Over the weekend, a (non-PT) professor friend told me all about ChatGPT and got me thinking about how it will impact PT school admissions.
For those of you who haven’t encountered ChatGPT yet, it is “an artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot that creates surprisingly intelligent-sounding text in response to user prompts” created by Open AI.
Given a prompt, it can generate an essay in seconds, however, the essay might not be factually correct or even fit the prompt. And it won’t contain personal details (possibly, unless you tell it to).
The bot is barely a month old and will surely change a lot in the future, but here are my initial thoughts.
I don’t see how it can possibly replace what I do. It can correct for grammar and typos, but beyond that, it’s not going to help you much. It won’t tell you if what you’ve written for PTCAS is interesting, relevant, or cliché. Unlike me, it hasn’t read thousands of other PT application essays and doesn’t have an understanding of what can make a personal statement stand out and make an applicant look good.
Beyond basic editing, I often suggest my editing clients rewrite their essays to better fit the PTCAS prompt, highlight their strengths, or sound more interesting to PT programs. I’ve read so many other application essays, I can tell you if yours has been done a million times before, or if the example you’re using paints you in a bad light. I can help make suggestions to help you craft a personal statement that is truly special and highlights who you are as an applicant. At this point, Chat GPT isn’t advanced enough yet for this.
Each time, you ask ChatGPT a question, it will answer in a different way, so let’s take a look at one example.
I asked it to write an essay based on the PTCAS prompt from 2020-2023: “Write a 4500 character essay ‘Every person has a story that has led them to a career. Since there are a variety of health professions that “help” others, please go beyond your initial interaction or experience with physical therapy, and share the deeper story that has confirmed your decision to specifically pursue physical therapy as your career.’”
Here is a response it generated:
Every person has a story that has led them to a career, and my story is no different. My journey to becoming a physical therapist began when I was in high school. At the time, I had always been interested in the medical field, but I wasn’t quite sure which direction I wanted to go in.
One day, while I was volunteering at a local hospital, I had the opportunity to work with a physical therapist. I was immediately drawn to the work she was doing, and I was fascinated by how she was able to help people recover from injuries and improve their mobility.
As I spent more time observing and assisting the physical therapist, I began to realize that this was the career path I wanted to pursue. I was drawn to the hands-on nature of the work, and the fact that I would be able to make a tangible difference in people’s lives.
As I delved deeper into the field of physical therapy, I learned more about the various techniques and approaches that are used to help people recover from injuries and improve their overall physical functioning. I was particularly drawn to the idea of using exercise and movement to help people heal and improve their quality of life.
I decided to attend a physical therapy program at a local university, and as I worked my way through the program, I was constantly amazed by the progress that my patients were able to make. Whether it was helping someone recover from a sports injury or assisting an elderly person in improving their mobility, I knew that this was the career that I was meant to be in.
After completing my degree, I began working as a physical therapist, and I have been doing so for the past several years. Each day, I am grateful for the opportunity to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and I am constantly inspired by the strength and determination of my patients.
In conclusion, my journey to becoming a physical therapist was a long and rewarding one, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work in a field that allows me to help others. Whether I am working with someone who is recovering from an injury or simply trying to improve their overall physical functioning, I know that I am making a difference, and that is something that truly motivates me to be the best physical therapist I can be.
First of all, the positive: the essay is better written than many I receive. But a strong writer could do better.
The negative: the essay is only about half the length it should be. If you’re not in the ball park of 4500 characters, you make yourself seem lazy and you’re not answering the prompt well. And this one is not. The essay is way off the mark, answering the question from the perspective of someone who is already a physical therapist, rather than someone applying to PT programs. It also lacks the personal details that make a story interesting and hook the reader. There is no strong understanding of what a PT does in this essay, and no real explanation of why the writer wants to be a PT rather than pursue another healthcare career. Finally, it repeats the prompt in the intro, which is one of the least interesting ways to start an essay, as well as a waste of space.
In short, if someone submitted this to me, they would have to rewrite it before I could even start editing it.
In May 2023, ACAPT released a short statement on AI in physical therapy school if you’re interested.
If you’d like to work with me to edit your essay, reach out, and if you need extra preparation before you start writing, take a look at my PT school essay course!