Keeping track of college applications can mean juggling requirements, deadlines, and financial-aid steps for several schools at once. OpenAI says a new College Planner in ChatGPT for Teens will gather that work into one plan, with a timeline students can revisit as they make progress.
One plan for applications and aid
The College Planner is designed to organize information for each school on a student’s list. OpenAI says it will include application requirements, deadlines, tasks, and financial-aid steps, so students can see what is coming up and what remains unfinished.
Students will be able to return to the plan and update their progress. They can also ask ChatGPT questions along the way, including what a requirement means or how to begin a task. That makes the planner a place to track the process as well as seek explanations.
OpenAI says the feature will arrive “soon.” In the US, the initial focus will be students in grades 10 through 12 who plan to attend a four-year college. The announcement does not specify a launch date.
New tools for study materials
The college planning feature is part of a broader set of ChatGPT updates aimed at teens and studying. On iOS, users can now capture multiple photos continuously, upload them together, and turn them into a single PDF.
ChatGPT will also be able to create flashcards from a user’s notes. Together, these features give students ways to gather paper materials into a digital document and turn notes into a format for review.
The tools support different parts of schoolwork: the planner organizes application steps, while photo capture and flashcards help manage study materials. The source does not describe additional capabilities or say that the planner will complete application tasks on a student’s behalf.
Questions about ChatGPT for Teens
The announcement comes shortly after Common Sense Media published a report calling ChatGPT for Teens an “unacceptable risk.” The report said the AI tool “still does kids’ homework” and does not send alerts to parents when it should.
OpenAI’s announcement also says that, “on average,” teens spend “under 15 minutes a day” using ChatGPT. These are claims and concerns presented alongside the new features; they do not establish how the College Planner will affect student use or address the issues raised in the report.
For students applying to several colleges, a shared timeline could make deadlines and outstanding tasks easier to see in one place. The plan will still depend on students keeping their progress current and understanding the requirements they need to meet. OpenAI says they can ask ChatGPT for explanations as they work through those steps.