I Used ChatGPT for My Daughter’s College Search — 4 Ways It Can Save You Time, Aggravation and Money

It’s easier for me to get my daughter to clean her room than to get her to research colleges.

She’s interested in art and game design. I know nothing about these fields! She needed to “own” her search. I could not let spring and summer elapse without progress. How could I get her to do this homework?

Easy — ChatGPT.

Here are the steps we took with the prompts that eliminate hours of work:

1. Build the initial list in seconds.

Prompt 1: “My daughter is a high school junior. She is interested in studio art and game design. What universities should she look into?”

This prompt yielded nearly the same list of universities that I (secretly) found through several hours of research.

2. Expand a list she’s curated.

Prompt 1 + Prompt 2: “She is interested in USC, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, and RISD. Are there others?”

This generated more schools, with robust descriptions.

3. Refine a list with new information.

Prompts 1 and 2 + Prompt 3: “She scored a XX on her ACT and is ranked YYth in her class. Should that change her list?”

I’ve tested this with both stronger and weaker test scores and grades.

ChatGPT stood by its list in the former. In the latter, it provided schools with more open admission standards.

4. Probe on schools that didn’t show up.

“What about Northwestern?”

“What about Stanford?”

These schools and others don’t offer majors precisely aligned to her interests. But ChatGPT highlighted interdisciplinary programs.

5. Design a driving tour to several schools of interest.

Prompts 1 and 2 + Prompt 4: “Please design a driving tour for me from Pittsburgh to Boston for university visits from July XX to YY.”

I received a day-by-day driving itinerary through State College, Ithaca, Syracuse, Rochester and Boston. Incredible!

We are only beginning to harness ChatGPT’s power. I’m curious to hear about how you’re using it!