Are Colleges Getting Rid of Essays Because of AI?

Yes, some are, and it is one of the most telling shifts in admissions right now. For the 2026-27 cycle, several major universities cut their supplemental essays entirely, and at least one said AI was part of the reason out loud. But before you celebrate or panic, the full picture matters, because this trend makes the essays that remain more important, not less.

I’m Nico. I’ve coached over 200 students into nearly every top 100 school in the country. Here is what is actually going on.

What happened

For 2026-27, a group of big-name schools eliminated their supplemental essays, including Georgia Tech, UNC-Chapel Hill, the University of Georgia, the University of Miami, Tulane, and the University of Washington. Supplements are the extra “Why us” and short-answer prompts, not the main personal statement.

Is AI really the reason?

Partly, and one school said so directly. Tulane’s dean of admission told Inside Higher Ed the university cut its essay in part because of the rise in students using generative AI to write applications. Most schools frame it more broadly: the essays had stopped telling them anything new, they exhausted overwhelmed reading staff, and they may have scared off strong applicants who dreaded another prompt. AI is the accelerant, not the only cause. When a “Why us” essay can be machine-generated in seconds, it stops doing its job of separating applicants, so some schools simply dropped it.

What this means for you

Do not read this as “essays are dying, AI won.” Read it the opposite way:

• The main personal statement is not going anywhere. The Common App essay still stands at almost every school. Fewer supplements just concentrates the weight onto it.
• Where essays remain, they matter more. If a school keeps its essay while others cut theirs, that school is telling you it still reads them closely. Those words carry more.
• Authenticity is now the whole currency. The reason schools soured on essays is that AI made them generic. So the essays that survive are judged on the one thing AI cannot fake: a specific, real, human voice. That is exactly what a strong applicant leans into.

The trend is not the end of the essay. It is the market correcting toward essays that are unmistakably yours.

Where AdmissionsOS fits

Sol, the AI college counselor inside AdmissionsOS, is built for precisely this moment. It does not generate the generic essays that made schools give up on supplements. It coaches the specific, personal writing that the remaining essays are now judged on, so as the bar shifts to authenticity, you are on the right side of it.

Want essays that survive the shift? Start with AdmissionsOS.