Can Humans or AI Provide Better College Application Help?

Last month, I opined on when students might use ChatGPT ethically during the college essay writing process.  I also weighed in on when they should steer clear of AI, as well as how and when college essay coaches trump ChatGPT.  But what about the rest of the application?  Which provides better overall college application help: ChatGPT or a human college application helper?  Let’s look at the various Common App tabs to see how both stack up.

College Search / Dashboard: It’s a Draw.

To test how well ChatGPT could curate a college list, I typed: “I am 17 years old and applying to college. I'm ranked first in my high school class of 699 students. My high school sends one-third of its students to four-year colleges, one-third of its students to two-year colleges, and one-third do not attend college. My SAT score was 1390. I love art, history, and foreign languages. Can you suggest 3 reach schools, 5 target schools, and 4 safety schools for me?”  (Yes, this was me. And yes, you could get into Harvard with a 1390 back then.) 

ChatGPT gave me an adequate list, but many of the colleges were too large.  When I then asked, “Can you give me a list with only smaller liberal arts colleges?” it refined the original list.  So, if you know the right questions to ask, ChatGPT will do a pretty good job making you a college list quickly – and for free.

The big problem, of course, is that many families don’t know the right discriminating questions to ask.  Had I stopped with the first draft, I might’ve dragged my hypothetical parents to UNC or the University of Maryland – both places I would’ve been miserable.  When ChatGPT gave me my third list, refined for only colleges in places with warm weather, it didn’t encourage me to consider how my political orientation might conflict with dominant views in the South. Experienced IECs will consider your child holistically when building your personalized list.  They’ll also be able to talk you through whether weather or political climate is the more important criterion for you.  While AI can build an adequate college list, paying for college application help will result in a college list custom-tailored for you.

Image by @jupp on Unsplash

Activities and Honors Sections: Chat GPT, probably.

The Activities list is probably one of the most tedious parts of the Common App.  Its 50-, 100-, and 150-character maximums for position, organization name, and activity description, respectively, limit students’ abilities to express the full range of their experiences.  As a college application helper, I encourage students to compose their lists in Google Docs before copying and pasting into the Common App.  In Google Docs, they can play around with wording to highlight the full range of their strengths while monitoring character count.

Nevertheless, if students are busy or lack the editing ability, they could throw their entire Activities list into ChatGPT and ask it to create one formatted for the Common App (or any other application portal).  For students applying to non-selective colleges, the list it provides will be fine.

One caveat: when I provide this sort of college application help, I suggest ways students might circumvent Common App’s strictures to showcase their strengths.  For example, to bypass its limit of ten Activities, I advise combining related activities to fit an 11th, 12th, 13th, or 14thextracurricular on the list.  More importantly, I encourage them to make full use of all the characters at their disposal rather than shortchanging themselves with brief, generic descriptions.  For students applying to highly selective colleges, a robust Activities list might help push them across the finish line.

Could ChatGPT do this?  Probably.  But again, only if the prompter knows the right prompts to feed it.

Overall Scheduling, Accountability, and Motivation: College Application Helper.

As someone who’s provided students with college application help for a decade now, I can tell you that for many students, it’s not the essay or the Activities list or even the college list that’s the most challenging. Staying motivated and knowing what to do when throughout the months-long process is many students’ Achilles heel. 

This challenge shouldn’t be surprising.  Most of their schoolwork requires days- or weeks-long planning – not months.  Students have a coach or a teacher for events that require sustained attention and motivation, like a sports championship or an AP exam.  Trying to apply for college alone in one’s bedroom is like trying to win the big game or get a 5 on an AP test for the first time – all alone.  ChatGPT doesn’t provide very good solutions for this challenge.

Sure, you can ask it when to do what.  You can even ask it to make you a list that you import into your calendar.  But ChatGPT can’t tell you that’s it’s OK if your essay’s rough now.  It can’t encourage you to keep revising – or praise you when accomplished something difficult – to maintain or boost your motivation.  That’s something that only a human – an experienced, caring human! – can do.

Image by @jessedo81 on Unsplash

Conclusion

For families on a budget, AI can provide serviceable enough college application help.  But for more personalized guidance on applying to highly selective colleges, ChatGPT’s got nothing on the compassion and experience of human IECs and college counselors.