Below is a collection of prompts that I like to use in ChatGPT:
-
Transform my difficult decision between [share university options] into a clear decision matrix. Reveal hidden risk, long-term consequences, and psychological factors influencing my decision that I am completely blind to.
-
You will help me with the activities section of my Common Application account by working me through the College Essay Guy's BEABIES exercise. You are an expert university application specialist, and I am a high school student preparing my applications for university. You will help me with the activities section of my Common Application account by working me through the BEABIES exercise, which asks me to reflect on the value I gained from a particular activity. We will focus on just one activity at a time, and you will ask me questions one at a time and wait until I reply before asking the next question. The BEABIES exercise focuses on five components: what I did; problems I solved; lessons I learned and values/skills I developed; the impact I had on Self, School, Community and/or Society); and the applications to other parts of school or life. Begin by asking me, what activity we will be exploring. Then, one at a time, ask a question about each of the five components.
Then, after collecting general answers for each component, ask follow up questions for each component considering the following prompts, but be sure to focus on one component at a time. Ask a follow-up question or questions and wait until I reply before moving on:
What I Did (Day-to-Day):
Did I list all my tasks, or just a few? What’d I forget? Go back and check.
Did I list tasks I completed that fell slightly outside the scope of my responsibilities?
Did I leave off any awards? Any uncommon achievements?
Problems I Solved:
Did I consider the internal problems I solved—any personal challenges?
Did I name the external problems I solved—for my friends or family? School? Community?
Was I tackling a much larger (perhaps global) problem?
Lessons I learned & Values/Skills I Developed:
What were some of the soft skills I learned (patience, communication, etc.)?
Did I learn any specific software (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro)? Languages (Spanish, C++)? Survival skills (how to start a fire or clean a fish)?
What am I better at now than I was before?
What would I have done differently?
Impact I Had (On Self, School, Community and/or Society)
Did I consider the impact this had on my family? Friends? School? Who else benefited?
What impact did this have on me personally? Did this change my life/perspective? How?
Applications to Other Parts of School/Life:
What skills did I develop and lessons did I learn that will make me a better X (tutor, debater, advocate, volunteer, programmer, fill in the blank)? How so?
What did I do to build on and take what I learned to the next level?
What surprised me about this experience?
How might I continue this activity during college and beyond?
Once you have sufficiently inquired about this activity, suggest five different 150-character descriptions of this activity based exclusively on my prompts that a university application would find helpful.
-
You are an expert resume writer with over 20 years of experience, and I am a high school student editing my first resume. I want to engage with you to create specific specific bullet points using this structure: "accomplished X by the measure Y that resulted in Z." For example, "grew club size by 20% by actively soliciting school community." Use compelling language, and keep the bullet point within 50 words. When X (what was accomplished), Y (how success was measured), or Z (what the results were) are missing, I do not want you to invent information. Instead, please offer some suggestions for how I might include the missing information and ask questions to help me suss out the missing information. Ask one question at a time until you have the information you require to suggest a new prompt. As you ask questions, also suggest possible examples that would help you. For example, if you are looking for Z, what the results were, you should ask directly but also suggest several potential answers. Keep working on each individual prompt with me until I write DONE, at which point I want you to ask me about the next prompt and restart the process. Ask me about the activity to get started.
-
Generate a 30-second elevator pitch about me as a college applicant using the information drawn from the worksheet provided below. Focus on alignment with VIA character strengths in particular. The pitch should be brief, punchy, and compelling, it must be written in the first person, and it should be no longer than 6 sentences.
-
As a high school senior, you are applying to several universities, each with a unique application type and official deadline. The universities are:
<Enter each university name here with application round and deadline in parentheses, one per line.>
Your goal is to complete and submit all applications two weeks before their respective deadlines, as per your school's 'TWO WEEK RULE'. I am to create a comprehensive schedule for you in a table format, indicating the 'UNIVERSITY', 'PHASE', 'START DATE', 'DUE DATE', 'SUBMISSION', and actual 'DEADLINE'. The 'PHASES' include 'APPLICATION', 'SUPPLEMENT', 'SUBMISSION', and 'DEADLINE'.
The 'APPLICATION' phase requires A days.
The 'SUPPLEMENT' phase takes B days.
You can start working on the applications from DATE.
There's a break period from DATES during which you can work on two tasks per day.
Keep in mind that you have the following commitments that will prohibit application work:
<Enter other restrictions here, one per line>
Assist me in generating this college application timeline, ensuring all tasks are sequenced properly and all deadlines are met.
—SECOND PROMPT—
Export this table into a .CSV according to the formatting requirements so that it can be uploaded into Google Calendar.
-
I am going to ask you to write a high school college letter of recommendation based on data I will share after I instruct you on how to write the letter. The high school college counselor letter of recommendation must strictly follow this format:
At the top of the letter center the header “Confidential College Counseling Letter of Recommendation for” and follow that with the student’s passport name;
Begin the letter with an opening paragraph of 20 sentences sharing an apt, vivid, and memorable anecdote about the student that highlights their unique personality and strengths;
Begin the second section with the header “Academic Strengths,” and provide 10 complete-sentence bullet points addressing highlights from the student’s academic past; one bullet point in this section should be on how this student learns best and one bullet point should be about the rigor of the student’s chosen curriculum;
Begin the third section with the header “Leadership, Initiative, and Dedication,” followed by 10 complete-sentence bullet points about the student’s extracurricular interests and aptitudes, including commentary on the student’s leadership, initiative, and dedication capacities;
Begin the fourth section with the header “Personal & Cultural Context,” which is comprised of 10 complete-sentence bullet points about the student’s family and culture, including one comment on the student’s relationships with their family;
Finally, the fifth section should conclude the letter with one final paragraph of 20 sentences that includes both an assessment of the student’s intended major as well as their and evaluation of their top five VIA signature character strengths. A final sentence of this paragraph should provide a stirling endorsement of their candidacy for university.
There is no need to begin the letter with salutations or to conclude it with a signature. The letter should include direct quotations from the data provided. The letter should be a thorough and impassioned recommendation.
Here is the content of a worksheet that was completed by the student about whom the letter is to be written. This will be the only source of information for you to craft the letter according to the instructions above:
-
Help me stay ahead in high school college counseling and university undergraduate admissions by identifying the most important trends, emerging technologies, and key thought leaders. Provide a curated list of must-read blogs, podcasts, newsletters, and influencers to follow. Suggest engaging ways to deepen my expertise, such as case studies, hands-on projects, or networking with experts. Also, include unconventional methods like reverse engineering industry success stories or analyzing market shifts through historical patterns. Bonus: Give me a ‘challenge of the week’ to apply my knowledge in a real-world scenario!
If you have any others, please share them with me at jeffreyneill@me.com.