AI Attestation in College Applications: What You're Actually Signing

When you submit a college application in 2026, you may be doing more than uploading essays. At a growing number of schools, you are signing a formal statement -- an attestation -- swearing that no AI touched your work. Violate that pledge and the consequences range from rescinded admission to a permanent fraud flag on your Common App record.

This is a deep dive into what that attestation actually says, which schools require it, and whether these pledges are enforceable.

What Is an AI Attestation?

An AI attestation is a signed certification embedded in the application process. Unlike a vague "be authentic" suggestion, an attestation is a specific, affirmative statement you must agree to before your application can be submitted. Think of it as a legal-ish honor code pledge: you are declaring, in writing, that your essays are your own work and that no generative AI system produced any portion of them.

These are not hypothetical. Real schools use real language, and they attach real consequences.

The Exact Language Schools Use

We verified each of these quotes by reading the school's policy data directly. Here is what applicants are actually agreeing to.

Georgetown University (L4 / D3 / E3)

Georgetown's undergraduate admissions portal includes this language:

"use of AI tools to complete any portion of the application is prohibited"

That is an absolute prohibition. Not "limit your use" or "disclose if you used AI." The word prohibited leaves zero ambiguity. Georgetown's policy applies to all undergraduate application materials, and the school enforces it at the E3 level -- meaning formal verification systems are in place. Georgetown's law school takes a slightly different approach (L3), allowing feedback from others but requiring that "only the applicant should write the actual essays."

Southern Methodist University (L4 / D3 / E3)

SMU's graduate application includes a formal "I confirm" attestation that applicants must sign:

"I confirm that I have completed my admission application to this SMU graduate program without any artificial intelligence (AI) assistance. All elements of my application, including essays, statements, and responses, are the product of my own effort and creativity."

And the consequence is explicit:

"Any violation of this commitment may result in the disqualification of my application."

This is the clearest example of a D3 attestation in the dataset. You cannot submit the application without affirming this statement. It functions as a binding declaration that the admissions committee will hold you to.

Brigham Young University (L4 / D3 / E2)

BYU prohibits AI and backs it with software-based detection:

"You may not use generative AI tools (like ChatGPT) as you compose your responses."

And the consequence:

"BYU may rescind the admission offer."

BYU is one of the few schools that combines a formal attestation requirement (D3) with screening tools (E2). The policy applies to essays and activities sections for all undergraduate and transfer applicants. This is not a suggestion -- it is a condition of enrollment.

NC State (L3 / D3 / E3)

NC State requires applicants to sign a statement as part of the application:

"My application materials were not created by another person or by a generative artificial intelligence system."

The school does allow brainstorming with AI tools -- "we encourage you to use it solely as a learning experience that can help brainstorm ideas and structure thoughts" -- but the final submission must be entirely your own words. NC State views "submitting language directly from any AI platform as claiming work that you did not originally create."

The Common App Fraud Policy

Underlying all of these is the Common Application's fraud policy, which treats AI-generated content as a form of plagiarism. If a school discovers that your essays were AI-generated after submission through the Common App, the consequences include:

• Application rejection
• Notification to other schools you applied to through the Common App
• A permanent fraud flag that follows your application record

This means a violation at one school can cascade across your entire application cycle.

How Many Schools Require Attestation?

Across the 150+ schools in our database, 8 schools carry a D3 (formal attestation/certification) disclosure requirement at the institutional or program level:

1. Georgetown University -- L4/D3/E3 (undergraduate)
2. Southern Methodist University -- L4/D3/E3 (graduate)
3. Brigham Young University -- L4/D3/E2 (undergraduate)
4. NC State -- L3/D3/E3 (undergraduate)
5. Columbia University -- D3 at the School of the Arts (graduate)
6. University of Pennsylvania -- D3 at Penn Law
7. University of Michigan -- D3 at Rackham Graduate School
8. University of Wisconsin-Madison -- D3 at La Follette School of Public Affairs

Several of these are program-specific rather than university-wide, which means you could apply to one program at the same university and face an attestation requirement while another program at the same school has no AI policy at all.

