Consult the panel

School AI policies · Cornell University

Does Cornell University allow AI help with college essays?

Permits AI feedback; prohibits AI-written text

What Cornell University publishes

“If you choose to use generative AI in your application process, we expect you to do so ethically. Ethical uses of generative AI include researching colleges, brainstorming essay topics, and reviewing the grammar and spelling of your completed essays. Unethical uses include (but are not limited to) using generative AI to outline, draft, or write your essays…”

Cornell's enrollment FAQ draws an explicit line: brainstorming and review of completed essays are ethical; outlining, drafting, or writing with AI is not. The quoted unethical-uses list continues with translation and portfolio images, unrelated to essay feedback.

Verified August 4, 2026 · published policy

Do your own fact-checking. This page is a starting point, not the authority. The school's own admissions pages are. Policies can change after our check date (August 4, 2026), and you are responsible for verifying Cornell University's current policy yourself before you rely on it, here or anywhere else.

What this means on CollegeEssayPanel

Reviews naming Cornell University proceed. Seven AI reviewers score your essay, debate it, and return revision directions, never written or rewritten essay text. You stay the author, and your report carries a reminder to verify the school's current policy yourself.

Other schools' policies

Within the rules

Feedback that keeps you the author is what the panel does.

Seven AI reviewers score your essay, debate it, and hand back revision directions, never rewritten text. Target schools you name are checked against this directory before any review, and a prohibiting school we recognize stops the panel automatically. Your first verdict is free; one credit unlocks the full written report.

Consult the panel