Can IMGs Use ChatGPT to Fix English in ERAS?

Can IMGs Use ChatGPT to Fix English in ERAS?

Ask for a list of errors, not a fixed version. "Fix my English" returns the tool's sentences in place of yours, and can drop the clinical facts that made your paragraph worth reading. A numbered error list lets you correct grammar one item at a time and keep your own plain sentences.

Our view: for an international medical graduate, the bigger risk in an AI-polished statement is not an error. It is a statement that no longer sounds like the person a program will meet at the interview. In the studies below, non-native writing patterns travel with more AI flags and more similarity matches. Write plainly, correct by list, and keep your drafts. When the draft is ready, a free review of your residency personal statement reads it for the evidence and reflection a polish pass tends to remove.

The NRMP, AMA and journal pages cited below were checked on November 7, 2026. The AAMC's own page on AI in its service programs returned HTTP 403 to our check, so nothing on this page quotes it. Read Use of artificial intelligence in AAMC service programs yourself before you certify your MyERAS application.

On this page: the rules · what the studies found · why too formal is the bigger problem · the correction workflow · if a program asks

The rules you are writing inside

AAMC (ERAS). Not verified for this page, as above. The AAMC sets the ERAS rules on AI, so its page is the one to read.

NRMP. The 2027 Match Participation Agreement, §6.3, makes you responsible for "All information entered on the application either through the Electronic Residency Application Service (“ERAS”) or other application process or service". It then says applicants who submit "incomplete, misleading, false, or plagiarized information" may be deemed in violation. The agreement does not mention AI. The NRMP's September 13, 2024 statement says it "has not taken any stance on the use of AI-generated content or “integrity screening”". So no NRMP rule bans grammar help, and no NRMP rule makes another writer's sentences yours.

What the AMA advises. The AMA's September 9, 2026 guide, How to use AI in residency applications, quotes Ankita Bhatia, who had recently concluded her tenure as the AMA's director of AI strategy and engineering. Her prompt advice: give the tool the role "copy editor, not a rewriter", and ask it for a list of edits instead of rewritten sentences. That is the workflow on this page.

What the studies found about non-native writing

Four journal studies and one Stanford report bear on an IMG's statement. None tested IMG statements against a detector directly, so read each on its own scope. We do not name the commercial tools the researchers used.

The authors state the limits themselves. Subillaga: "AI-detection tools are imperfect". Spies, Ratts and Hagemann: "AI detection is imperfect." Segal's authors add that a match cannot show intent and does not account for cultural differences in copying.

Our reading: shorter sentences and non-native patterns travel with flags in these studies, and non-citizen status travels with similarity matches. You cannot write your way out of a tool's bias. You can make sure every sentence in your statement is one you wrote and can explain, and keep the drafts that show it.

Why "too formal" is the bigger problem than errors

A program reads your statement and then meets you. If the statement says "a pivotal moment that profoundly shaped my approach to patient care" and you speak in short, direct sentences at the interview, the statement is the one that looks wrong. Bhatia's line in the AMA guide: "AI cannot tell you what is truly you."

The countercase: the same AMA guide quotes Bhatia saying AI should be used for "helping you express yourself better in English, navigate CV systems and U.S. conventions, and translate job titles from your home country into terms that would make sense to U.S. reviewers." That is a fair use, and the workflow below keeps it: the tool tells you what is wrong, and you decide the words. Where we differ is only the method. A full rewrite expresses the tool, not you.

A polish pass can do three things to your paragraph. It swaps your verbs for abstract ones ("navigate", "foster", "shape"). It replaces numbers and procedures with adjectives. And it adds a lesson sentence you did not write. The constructed example shows all three.

Constructed example: one paragraph, three versions

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. Context (invented): an internal medicine applicant describing a night in the internship year.

Original, with errors (64 words):

In my internship year I was posted in medicine ward where one patient of dengue fever was getting worse in the night. The platelet count was falling and nobody was senior on the floor. I called the registrar two times and started the fluids by protocol. In morning he was stable. From this night I learned that I must to act and not wait.

After "fix my English" (constructed, 57 words):

During my internship, I encountered a pivotal moment on the medical ward that profoundly shaped my approach to patient care. A patient with dengue fever deteriorated overnight, and I found myself navigating a complex clinical situation without senior support. Through decisive action and adherence to protocol, I stabilized the patient, reinforcing my commitment to proactive, compassionate medicine.

The rewrite has no errors. It also lost the falling platelet count, the two calls to the registrar and the fluids. "Without senior support" now reads as if you were abandoned, which the original did not say. And "I stabilized the patient" claims more than "he was stable."

