Washington University in St. Louis is eliminating an optional essay to reduce applicants’ stress.
A select group of colleges is making it easier to apply—but probably harder to get in.
Top schools including Tulane University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are reducing the number of essays applicants have to submit. Colleges say that they are trying to ease students’ stress, and that artificial intelligence has made it harder to tell whether students are actually doing the writing.