Grammarly on Your SOP: Allowed or Counted as AI?

Grammarly on Your SOP: Allowed or Counted as AI?

It depends on the university and on what the tool does. Brighton and UWE name proofreading and readability checks as allowed. Cambridge bans AI "to help your use of English", Alberta bans "artificial intelligence-assisted writing tools", and Aalto asks you to declare AI spelling and grammar help.

So the advice that Grammarly is always fine is false for some graduate programs, and a total ban on yourself is stricter than others require. The question to ask is not which app you opened. It is what the app did to your sentences. There are three kinds of help, and the rules treat them differently:

• Correction: fixing spelling, grammar and punctuation in a sentence you wrote.
• Rewriting: changing your words or structure for fluency, tone or length. Prompts that ask a tool to improve your English or polish a paragraph are rewriting.
• Translation: writing in your first language and converting it to English with a tool.

If English is your second language, read the rewriting rules closely. This page covers graduate rules outside the US. For US graduate schools, see whether grad schools check SOPs for AI; for undergraduate essays, see Grammarly for college essays.

Every page and form quoted below was checked on October 31, 2026. Forms carry their intake year where shown; the web pages state no cycle.

What graduate admissions pages say about grammar and English help

Sources: Cambridge, Alberta, Canon Collins, UBC, Aalto form, MARIHE form, UWE, Bath Spa, Brighton.

None of these pages names Grammarly. They describe what the tool does, so you have to sort your own use into their categories.

The strict end: Cambridge, Alberta and Canon Collins

Cambridge's rule is about English directly: "AI must not be used when writing personal statements and CVs. This prohibition covers the use of AI to help your use of English." Our page on AI in a UK master's personal statement quotes the rest.

Alberta's graduate faculty prohibits "Generative AI applications (e.g., ChatGPT, etc.) or any other form of artificial intelligence-assisted writing tools in the preparation and submission of application materials". It lists no exception for grammar. Our Canada grad school AI rules page compares it with UBC.

Canon Collins Trust, which nominates candidates for Commonwealth PhD Scholarships, is broader still: "Using artificial intelligence tools (including but not limited to ChatGPT, Bard, or similar software) to generate, edit, or assist with any part of the application is strictly prohibited." In our reading, the word "edit" covers correction. Our page on Commonwealth Scholarship AI rules covers the nominating bodies.

The declare-it end: Aalto and MARIHE

Aalto's 2027 motivation questionnaire for its Master's Programme in Electronics and Nanotechnology has a separate field headed "Declaration on the use of AI in the application documents". It asks: "In which parts of the application, if any, AI tools were used (e.g., text, design, development, proofreading, translation, spelling, grammar) and for what purpose? (max. 200 characters)".

That list is the useful part. It names proofreading, spelling and grammar as AI uses, so a grammar tool belongs in the answer.

The MARIHE Erasmus Mundus letter of motivation template for intake 2027 says: "The Consortium has decided to allow the use of AI, but only insofar as this requires a critical awareness of how to use it in line with the universities' educational missions." It adds: "The use of AI (artificial intelligence) has to be clearly declared! Otherwise, the application will be rejected due to formal reasons." You tick either "I declare that I have not used any AI tools to write this letter" or the option for declared use, then name the tools. Our European motivation letter AI rules page covers more programs.

Asking ChatGPT to improve your English is rewriting

When you paste a paragraph into ChatGPT and ask it to improve your English, it does not just fix errors. It replaces words, joins and splits sentences, and changes the register. The result reads better, and it is no longer your sentence. Under the rules above:

• At Cambridge, it is AI helping your English: banned.
• At Alberta and Canon Collins, it is an AI writing tool editing your application: banned.
• At UBC, it produces text that "must be cited".
• At UWE, suggested rephrasing is named as allowed help, as long as the statement is not created "entirely using AI".

Some programs also read your statement as evidence of your English. U of T's MScAC says applicants "are encouraged to use their answers to demonstrate a commitment to quality and skills in English." UBC says applicants may be asked to express their ideas "through both written and verbal expression". If your statement reads far more fluently than you speak at interview, the reader can see the gap.

Paraphrasing tools are rewriting tools. In our reading, Brighton's rule, that you "must not use Gen AI to generate large amounts of content", and Canon Collins's ban on AI that "edit[s]" both reach them. If you have already run an AI draft through a paraphraser, our page on rewriting a ChatGPT SOP in your own words covers how to start again from your own facts.

Our view: on a graduate statement, accept only single-word corrections, and only where the rule allows them. Turn off rewrite, tone and fluency features. Accept a spelling or grammar fix one word at a time, and read the sentence after each change. That keeps the statement yours at every university that permits correction, and it gives you an honest declaration at Aalto or MARIHE.

The countercase: where the list is entirely UWE-type universities that allow suggested rephrasing, refusing all of it costs you help you are allowed to take. Where the list includes Cambridge, Alberta or a Canon Collins nomination, even single-word AI corrections are inside the rule, and only human help or your own revision is clean.

What is unknown: none of these pages says how a reader treats a declared grammar-tool use, or whether declaring one affects the decision.

Constructed example: one sentence, four versions

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement.

Original: During my internship at a pharma company I have learnt that the quality control is more depend on the process than the testing.

