With the number of freshman applicants steady and students’ tendency to apply to more schools each year, admissions offices will continue to sift through record numbers of applicants in the coming years, Hawkins said. In light of this, he said efficiency will be key to the admissions process.

MIT: AIMING FOR HONEST ANSWERS

MIT also changed its freshman application this year, replacing one 500-word essay with three short answers questions between 200 to 250 words.

“Part of the thinking was wanting to change the dynamic a little bit,” said MIT Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill. “The 500-word essay has become the piece that students stress about and overwrite. We’ve had shorter essays along with the long essay and we feel that we’ve gotten better information off of the shorter answers.”

Hawkins said this may have to do with the proliferation of third party application editing services, which has made it harder for admissions officers to determine who exactly is wielding the pen.

“You see a lot of college essay editing sites—not necessarily a lot of short answer editing services,” he said.

Beslow said this may have to do with students’ focus within their applications.

“I think students don’t stress as much about short answer questions—they don’t worry about making it as literary. Shorter answers are more about content than style.”

And because Schmill said “the reality is that the application is not a writing test,” short answers serve the admissions office’s purpose better.

Nevertheless, eliminating long essays may not solve the problem of ghostwriting and editing.

“We often don’t know exactly what we have in front of us,” Fitzsimmons said. But he added that “There are all kinds of ways students could get help it wouldn’t simply be on the essay.”