How College Applicants Can Use AI Chatbots To Their Advantage

Short Answer: Learn How To Ask The Right Questions

We recently posted a blog about the pitfalls of using Chatbots to write your college application essays. (See it here). While Chatbots can’t replace your authentic voice or experiences, they can help you research fields of study, prepare for tests and interviews, and improve your informed decisions. Concurrently, admissions departments at most colleges are exploring ways to use AI to understand the characteristics of successful graduating students, prescan the heavy volume of applications and help students in their school selection process.

While lots of noise is being created, a few concerned admissions directors and academics are making great suggestions on how students and universities can leverage AI and Chatbots for positive effects. One such person is Rick Clark (Asst. Vice Provost, Georgia Institute of Technology), who has shared several key documents that we think can be very helpful to college-bound students. These simple online resources can make your interactions with Chatbots more productive and help you find the right use cases. Additionally, you may gain insight into how your target schools may be looking at evolving their own admission procedures in light of new AI technologies…

If you want to use Chatbots to your advantage, you have to understand how to use effective prompts - a term of art known as “prompt engineering.” This general guide from OpenAI (the developer of ChatGBT) discusses a methodology that will elicit the best response to a set of questions.  Essentially, your use of a Chatbot is a dialogue that returns the best results when you are concise and the logic of your request is clear; most importantly, as in a conversation, don’t be afraid to iterate.

Next is a recent article on how AI can be used by university students. The author rightly suggests that instead of relying on AI to write your essays, your time would be more productively spent using Chatbots for career exploration, interview preparation, or college search. AI can be used to create study guides that are personalized to your specific needs.

If you want a large overview perspective on how AI and Chatbots will affect higher education, this 2023 report from UNESCO is a great source. It covers everything from how to get started using a Chatbot to how AI may affect teaching and research and its ethical implications. It's well understood that Chatbots may return erroneous results. Here you’ll find a flow chart of how to determine if your line of research is appropriate for currently available Chatbots. Lastly, this report suggests several guidelines for educators as they integrate AI tools into their schools and universities.

AI tools will not replace the hard work that any academic or artistic endeavor requires. But it will greatly assist anyone who knows how to use it. Using AI Chatbots to your advantage is one more tool at your disposal for a gratifying college application experience.