Correction only: During my internship at a pharma company, I learned that quality control depends more on the process than on the testing.

AI fluency rewrite: My internship in the pharmaceutical sector revealed a key insight: robust quality outcomes are driven by process design rather than end-stage testing.

Self-revised: In my internship, I traced six failed batches back to one mixing step. Testing caught the failures; only the process could have prevented them.

The correction keeps every idea and most words; it is the help Brighton and UWE name, and the help Aalto asks you to declare. The AI rewrite changes the vocabulary and register, adds an unsupported claim about a key insight, and removes the detail. It is banned at Cambridge, Alberta and Canon Collins, and needs a citation at UBC. The self-revised version is the strongest of the four, because it gives a reader a fact to check, and it is allowed everywhere. For writing plain sentences like this, see simple English for an SOP.

Will grammar tools make my SOP look AI-written?

No admissions page we checked publishes an AI-score threshold, so no score is "safe". One published study is relevant to non-native writers: Liang and colleagues (2023) tested several AI-writing detectors on samples from native and non-native English writers and reported that the detectors "consistently misclassify non-native English writing samples as AI-generated, whereas native writing samples are accurately identified."

UBC's guidance for its own staff quotes its Academic Integrity Hub: "The use of applications to detect AI-generated content is strongly discouraged at this time, due to concerns about effectiveness, accuracy, bias, privacy, and intellectual property."

So do not rewrite with AI to sound less like AI, and do not run your statement through a paraphraser to change a score. Keep dated drafts instead. Our pages on AI detection bias against international students and AI detector scores on an SOP cover the evidence.

An English workflow for non-native writers

1. Draft in English yourself. Translation is a separate use: Aalto lists it in its declaration, and Cambridge's English rule covers it in our reading. See translated SOPs and AI detection.
2. Find the strictest rule on your list using the table above.
3. If AI correction is allowed, turn off rewrite and tone features and accept one-word fixes only.
4. If AI correction is banned, use a human reader: a lecturer, a referee, a writing center or a friend whose English is strong. Bath Spa names "a trusted friend or supporter".
5. Read every sentence aloud. If you could not say it in an interview, rewrite it in words you would use.
6. Declare where the form asks, within its limit. Our AI use statement examples include a 200-character answer.
7. Keep dated drafts that show your own sentences before and after correction.

Questions about grammar tools on an SOP

Is Grammarly considered AI in university applications?

None of the pages we checked names it. What they name is the use: Aalto lists "proofreading", "spelling" and "grammar" as AI uses to declare, Alberta prohibits "artificial intelligence-assisted writing tools", and Cambridge bans AI help with English. If the tool uses AI to suggest corrections or rewrites, treat it as AI under those wordings.

Is the free version different from the paid version?

The rules do not separate product tiers. They separate what the tool does. Correction and rewriting features fall under the rules for those uses, whichever version you have.

Do I have to declare a spell checker?

Where the form asks about AI and lists spelling, as Aalto's does, declare an AI spelling tool. MARIHE asks you to declare "AI tools" and name them. Where a school publishes no AI rule, the certification inside the application is what you sign, so read it there.

Can I use ChatGPT to polish my SOP?

At Cambridge, Alberta and for a Canon Collins nomination, no. At UBC, polished AI text must be cited. At UWE, suggested rephrasing is allowed if the statement is your own. Polishing prompts are rewriting, so check the rule for rewriting, not for grammar. Before any tool touches a translated draft, re-sort a Korean or Japanese essay instead of translating it.

A checker passes grammatical sentences that still mislead; see which grammar mistakes a checker misses.

Get a free review of your statement of purpose

Get a free Quick Review of your statement of purpose against GradPilot's general MS statement of purpose rubric. It reads for specific academic goals, evidence of preparation, knowledge of the program and how closely the statement speaks to one program. For a doctorate, the PhD statement of purpose rubric reads your research direction and fit with named faculty. You can also start from the graduate SOP review page and choose the general MS statement of purpose rubric there. More guides are in the graduate school essays hub.

Sources

Retrieved October 31, 2026, except where noted.

• University of Cambridge, Postgraduate Admissions, Using AI in your application (no cycle stated): English-help ban.
• University of Alberta, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Apply (no cycle stated): AI-assisted writing tools ban.
• Canon Collins Trust, Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (deadline stated as October 20, 2026, now passed): AI prohibition.
• University of British Columbia, Graduate education and Generative AI (no cycle stated): GenAI definition, citation rule, applicant expectations, detector guidance.
• Aalto University, Electronics and Nanotechnology motivation questionnaire 2027 (2027 intake): AI declaration field.
• MARIHE, Letter of motivation template, intake 2027: AI declaration.
• UWE Bristol, Using generative AI in your application (no cycle stated): readability and rephrasing help.
• Bath Spa University, Postgraduate: how to apply (no cycle stated): personal statements and AI.
• University of Brighton, Use of Generative AI for PGR Admissions (no cycle stated): proofreading, acknowledgment.
• University of Toronto, MScAC, Application Process (Fall 2027): essays as evidence of English skills.
• Liang, Yuksekgonul, Mao, Wu and Zou, GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers (arXiv, 2023): misclassification of non-native writing.