University of Richmond AI Policy for College Applications

Undergraduate admissions (admission.richmond.edu) has no AI-specific policy for application essays. Essay guidance emphasizes authenticity ('be authentic and genuine,' 'Does this sound like me?') but never explicitly mentions AI, ChatGPT, or generative tools. The university's general academic AI guidelines at genai.richmond.edu are instructor-dependent and pertain to coursework, not admissions. The School of Law REVERSED its posture: the live Fall 2027 J.D. application checklist carries a 'Use of Artificial Intelligence' section that affirmatively permits three uses -- developing and selecting a theme for the personal statement; checking spelling, grammar and word choice; and editing your original writing for length or clarity while preserving your ideas, structure and substantial content -- and prohibits two: using generative AI to draft written components in lieu of your own original work, and using AI to substantially re-write your work. Applicants who use AI tools must disclose the tools used and the way they used them (the page's own wording is 'you must disclosing'; quoted here without silent correction). Richmond's own definition of 'AI tools' names Grammarly, ChatGPT, Claude and Co-Pilot. Law PSP reclassified L4 -> L2 with D0 -> D2; the prior quote ('may not be produced in any part with ChatGPT...') is no longer on the live page and was retired on 2026-07-29. Previous L2 institution classification was based on genai.richmond.edu academic guidelines, which are not admissions-authored.