College choices involve facts, deadlines and stories only you can tell. Use AI for organization and practice while checking official requirements yourself.
Already in college? Apply these activities to a transfer program, scholarship, internship, or next step you are considering.
Video · 2:45Activity time is additionalStudent course
Your next moves
Make the lesson yours.
Before watching, write your first answer: What story can only you tell?
Watch the story. Pause when a choice or claim needs checking.
Open the Think First activity below and complete it before any AI use.
Revise your answer in your own words. Explain what you changed and why.
Your activity / Right here
Bring a notebook. Begin below.
The activity is included on this page. Work on paper or in your own document; keep your first attempt and the evidence you checked.
Warm-up: Dr. Q's Question
What story can only you tell?
My first answer: ________________________________________________
Mike's Mix-Up: The Wrong Deadline
Made-Up Example.
Mike asked an AI to list application deadlines for three colleges he was curious about. The AI made a clean table in seconds. Mike copied it into his planner and felt organized for the first time all year.
Three weeks later, his friend Ana mentioned that one of those colleges had an early deadline two weeks sooner than Mike's table said. Mike opened the college's admission website. Ana was right. The AI's date came from an old year, or it was a guess. Either way, it was wrong.
Luckily, Mike still had time.
What went wrong? Talk it through with a partner, then write your answers.
• Which step skipped verification?
• Why is a deadline a risky thing to take from AI without checking?
• What could Mike add to his tracker to show which dates he has checked?
• What rule could Mike add to his context file so this does not happen again?
Think First: Memory Map of Your Life Stories
No devices. Pen and paper. About 20 minutes.
Write "Me" in the center of a blank page. Draw six branches and label them:
1. People who shaped me
2. Places I know by heart
3. Problems I solved, big or small
4. Firsts
5. Things I make or fix
6. Small moments I still think about
Add at least five stories to each branch, a few words each, like "Grandma's recipes" or "the flat tire." Do not judge them yet. Small, specific stories often beat big dramatic ones.
When you finish, circle three stories that no one else could tell the same way. Next to each, write: "This story shows that I ______."
This page starts your story bank. Keep adding to it all year.
Pause & reflect
What changed in your thinking?
Write one sentence in your notebook. Name what you checked, what you chose, or what you want to explore next.
Read the video transcript
Read along, pause, or return to an idea. This transcript follows the selected lesson video.
Hi, I'm Carla, an AI avatar.
Today we're talking about college applications,
and about the one part of your application nobody else can write.
What story can only you tell?
Mike had a practice college essay due Friday.
He typed: write a college essay about a challenge I overcame.
Make it sound impressive.
His finger hovered over Enter.
Wait.
Last time I did this, I couldn't explain a single word.
So he deleted the prompt.
Good call.
Colleges have rules about AI in applications,
and those rules are not all the same.
Let's read a few, word for word.
Brown University's admission website quotes the Common
App's fraud policy.
Application fraud includes presenting "the substantive
content or output of an artificial intelligence platform,
technology, or algorithm" as your own original work.
Brown's own policy says AI use by an applicant is "not
permitted under any circumstances in conjunction with
application content."
The one exception is spelling and grammar review.
Caltech is different.
For Fall 2027 applicants, it allows "Generating questions
or exercises to help kick start the brainstorming process."
It does not allow AI to outline or draft your essay.
And some colleges don't mention AI on their essay pages at all.
Georgia Tech's page says, "Ultimately,
we want to read and hear your unique and valuable voice."
Silence isn't permission.
When in doubt, ask the admission office.
So here's where AI fits.
It can be your organizer.
Your question asker, where the rules allow it.
Your practice interviewer.
It is never your essay writer.
As an organizer, it's great.
It can build a tracker for research,
visits, essays, recommendation letters,
and scholarships in seconds.
But every deadline gets checked on the college's own
website, because AI can get dates wrong.
One money warning while we're here.
The F in FAFSA stands for Free.
The FTC says, "Never pay anyone to fill out or process
your FAFSA."
And real scholarships don't come with a guarantee and a fee.
Mike found his story on a sheet of paper,
not in a chatbot.
Sundays, filming his grandmother cook.
She measures by looking, and she says he holds the camera wrong.
Nobody else has that footage.
That's the idea of this chapter.
The best essay tells a story only you could tell,
in words only you would use.
This week, grab a pen and make your memory map.
Your story is in there somewhere.
Let's go find it.
Before you use an AI tool
Follow your course or institution's rules. Use an instructor-approved tool that permits your age, and meet any required consent conditions. Keep names, contact details, school records, and other private information out of prompts. Use fictional examples when you can.
Learning without an AI account
Follow the demonstration, pause before each answer, and do the reasoning on paper. Discuss what you would ask, how you would check it, and which decisions would remain yours.
About the characters and voices
This course uses AI-created characters and synthetic voices. Carla is an AI avatar. They help tell the story; they are not real students sharing testimonials.
Designed for high-school and community-college learners. Choose examples from your classes, work, and everyday life. Keep your completed work in your course portfolio.
