To Reach Students, College Marketers Prioritize AI Visibility

"When Abby Isle's daughter, now a senior in high school, began looking into colleges in late 2024, she had no dearth of information; she had toured colleges across America and Isle had bought her all the requisite guides. But parsing that information was difficult. Isle, who has worked in technology for nearly three decades, decided to turn to ChatGPT for advice, telling the artificial intelligence tool what her daughter had liked and disliked about different institutions and the "vibe" she was looking for in her future college."

"'The AI tools were able to help us say, 'If those are your priorities ... here are the schools that best fit that,' Isle said. Most of the colleges her daughter was looking at were highly selective; ChatGPT helped direct the family toward schools with higher admit rates that still matched her criteria. Her daughter ultimately got into Northwestern University, where she had applied early decision-in part, Isle said, at ChatGPT's encouragement. It was only a matter of time before large language models began serving as a college adviser. AI has become central to many young people's search habits; a survey by the software company Adobe found that 28 percent of Gen Z users launch a search for information by prompting an AI chatbot like ChatGPT. Unsurprisingly, that includes turning to such platforms to ask questions about the college search process; a forthcoming survey from the education consulting firm EAB conducted last November shows that almost half of high school students said they were using AI in their college search process."

ChatGPT and similar large language models are being used by families to filter college options, match preferences, and suggest application strategies. One parent used ChatGPT to compare institutions based on her daughter's likes and dislikes and to identify schools with higher admit rates that fit her criteria. The tool also encouraged an early-decision application that coincided with admission to Northwestern. Surveys show growing reliance: 28 percent of Gen Z users begin searches with AI chatbots and nearly half of high school students reported using AI in their college search. Students ask AI for lists, deadlines, and specific guidance.

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