At UT San Antonio, pre-med students are no strangers to pressure. The coursework is demanding, clinical experiences are highly competitive to land and the list of expectations to earn a spot at a top medical school seems never-ending. UT San Antonio’s Health Professions Office gives students a roadmap, helping them stay on top of their prerequisites, deadlines and next steps. Even with some structure in place, however, the real, deeper issues students are quietly dealing with — such as self-doubt, burnout and fear that they simply are not good enough — rarely get the attention they should.
In my work with medical school applicants, I have seen this pressure up close. The highly capable, “perfect on paper” students are quietly managing overwhelming anxiety that only builds as they get closer to submitting their applications. However, what has noticeably changed over the past year is how they are trying to resolve it. With artificial intelligence available around the clock, students are not using it for support with only their applications but also for emotional assistance.
That shift is backed by recent data. In a survey Inspira Advantage conducted of 145 pre-med students across the U.S., nearly 60% reported frequently feeling overwhelmed by stress or anxiety during the application process, and about half said they felt they needed therapy.
What is more telling is how students are navigating their stress. Almost 60% said they were comfortable sharing sensitive mental health concerns with an AI tool, and over 55% believed these tools could actually make them feel better.
This reflects a change in behavior, and when examined closely, it is hard to blame students for it. They are juggling coursework, extracurriculars and a dozen other application components. When their anxiety spikes unexpectedly, AI that instantly responds without judgment or a cost is hard to pass up.
But is it adequate?
AI can pretend to listen, but it cannot sense the real crisis, assess risks, inform an emergency contact or provide the depth of understanding that a mental health practitioner can. However, this type of sudden overreliance on the technology shows that “real” support systems are either too inaccessible or stigmatized.
At UT San Antonio, these systems exist. Wellness 360 offers counseling, workshops and crisis support. TimelyCare offers virtual providers who are available any time of the day. These are meaningful investments in student well-being, but students still turning to AI shows that availability alone is not sufficient. AI emotional support is not yet built into the student experience. Unfortunately, in these times of instant gratification, students default to what is immediately available.
In that case, universities such as UT San Antonio can deploy AI paired with significant human oversight from psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to meet students where they are. UT San Antonio’s centralized pre-health advising presents a unique opportunity to embed mental health check-ins into the advising process. Since students will seek advising support at multiple stages during the process, it allows them to check in with themselves and speak to an expert when they schedule sessions, often flagging issues before they turn into crisis situations.
Further, the university must ensure a healthy environment when talking about struggle. Pre-medical students, especially, can feel a huge sense of responsibility that comes with caring for others. They feel afraid that seeking help might indicate that they are not fit to be a healthcare professional. It is the responsibility of faculty and advisors to help change this misconception by helping students understand that addressing their mental health is the sign of a competent healthcare provider.
Finally, UT San Antonio must maintain a “Code of Ethics” for how AI fits into medical training. The American Association of Medical Colleges has already provided clear guardrails for using AI in applications by permitting it for brainstorming and editing while requiring personal authenticity. Universities and colleges need to ensure that same level of clarity during medical school as well to eliminate confusion and uncertainty among already burdened students. This can take the form of clear policies around AI use in the curriculum, specialized workshops dedicated to AI learning and awareness around the risks of overusing AI in healthcare.
The goal is not to get rid of AI in the student experience but rather to use the technology with expert human judgment to extend help to students. This can mean customized AI tools designed specially for students to offer emotional support, integrating mental health check-ins into pre-health advising, removing any stigma when medical students seek emotional assistance and outlining clear policies for the use of AI in healthcare.
Arush Chandna is the co-founder of Inspira Advantage, a leading medical school admissions consulting firm.
