How AI Can Help High School Students Prepare for College
For 9th and 10th graders, it's not too early to start thinking about college, of course, and AI can be a powerful ally in this journey. Here are a few tips to get teens started
As AI for high school students becomes more integrated into education, today's students have an unprecedented resource at their fingertips. Teens can explore, not only what impact AI will have on the years ahead, but ways to prepare right now — from honing academic skills, to considering majors, schools to attend, and/or career paths to pursue in the future.
For those just entering high school or not even yet halfway, AI will be an innovation that will permeate every aspect of their college experience in the years ahead. So to help teens start to thinking differently about AI, and check off a few to-dos in the process, here are a handful of practical ways that teenagers can use AI with a focus on the future
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AI Study Tools to Strengthen High School Students' Academic Foundation
It goes without saying that the foundation for college success begins with strong academic performance early in high school. But the interesting part today is how AI can actually reinforce and supplement learning to get there.
While there is a lot of chatter about kids using AI to subvert the education process (i.e., use tools like ChatGPT to write papers, etc.), there is less discussion about how it can supplement classroom work and overall learning.
AI tutoring tools can help with things like providing explanations tailored to a teen's unique learning style. Instead of giving up when faced with a question or concept a student doesn't understand, kids can instead ask AI tools to explain a given idea — and in many different ways until the concept clicks.
AI Writing Assistance: Asking the Right Questions
Have your teen try asking an AI assistant, like Claude or ChatGPT, to explain a concept from varying points-of-view (and they can have fun being creative — there are no wrong questions). For instance: "Explain photosynthesis to me as if I'm five" or "Explain photosynthesis using a car analogy."
What is missing from the conversation about AI tools today is how powerful the "right question" is to the process. And by "right," I don't mean there is one single perfect question. Instead, it's about crafting any question that will help a teen (or us) understand a concept. And the ability to keep asking until the answer is satisfactory to a teen. We all need to get comfortable with playing around and finding that just right question. It’s amazing what happens when we master the art of the question…
Bigger picture here: instead of half learning a concept, idea, or lesson, we should encourage kids to dig in and use an AI assistant to ensure they have a solid command of a subject.
AI Career Readiness: Exploring Majors and Paths
Many high school students feel overwhelmed when thinking about potential college majors and career paths (and that is a feeling and experience that parents can definitely relate to as well). So why not use AI to demystify this process through interactive exploration?
This is where AI college preparation truly shines. By helping teens map out potential paths years before application season even begins, it can be less of a struggle when teens get to a place where they need to choice.
AI College Application Help: Matching Interests to Programs
It can be fun for kids to add in areas of interest and see what majors or careers might be a match for them. If you imagine in the past it would take a Google search that matched the exact search phrase with content on another website (and often by “match” I mean “miss”), here a teen has far more flexibility around how they describe their interests and what that means to getting a response.
Questions might include: "Based on my interest in both creative writing and data analysis, what college majors might be a good fit?" or "What's the daily work life like for someone in environmental engineering?"
AI can also provide the type of nuanced insights into various fields that can prompt some unexpected opportunities a teen may never have previously considered. Or it might help match strengths, interests, and extracurricular focus with an unexpected list of schools.
AI College Essay Tools: Developing Writing Skills
Strong writing skills are both essential for the college application process and a source of distress to many as they face down the college essay process. But again if we look at AI not something that "does the work" but instead a "coach" to get you doing the work yourself, the potential starts to be clear.
The best way to use AI for writing in all cases is to write first and then get feedback. Questions could include: "How could I make my thesis statement stronger?" or "Can you help me organize these ideas more logically?"
For more creative exploration, teens can use AI to help illustrate different writing styles too. Say, take a part of a published work a student enjoys (a book chapter, or magazine article) and ask an AI assistant to explain what makes it well-written.
AI tools can be a great way to support brainstorming on upcoming assignments or a college essay topic. Instead of procrastinating, a teen can dive in by just starting with a few ideas and a request for a suggested direction.
