Should Students Use AI for MBA Admissions Essays?

Business students and employers seem to agree that artificial intelligence (AI) is a critical component of a master of business administration (MBA) — but exactly how it should be used in an academic setting remains up for debate.

A majority of prospective MBA students, 56%, say they should be allowed to use AI to help them write admissions essays, but they also say there should be guidelines and restrictions, according to a new survey from Manhattan Prep and Kaplan.

Only 18% of the more than 300 prospective MBA students surveyed said the use of AI should be unrestricted. A further 20% said using generative AI in admissions essays should be outright banned.

A greater majority of prospective MBA students, 60%, indicated that they would use AI on their admissions essay if the respective school allowed it.

Stacey Koprince, director of content and curriculum for the Kaplan-owned Manhattan Prep, said in the press release that students’ repertoire will already be built up largely without AI by the time they apply to business school.

Aspiring MBA students are going to have to take the GMAT exam without the use of Gen AI. And they also built up their GPAs without using it either, considering how new the technology is, so it’s not surprising that many think it’s necessary for business schools to put guardrails around its use in the admissions process, Koprince said.

At the same time, our results show that many are eager to use Gen AI to their advantage if allowed.

An even larger majority of respondents, 67%, said business schools should let enrolled students use AI as part of their classwork and academic experience with some restrictions. And 20% said enrolled students should be allowed to use it with no restrictions at all.

The Kaplan/Manhattan Prep survey results mirror a wider trend in business education, with prospective students looking for AI in their curriculum.

A recent CarringtonCrisp survey found that prospective MBA students pointed to AI as the most important topic for their business curriculum. Most prospective students surveyed by CarringtonCrisp, 53%, selected AI as an important topic to be covered in their business curriculum.

Other widely selected topics — like technology management, data analytics, and information management — also showed the importance of emerging tech skills to prospective students.

AI also took the top spot in a 2023 CarringtonCrisp survey.

A large number of students told CarringtonCrisp that they would use AI to help them craft a strong MBA application, but they shied away from saying it could replace the creativity required in good quality instructional design.

A number of business schools have rolled out AI instruction to meet that high demand from students. The American University Kogod School of Business will roll out 20 new and updated courses with a focus on artificial intelligence in fall 2024.

To prepare our students to enter the global marketplace, we are being aggressive and bold with our curriculum, Kogod Dean David Marchick said in announcing the school’s AI emphasis.

Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business will launch a master of science in artificial intelligence in business (MS-AIB) program starting in fall 2024 — a move that reflects a wider push for AI at the university and high demand from students and employers alike.

That will feature instruction on ethics in addition to giving students instruction in the new technology.

What we want to do is make sure that the management and the future leaders and the entrepreneurs of the future have the awareness of the transformational powers of artificial intelligence when used for good, Daniel Mazzola, a clinical professor in the information systems department at the W.P. Carey School of Business, told BestColleges in an interview.