Getting into a great college is only the first step. Dr. Carley Nuzzo shares the skills students still need to build for themselves, and how AI can support their growth when it's used as a tool.
AI can summarize a reading, explain a difficult concept, organize a study plan, and answer a question in seconds. Technology is quickly changing how universities teach and how students learn. It is also challenging us to rethink which skills are valuable, transferable, and necessary for students to develop for themselves—and how they can do so on college campuses.
For families with students entering college, those questions extend well beyond the classroom.
In high school, the end goal is college admission, and most students have a clear roadmap to successfully attain it. College, however, asks students to define what success means to them, identify the resources needed to achieve it, and execute a plan within a strategic timeframe. In my work with students, what I often see isn't a lack of academic ability. Rather, the challenge lies in developing the social and emotional intelligence to seek out opportunities and compile them into a cohesive resume—all in a much more independent way.
College requires students to manage competing priorities, keep track of deadlines, communicate with professors, recognize when something isn't working, and decide what to do next—often without someone else prompting them. In high school, an adult may notice a missing assignment, overloaded schedule, or slipping grade before the student does. College increasingly requires students to recognize those signals themselves and take action.
With my college students, I see a lot of positive usage of AI when it comes to organization, prioritization, and time management. This is where I view AI as a tool that supports learning and executive functioning by teaching students how to take accountability for what they need to get done.
Students can absolutely delegate the administrative tasks of their college roadmap to AI. But it should go without saying that if the core vision and execution of their goals are AI-generated, they will lack authenticity, depth, and ultimately, impact.
A simple test: Did the student use AI as a crutch or as a tool?
This same nuance is applicable to the classroom. Asking AI to explain a concept another way or generate practice questions can support learning. Asking it to summarize a reading the student hasn't done or solve a problem they haven't attempted removes the critical thinking the assignment was designed to develop. A recent study out of the MIT Media Lab proves exactly how this works. Researchers tracked the brain activity of students writing essays and found that when they relied on ChatGPT from a blank page, their cognitive engagement plummeted and they retained almost no memory of what they wrote. But when students did the heavy cognitive lifting first—thinking and writing on their own—and then used AI as a collaborative partner to refine their work, their neural activity actually spiked.
To set our students up for success, we cannot demonize these tools; rather, we must discuss how to use them effectively. AI requires thoughtful, nuanced prompting. If a student does not know what they are looking for or how to ask the right questions, the tool falls flat. Critical reflection, clear communication, and engaged collaboration are foundational skills students must develop first.
When “human” connection & “human” skills matter.
Harvard College Dean David Deming recently explained in The Chronicle of Higher Education that “Universities bring a bunch of young, talented people together to learn at an important, formative time in their lives. They live together, they grow up together, they learn together, and that is an incredibly unique opportunity to build skills like the ability to listen well, to lead and be led, to give and receive criticism… These things cannot be learned solely from behind a computer screen.”
I’d like to add that they also build networks, gain professional development, get exposure to career paths, and connect with peers and mentors who motivate and inspire them. Unfortunately, an additional report from the MIT committee highlighted troubling patterns, showing that AI adoption has altered campus dynamics—resulting in greater student isolation with fewer individuals attending office hours or engaging in joint study groups.
So What Do We Do?
In my work with students, I increasingly find myself helping them create roadmaps that ensure they’re actively engaging in the physical world to achieve their post-graduation goals. The true differentiators for hiring are often involvement in professional organizations, research opportunities, leadership positions, and resume-building internships.
Students entering college are often highly comfortable with tasks that require screen time or automated research, but they are much less comfortable stepping into social situations, attending office hours, or putting themselves out there to secure an internship.
Students need to develop the emotional intelligence, self-reflection, and real-world exposure required to determine their goals. Once they have experiences that shape their direction, they can decide what deserves their attention, plan ahead, and balance competing demands in a way that aligns with those goals.
A poor exam result or missed deadline doesn't have to become a larger problem. Students need to learn how to identify what went wrong, adjust their approach, and try something different. They need to recognize when something isn't working and take the initiative to seek the right support—whether that’s from technology, peers, professors, campus support centers, or outside tutors.
Students need written communication and technical skills to prompt AI to write a flawless outreach email. But they need a much broader, deeply human set of skills to sit in a professor's office hours, navigate the social dynamics of a study group, or build rapport with a recruiter during a freshman banking summit. Students must learn to articulate their value in person, look mentors in the eye, get up the nerve to ask a follow-up question, and build a professional network. In a highly automated world, the students who can build genuine, human-to-human relationships are the ones who will stand out and succeed.
For parents of high school students, college readiness can be easy to measure in grades, courses, test scores, and eventually an acceptance letter. But some of the skills students need most once they arrive on campus are harder to quantify.
AI will continue to change how students learn, work, and enter the employment landscape. But even in the midst of current technological uncertainty, the human skills outlined above will become more valuable, not less.
At ESM, we help students prepare not only for admission, but for what comes next. What I want parents to understand most is that getting into a great college is only the first step; maximizing that college's resources for their future is an entirely different skillset.
If students don't have a proactive roadmap for their four years—and a mentor to hold them accountable—it is incredibly easy for them to hide behind their screens, rely on AI to check the academic boxes, and miss out on the human connections that actually launch their careers. Our individualized support helps students develop a plan and strengthen the skills they'll need to navigate college with purpose.
