edu/apply/international/how-to-apply
- https://grad.msu.edu/admissions
- https://ai.msu.edu/guidelines
- https://provost.msu.edu/news-and-updates/2025-advancing-ai-at-msu-resources-and-guidelines
- https://teachingcenter.msu.edu/teaching-resources/guidance-on-gen-ai-in-instructional-settings
Michigan State University hub classification: (P0/D0/C0) — use program-specific pages when policies differ within the institution.
Michigan State University has no explicit AI policy governing admissions essays at the undergraduate or general graduate level; neither the admissions website nor application instructions mention AI or ChatGPT.
MSU's university-wide AI guidelines (ai.msu.edu) are scoped to academic, research, and administrative use and do not extend to admissions contexts, leaving applicants without clear institutional guidance.
A notable program-specific exception exists: the College of Communication Arts & Sciences' Information and Media Ph.D. program explicitly prohibits AI in application documents and reserves the right to deploy AI detection software.
MSU has no explicit AI policy for admissions essays at the university level. The undergraduate admissions site (admissions.msu.edu) makes no mention of AI, ChatGPT, or artificial intelligence in application essay instructions. MSU's university-wide AI guidelines (ai.msu.edu/guidelines, Fall 2025) are scoped to educational, research, and administrative contexts and do not address admissions. The Teaching Center GenAI guidance is explicitly limited to instructional settings. One program-specific exception was found: the Information and Media Ph.D. program in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences explicitly prohibits AI use in application documents and reserves the right to use AI writing detection. The general application authenticity certification ('all documents submitted are authentic') does not specifically reference AI.
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