AI & Authenticity Guidelines for Scholarship Applicants
The strongest scholarship applicants tell their authentic story. They share their values, goals, specific life experiences, and unique personality. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a great tool for brainstorming, proofreading, and feedback, it cannot replace your lived experience. Help us get to know the real you!
We use AI detection tools on the contents of your application. We are not anti-AI; rather, we seek to understand the context of the work we are reviewing. Identifying AI presence is just one data point in a holistic, human-led review process.
AI in Essays
Substance over Style!
Our scholarship selection committees value originality and personality over advanced vocabulary and flawless sentence structure. In fact, reviewers are trained to evaluate what a candidate has done or hopes to accomplish, rather than how perfectly their story is packaged. An essay with strong evidence of authenticity and simple sentence structure will always score better than a highly scholarly, robotic essay that lacks substance.
The content of the essay, your voice and your truth, is what we value most and seek to learn about you. When used properly, AI can enhance your story rather than strip it away.
- Brainstorming & Ideation: Asking AI for suggestions on essay topics, narrowing down multiple ideas, or helping you craft an outline before you begin writing.
- Editing & Proofreading: Asking AI to check your original language for spelling, punctuation, grammar errors, or to suggest ways to improve flow.
- Feedback & Reflection: Pasting your written draft into an AI tool and asking: “What core values and goals stand out from this essay?” If AI’s response doesn’t align with who you are, revise your essay.
- Content Generation: Copying and pasting AI-generated paragraphs directly into your application or letting AI write the draft from scratch based on a prompt.
- Accountability: You are entirely responsible for the final text. If an AI tool generates incorrect facts, fake achievements, or plagiarized text in your essay, it will negatively impact your review.
Questions?
Contact:
Candice Agahan
Director of Community Engagement
candice@af-oregon.org
503-542-3823
AI in Work Samples & Portfolios
Show Your Process!
Process work, process work, PROCESS WORK! This is the primary element scholarship selection committees look for when evaluating your work sample or portfolio. Whether you are submitting a structural blueprint, a graphic layout, or a fine art piece, we want to see the human thought process behind your work. How did you get from point A to point B or C? Do you have rough sketches, mood boards, or early drafts to support your journey?
AI cannot replicate your project journey. Because of this, we highly discourage the use of AI for primary content generation within work samples and portfolios.
Because our selection committees value process, a submission featuring a mix of raw sketches, experimental drafts, or pieced-together charts alongside final files will score better than a submission that only shows a hyper-polished final product.
- Brainstorming & Ideation: Asking AI for suggestions on how to layout your project components in a visually clear and organized format.
- Editing & Proofreading: Asking AI to proofread your project descriptions, edit captions, or check the grammatical flow or layout of your work sample or portfolio pages.
- School Assignments: If you used AI in a school assignment that is being presented in your submission, simply add a clear caption stating how AI has been used. The more upfront you are about your tools, the more successful your application will be.
- Content Generation: Asking AI to create new images, graphics, charts, etc. based on a prompt. Remember, we want to see your whole process, not only the final product.
- Layout Generation: Asking AI to completely compile and layout your work sample or portfolio.
- Accountability: You are entirely responsible for the final product. If an AI tool generates content that is derived from Internet sources, it will negatively impact your review.
AI Transparency & Review
Remember: the strongest applicants tell their authentic story using original language and content. We want to get to know the real you! Each selection committee member has the discretion to evaluate your use of AI and score it based on the accepted and discouraged practices outlined above. If you indicate that you were asked to use AI for a school assignment, you will not be negatively impacted in the scholarship evaluation process.
AFO runs submitted applications through AI detection software. This is to understand the context of the work we are reviewing. No applicant will ever be disqualified solely based on an automated AI detection score. We know this is an evolving technology that can be inaccurate.
As part of the application, you will be asked to complete a brief survey sharing if and how you utilized AI to compile your materials (for example: grammar checking, outline generation, etc.). Your honesty helps us better understand the current landscape and level of AI use among students, and ensures a fair, equitable evaluation for everyone.
Please see each scholarship webpage for additional selection criteria and details.