How Students Can Use AI in Their College Search
Most students use AI as a search engine: “find me colleges with strong engineering programs” or “compare Michigan and Purdue.” A recent Forbes piece by longtime counselor Scott White makes the case that this undersells what AI can actually do, and offers an alternative approach to think about.
The most valuable thing counselors do during the list building phase is asking questions that help a student figure out what they actually want. And AI can be prompted to do the same thing, if a student flips the interaction around. Students can ask AI to interview them.
For example, rather than “what colleges should I apply to,” a student might try “interview me to figure out what I actually value in a college” or “ask me questions until you understand what specifically attracts me to this school.” The shift turns AI from an answer machine into a thinking partner.
In the Forbes article, the author organizes his 25 sample prompts into five stages: understanding yourself, decoding a favorite school, understanding fit, building a list, and essay discovery. A few to highlight:
- “Ask me questions that reveal whether I prefer competition or collaboration.”
- “Separate what I like about this college from its reputation.”
- “What schools fit me that I probably haven’t heard of?”
- “Help me find a metaphor that captures who I am.” This one can work for essay ideas too.
Students who leverage these technologies early in their process may arrive at their next counselor meetings further along, having done some of the early reflective work on their own.
You can read the full article here.