Error list (constructed, what to ask for instead):

1. "posted in medicine ward" → "posted on the medicine ward"
2. "one patient of dengue fever" → "a patient with dengue fever"
3. "nobody was senior on the floor" → "no senior doctor was on the floor"
4. "In morning" → "By morning"
5. "I must to act" → "I must act"

Corrected by list (64 words):

In my internship year I was posted on the medicine ward, where a patient with dengue fever was getting worse in the night. The platelet count was falling and no senior doctor was on the floor. I called the registrar twice and started the fluids by protocol. By morning he was stable. From this night I learned that I must act and not wait.

Every fact survives. The sentences are still yours, and you can tell this story at the interview in the same words. "Two times" to "twice" was our own choice, not on the list; small changes like that are yours to make.

A correction workflow that stays inside the rule

1. Write the draft yourself. In English if you can. If you think better in your first language, draft there and translate it yourself, sentence by sentence.
2. Ask for errors, numbered. Use the first prompt in the table below. Never paste a whole statement with "improve this."
3. Accept one item at a time. Reject any correction that changes a fact, a number or what you meant.
4. Keep version history. Save dated drafts (a document with tracked changes works). If anyone asks how you wrote the statement, the drafts answer.
5. Read it aloud. Any sentence you would not say at an interview, rewrite in your own words.
6. One human reader last. The AMA guide quotes Bhatia: "AI should never be the last readers." A mentor who knows your work can tell you whether it sounds like you.

Constructed prompts, written by us:

For the rest of the statement's structure, the IMG residency personal statement guide covers examples, and what changes in an IMG statement covers the parts that differ from a US graduate's.

If a program asks whether you used AI

Answer in one or two sentences, and make it true. A constructed answer, written by us: "I wrote the statement myself. I used an AI tool to list my grammar errors, and I corrected them one at a time." If you kept dated drafts, say so. Do not say "no" if a tool rewrote any part of it.

The AI-detection evidence for all applicants, not only IMGs, is on our page on whether AI detectors flag non-native English writers, and the ERAS side of detection is in can residency programs detect AI.

Questions about AI and IMG personal statements

Is using an AI tool for grammar allowed in ERAS?

We could not verify the AAMC's ERAS guidance on November 7, 2026, because its page blocked our check. Read it on the AAMC page linked at the top before you certify. The NRMP has taken no stance on AI; its agreement requires that what you enter in ERAS is accurate and not plagiarized.

Will my statement be flagged as AI because English is my second language?

We cannot tell you what any program runs. In the published studies above, non-native writing patterns travelled with more AI flags from commercial tools. Your protection is a statement you wrote, in sentences you can explain, with drafts you kept.

Should I make my English sound more native?

Make it correct and clear. A paragraph with no errors, in your own plain sentences, is the target. Abstract, formal phrasing does not read as native; it reads as generic.

Can a friend or editor fix my English instead?

The same test applies. Corrections you review one at a time keep the writing yours. A friend who rewrites your paragraphs has the same effect as the tool. For emails and letters to programs, the same register fixes are on phrases like "kindly revert" in residency emails.

For the Experiences section, ERAS Experiences for IMGs shows how to translate home-country titles like house job.

Get a free review of your personal statement

Get a free Quick Review of your personal statement against GradPilot's ERAS residency personal statement rubric. It reads whether your experiences are developed with what you actually did, whether the statement shows a visible change in your thinking, and whether your reason for the specialty rests on your own evidence. The residency personal statement review page explains the review.

More guides for IMG and residency applicants:

• Residency letter of intent with AI: the rules: the same accuracy clause applied to post-interview letters.
• Does AMCAS check for plagiarism?: what each health application service says about scanning.
• Medical school and residency essay guides: every residency, MD and DO writing guide in one place.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (2027 Main Residency Match): §6.3.
• NRMP, Response to the fake statement on integrity screening (September 13, 2024).
• AMA, How to use AI in residency applications? Learn the rules of the road (September 9, 2026).
• Subillaga O et al., Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Narratives: Analysis of Surgical Residency Personal Statements, J Surg Educ 2025;82(12):103566 (abstract via PubMed E-utilities).
• Spies NC, Ratts VS, Hagemann IS, Estimating the Prevalence of Generative AI Use in Medical School Application Essays, JMIR Med Educ, September 3, 2026 (abstract via PubMed E-utilities; the medRxiv preprint of October 22, 2024 was checked via the medRxiv API).
• Pak T et al., Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence Detection Software for Residency Personal Statements, J Grad Med Educ 2025;17(6):722-726.
• Stanford HAI, AI detectors biased against non-native English writers (May 15, 2023).
• Segal S et al., Plagiarism in residency application essays, Ann Intern Med 2010;153(2):112-20.
• AAMC, Use of artificial intelligence in AAMC service programs: not verified (HTTP 403 to our automated check); not quoted.