College Search With AI Here’s the Guide You Need

As my daughter began her college search we soon found ourselves drowning in information. Sure, there were plenty of public lists and rankings on social media, but when it came to what she actually wanted in a school, how could she find the best fit? AI would be the answer to creating an organized and personalized college list.

We needed to gather all the important information, refine what actually mattered, and move past generic rankings. That’s when we started using AI, ChatGPT specifically—not as a shortcut but as a research assistant to help us train our search, refine our priorities, and ultimately help her make a confident and informed decision.

If you’re looking for a way to make the college search a little easier (and keep your sanity intact), here’s step-by-step how we used ChatGPT— plus some tips for making it work for your family.

Step 1: Start with What Actually Matters—And Let Students Lead

This isn’t about typing a question into AI and moving on. The best results come from treating ChatGPT as an ongoing research tool, refining prompts as you go, and training it with information you collect along the way—from college visits, Zoom sessions, financial aid offers, and direct conversations with admissions reps.

Before we even opened the computer, my daughter and I sat down and discussed her top priorities. Because let’s face it—what’s important on a college website might not be the same as what’s important to your actual teenager. This list didn’t come from thin air—it evolved as she visited campuses, talked to students, and learned more about what felt right.

After visiting one school, she realized that nearly 80% of students were from out of state, which made her rethink what kind of balance she wanted. We added a row to our comparison table tracking in-state vs. out-of-state student ratios. Another visit revealed that a particular school’s student body was overwhelmingly female—a fact that wasn’t obvious from brochures. She decided that having a more balanced gender ratio was important, so we updated our ChatGPT prompt to track gender distribution across her top schools in addition to noting economic and racial/ethnic diversity. 

The best part? These weren’t things I thought to ask—she drove this process, making sure our research reflected what actually mattered to her.

Step 2: Use ChatGPT to Create a Comparison Table—And Refine It Over Time

One of the biggest challenges in the college search is keeping track of everything without 500 open tabs on your browser. (Or, in my case, a million Post-it notes.) We used ChatGPT to create a side-by-side comparison table with all the key details, so we could easily compare schools.

Then, as my daughter’s priorities changed, so did our prompts. Every time we refined what we wanted to track, we told ChatGPT, and the results became more useful.

While it was helpful early in the process, ChatGPT became most valuable after my daughter received financial aid offers and decisions from honors colleges. At that point, we weren’t just comparing schools—we were making real financial and academic decisions. 

(You can find a full summary of our prompts at the end of this article.)

Step 3: Upload Your Own Materials & Train the AI

One of the most valuable things we realized is that you can upload materials from college visits, Zoom sessions, and admissions handouts into ChatGPT to train it on what’s most relevant.

For example:

• Campus tour takeaways: Upload notes from tours and ask ChatGPT to summarize themes across schools.
• Financial aid offers: Input different aid packages and ask ChatGPT to compare real costs and return on investment.
• Program details: Compare programs to see differences in benefits, requirements, and student opportunities. 

This turned ChatGPT into a personal research assistant, refining the information based on her actual experiences instead of just pulling from generic search results.

Step 4: Don’t Try to Compare 100 Schools—Use AI to Narrow It Down

While it was tempting to throw every possible school into the mix, this works best when used for refining your top choices. This isn’t just a one-time search—it’s a living research process that evolves as your student learns more about what they want.

In the beginning, we trained ChatGPT by testing it on just a few schools—then, when she was closer to making a decision, we used it to compare her final options. The “Choose This School If…” prompt ended up being the most helpful summary of months of listening, learning, synthesizing, and customizing. 

• Choose the University of Georgia if… you want a large, spirited campus with strong in-state connections, a big football culture, and a prestigious honors college. 
• Choose Tulane if… you’re looking for a smaller, more intimate school with a strong service-learning focus and an urban New Orleans vibe.
• Choose the University of Wisconsin if… you want a strong research institution in a classic college town with a strong out-of-state student presence within driving distance.

This was the moment when everything clicked. My daughter wasn’t just seeing stats—she was seeing her actual decision, spelled out in real-world terms.

Final Thoughts: Make ChatGPT Work for Your Family

At the end of the day, no AI tool can magically make a teenager decisive. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) But with the right approach, it can help your student make a complicated process feel a little more manageable and a lot more empowering. 

Copy & Customize This Chat GPT Prompt 

Here’s a summary of all our research prompts over many months. You can and should adjust it to fit your child’s priorities.

I know firsthand how overwhelming this process can be, and I’m happy to share what worked for us. Good luck with your search!

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