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All University AI Policies

Swarthmore CollegeAI Policy for Admissions

General Policy:Brainstorming onlyMust disclose AI useManual review possible
  • PermissionCan you use AI?
    Brainstorming only
  • DisclosureMust you disclose AI use?
    Must disclose AI use
  • ComplianceHow is it verified?
    Manual review possible

Quick Answer: Can you use AI at Swarthmore College?

Swarthmore College permits AI use only at the earliest stages of the application process, such as generating ideas and exploring potential topics; all substantive writing assistance — including outlining, drafting, translating, or meaningfully rewriting essays — is explicitly prohibited.

  • Disclosure: Swarthmore College requires applicants to properly acknowledge or cite any AI use in their application materials, meaning you must be transparent about where and how AI tools were involved.

  • Compliance: Swarthmore College relies on manual review by admissions staff who read applications holistically, and the admissions team specifically notes that they assess voice consistency, meaning AI overuse may be detected through changes in an applicant's authentic writing style.

01 What this means for your application

Generally safe

  • Use AI as a starting point to spark ideas about potential essay themes or personal stories you might want to explore, then step away and develop those ideas entirely on your own.
  • Run your completed, self-written essays through AI tools solely to catch spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, or readability issues — treat it like an advanced spellchecker, not an editor.
  • Leverage AI to quickly gather background information about Swarthmore's programs, values, or campus culture as part of your college research process.
  • Use AI to help you understand and organize the various components of the application so you don't miss any requirements — but write all responses yourself.

Things to Avoid

  • Do not ask any AI tool to create an outline or a draft of any essay, even as a rough starting point that you plan to revise heavily.
  • Avoid using AI to shift or polish the overall tone of your writing — your voice should reflect how you naturally communicate, not an AI-optimized version of it.
  • Do not use AI to translate writing from another language into English for use in your application, as this misrepresents your authentic writing ability.
02 Policy evidence

Allowed Uses

  • brainstorming essay topics
  • researching colleges
  • summarizing application requirements
  • feedback on readability, spelling, and mechanics

Not Allowed

  • asking AI to outline or draft application essays
  • using AI to translate writing into English
  • using AI to modify the tone of writing
  • having AI rewrite significant portions of essays
03 Sources verified

Confidence: HighLast verified: 2026-02-24
04 Policy summary

  • Disclosure with proper acknowledgement or citation is explicitly required for any AI use, placing the burden of transparency squarely on the applicant.

  • Swarthmore College maintains a dedicated admissions AI guidance page, signaling that this is a carefully considered institutional stance rather than a default or implied policy.

  • Swarthmore does not describe specific AI detection tools, but its admissions readers are trained to evaluate voice consistency — making authentic writing both an ethical and a strategic priority.

05 Additional context

Swarthmore has a dedicated admissions AI guidance page. Policy allows brainstorming and mechanical feedback (spelling, grammar, readability) but explicitly prohibits outlining, drafting, tone modification, translation, and rewriting. Art supplements may prohibit AI entirely. Disclosure of AI-generated content with proper acknowledgement or citation is required. No explicit detection tools mentioned, but the policy warns that overuse of AI can flatten authentic voice, implying readers assess voice consistency. Reclassified from (P1) to (P3): the policy is restrictive, permitting only idea-stage brainstorming and mechanical checks while prohibiting all substantive AI writing assistance. Compliance downgraded from (C2) to (C1) as no screening tools or detection processes are described. Page URL changed from /guidance-usage-artificial-intelligence to /admissions-guidance-usage-artificial-intelligence.

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