Regular writing practice with AI feedback helps students develop their voice and technical skills. It can build confidence in learning what aspects of a teen's work are unique and exceptional. These tools can also help teenagers learn to gracefully incorporate constructive criticism too.
AI Research Assistance for College-Bound Teens
Using AI to research is one of the great joys of these tools today as a deep-dive into a subject requires exceptional questions, and a back-and-forth dynamic that shows where AI assistants really shine.
Here are some ways for teens to research smartly with AI:
Generate focused research questions on topics that a teen finds interesting
Learn how to evaluate source credibility (and make sure everything is sourced)
Practice summarizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources
Create structured outlines for research papers
These practices establish strong foundations for the more demanding research expectations of college while helping students excel in their current coursework. Also, as one of the pitfalls to AI assistants right now can be what's called "hallucinations," where the assistant "makes up" information, a good research ethos can identify this issue and not fall prey.
Hallucinations are a reminder for teens get attribution for anything and everything (especially when it “sounds believable”) and ensure the facts are correct.
AT prep AI tools
While test preparation becomes more intensive in 11th grade, 9th and 10th graders can use AI to develop an approach to standardized testing that gets them ready for the tests they will need to get into many colleges. It might take a bit of organization and forethought, but using AI tools in this way can save time and money on tutors and other standard approaches.
First, teens should consider taking a diagnostic approach to identify subject areas that need improvement. A student can start by sharing areas of weakness and concern and ask how that will affect the preparation for a given test. Using AI for standardized test prep allows for personalized practice that addresses specific weaknesses.
Teens can also create personalized study schedules that spread preparation over years rather than months. Often it's the "doing" that actually trips teens up. They should also spend time asking for customized explanations for practice problems they find challenging rather than just moving on.
Finally, learning test-taking strategies specific to different exam sections can help ensure comfort with the test itself. By getting out of the way any common issues and best practices feedback, teens can focus on just the work that needs to be done.
The best part is that taking a gradual approach reduces test anxiety while building confidence and familiarity with standardized testing formats. It can be highly personalized and rewarding for the teen.
And, Now, a Word of Caution (Cue Parent Voice…)
As beneficial as AI tools can be, it goes without saying that they work best as supplements to, and not replacements for, human guidance. In fact, they work best when combined with adult interaction. Together you can craft questions, look at responses and discuss best practices together. Few suggestions:
Verify AI-provided information with trusted sources and cross-check the information.
Teach the importance of academic integrity and encourage teens again to see AI as a learning tool, not a shortcut.
Prioritize privacy: teens should not provide personal information that would be considered sensitive in any scenario, such as address, name, SSN, specific grades or any other data/information unique to the teen. The rule-of-thumb should be the same as in school or any environment where you would engage academically.
Balance AI interactions with human connections through teachers, counselors, and mentors. AI assistants should, in fact, give teens more confidence to seek out adult support and can be looked at as a bridge.
Finally, consider AI assistants as a way to foster independent critical thinking, rather than giving in to a robot master. Always question and evaluate an AI-generated response. Again, by not immediately taking an answer at face value, teens can build independence of thought.
What's Next?
There is no way around AI when it comes to the near future for all of us. And how it impacts our teens, their future education, and career opportunities later on will be a product of how they learn to productively engage with these tools.
By incorporating AI assistants thoughtfully into kids’ academic routines now, today's 9th and 10th graders can develop college-readiness skills that naturally improve over time. Whether creating AI portfolio projects or practicing with AI internship preparation scenarios, these tools prepare teens for both college admissions and beyond.
Early engagement can also help teens see college preparation not as a daunting hurdle to clear, but as an ongoing journey of self-discovery and growth—one where artificial intelligence serves as a helpful guide and a sounding board. The more questions a teen asks, the more they ultimately understand themselves.
Want to read more about what the future holds for teens? Visit AI for Families
