Dental admissions pilot activity: Applicants’ writing exercise without artificial intelligence influence

Effective communication is an indispensable skill in dental education and practice.1, 2 As such, dental school admissions committees (DSAC) should evaluate prospective dental students’ written communication skills, and interpersonal attributes along with verbal abilities. Traditionally, the former skillset has been evaluated based on the applicant's personal statement, while the latter is assessed during the interview process. To some extent, DSAC also considers rankings and commentaries provided in recommendation letters. The personal statement in the application is expected to be of a higher caliber due to the applicant's unlimited time to write and potentially obtain editorial critiques from others. However, the availability and potential use of artificial intelligence (AI) platforms have incited concern that the applicant's composed personal statement is not necessarily indicative of their authentic written communication proficiency. To ascertain applicants’ authentic written communication skills, in the 2023–2024 admission cycle, the West Virginia University School of Dentistry DSAC piloted a novel writing exercise as part of the interview schedule. The invitation to interview informs applicants about the required writing activity. The applicants are prohibited from using any electronic media/devices for these write-ups. This ensures applicants’ writings are authentic and unaided in development. Prior to their personal interview, applicants are provided a unique photograph and instructed to independently handwrite their impressions, within an allotted time. A new photograph is introduced each interview day and varies thematically from landscapes to individual or groups of people unknown. Assigned DSAC members read the written exercise prior to commencing personal interviews. In general, this pilot activity has revealed applicant's interview day writeup and personal statement vary in style. The interview day writing samples, for the most part, are creative, simple, easy to decipher, and varying in length. In rare instances, they have been illegible or difficult to read. Some are poorly structured while others are well-organized constructs. Notably, some applicants weave in dentally relevant commentary or divulge additional past experiences relevant to the photograph provided. The write-up from time to time discloses information not provided in the personal statement that assigned DSAC members use to initiate a discussion during personal interviews. These writeups are used as part of the deliberations during the DSAC meetings. This photograph-based activity has allowed applicants to showcase their own written communication skills. Applicants’ unsolicited feedback about the write-up has been positive. Furthermore, the DSAC has found the writing exercise contributes to the applicant's holistic assessment processes and eliminates the need to continually replenish a writing exercise question bank. A literature review conducted on AI utilization for personal statement composition yielded broader spectrum findings in the health professions admissions.3-5 Another similar search for written communication skills during dental school admissions did not generate articles. Based on these findings and aforementioned experiences, this pilot activity merits continuation as an innovative strategy to obtain applicants’ genuine writing expression without the influences of AI-based platforms.