The Enforceability Question

Here is the uncomfortable truth: attestations are fundamentally honor-code pledges. They work when applicants comply voluntarily. But what happens when someone violates the pledge and is not caught?

AI detection has real limitations. Turnitin, the most widely used detection tool, has a documented false positive rate of roughly 4%. That means 1 in 25 human-written sentences gets incorrectly flagged as AI-generated. For ESL students, the false positive rate is 2-3 times higher.

Short essays are harder to analyze. Most AI detection tools struggle with texts under 300 words. Turnitin's own documentation acknowledges reduced reliability on short-form writing. Many college supplemental essays fall in the 150-250 word range -- precisely the zone where detection is least reliable.

But that does not mean you should ignore attestations. Schools are investing in increasingly sophisticated enforcement. The 17 schools in our database with E3-level enforcement (formal verification) and the 46 schools with E2-level enforcement (screening tools) are actively looking. And the consequences of being caught are severe.

What Happens If You Violate an Attestation

The penalties escalate quickly:

• Application rejection: The most common outcome. SMU states it plainly: "disqualification of my application."
• Admission rescission: Both BYU and Villanova explicitly state that admission offers can be rescinded after the fact if AI use is discovered.
• Notification to other schools: Through the Common App fraud policy, a violation at one school can trigger notifications to every other school you applied to.
• Expulsion: Yale's language is the most severe. Yale classifies AI-generated content as "application fraud" and states that consequences include "admission revocation or expulsion" -- meaning even after you have enrolled, you could be removed.

"Submitting personal statements composed by text-generating software may result in admission revocation or expulsion." -- Yale University AI Policy Statement

The Alternative: Verification Without Attestation

Not every school takes the attestation approach. Some have decided that verifying writing ability through other means is more reliable than asking students to sign a pledge.

Princeton University (L1/D0/E1) does not require an attestation. Instead, the university relies on evaluating the authenticity of writing through the holistic review process. Dean Richardson has stated: "I guarantee that any essay one writes with the help of AI is not going to be nearly as good or authentic."

Amherst College (L0/D0/E0) has no explicit AI policy for admissions at all, despite having robust campus-wide AI initiatives. The school emphasizes "original, personal responses" without formal certification.

Duke University (L2/D0/E1) took perhaps the most pragmatic approach: they eliminated numerical scoring of admissions essays entirely in 2024, acknowledging that they are "no longer assuming that the essay is an accurate reflection of the student's actual writing ability." Instead, essays are now evaluated holistically for content and fit.

These schools are betting that the interview, recommendation letters, transcript, and the essay's content itself provide enough signal without requiring a formal pledge.

Practical Advice: If a School Has D3, Take It Seriously

If you are applying to any of the 8 D3 schools listed above, here is what you need to know:

1. Read the exact language. Every D3 school publishes its attestation requirement. Know what you are signing before you sign it.
2. Do not use AI for content generation. Brainstorming with AI may be acceptable at some D3 schools (NC State allows it), but submitting AI-generated text is universally prohibited.
3. Keep records of your writing process. If a school questions the authenticity of your essay, having drafts, revision history, or notes from your writing process is the strongest defense.
4. Understand that "I didn't know" is not a defense. The attestation itself is your acknowledgment that you understood the rules.
5. Remember the Common App cascade. A fraud finding at one school can affect all your applications.

Explore the Full Data

• Browse all 150+ school policies -- filter by D3 to see every school requiring attestation
• Understand our L/D/E methodology -- what the D-dimension measures and how we verify it
• Compare schools side-by-side -- see how attestation requirements differ across your target schools

Related Reading

• Do Colleges Use AI Detectors? The Truth About Turnitin
• Turnitin Failed Admissions: The Pangram Replacement
• How Much Are Colleges Spending on AI Detection Tools?
• Should You Tell Colleges You Used AI?
• AI in College Admissions: Top 10 Schools