Tech-Neill-ogy #110 - 21 September 2025

Your Weekly Guide to Leveraging Technology in College Counseling

Author

Jeffrey Neill
September 23, 2025

Welcome to Tech-Neill-ogy #110!

A day late… apologies, but I managed to come down with a nasty bug on Sunday evening…

I had a productive couple of days last week, down the road here in Brazil, in Curitiba, for the #AI4GoodLearning conference. It was really wonderful to rub elbows with like-minded AI enthusiasts from around the region. I had the pleasure of presenting a couple of sessions on how to engage students with AI and how counselors/administrators can effectively incorporate AI into their practices.

On another note, I heard from the good people at ESSLO, who have rolled out an easy way for students to discover good essay topics by answering questions out loud. It's completely free, and they have no plans to monetize it. It's something that should exist, given how many students struggle with deciding what to write about, as they shared. See it below in the Extracurriculars section!

Also, given that it is application season, I’ve heard from a number of individuals looking for a collection of university admissions policies in regards to AI use. The AI in College Admissions Special Interest Group, for which I serve on the Board, has created a Padlet for collecting these policies. See it below in the Course Catalog section!

There are a number of other great resources shared below, including a very fun ChatGPT prompt and a couple of not-to-be-missed non-tech pieces.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the newsletter!

Another AI Side Effect: Erosion of Student-Teacher Trust

AI is exacerbating a feeling that since the pandemic, the classroom dynamic has grown transactional.

www.the74million.org/article/another-ai-side-effect-erosion-of-student-teacher-trust

The AI Therapist Epidemic: When Bots Replace Humans - Coda Story

They promise judgment-free therapy at your fingertips. What they deliver is an algorithmic echo chamber that validates your worst impulses, isolates you from human connection, and even coaches you toward self-destruction

www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/ai-therapy-regulation

How to guide: A realistic approach to AI adoption

This era of AI adoption is an exciting time for CIOs to drive innovation and evolve their digital campuses.

universitybusiness.com/how-to-guide-a-realistic-approach-to-ai-adoption

Coursera Launches 6 New Certificates, Names 6 New University Partners

Coursera, the online learning platform, has announced an expansion of its university and industry partners, including several new certificates and courses focused on AI.

www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/09/09/coursera-launches-6-new-certificates-names-6-new-university-partners

AI policies Specific to Admissions

Made with Padlet

padlet.com/emilypachecoAI/ai-policies-specific-to-admissions-e0tmmkyqlq5wo58g

Esslo Explore

Choose college application essay topics by brainstorming with Esslo Explore. Swipe through questions, speak your thoughts, and get college essay ideas.

www.esslo.org/explore

Triips | Never Pay Full Price for a Flight Again

Get instant alerts when flights from the US & Canada drop 50–90%. Start your 7-day free trial and travel for less.

triips.com

Free AI Resume Builder Trusted by +3 Million Job Seekers

Rezi’s award-winning free AI-powered resume builder is trusted by millions of happy job seekers. Create your perfect resume in minutes with Rezi. Recognized as the best resume builder in 2024 from Forbes.

www.rezi.ai

Ghost — AI agent for beautiful presentations

Design stunning slides at the speed of thought. GPU-powered editor, AI-native workflows, and instant exports.

www.useghost.io

Ellie - Your AI Email Assistant

Ellie learns from your writing style and crafts replies as if they were written by you

tryellie.com

https://www.edficacy.co/ - Tell them Jeff sent you!

I loved this prompt, which was shared by Tricia Friedman during last week’s #AI4GoodLearning conference at the International School of Curitiba. It is a fun one to get some new language that might resonate with kids. (Notice you can substitute different languages and different niches!) 

You are a linguist with a remarkable sense of humor. You are bilingual (English, Portuguese). I'd like you to generate unique words that do not yet exist that describe very niche, extremely specific feelings related to the college application process. You will come up with a top five list. Please triple-check your language use and explain the definition and how you came up with it. Before you proceed, check back with me about my goal.

My favorite that it produced:

Portalitis: The compulsive disorder of checking your application portal every 7.3 minutes, convinced the status will magically change.

ChatGPT

Please, if you have any great prompts or ideas, please share! Send me a note at [email protected].

Webinars & Live Events Page

Look here for upcoming webinars and other events (and recorded ones) by the College Essay Guy! New events are happening all the time…

www.collegeessayguy.com/webinars-live-events

If you know of any upcoming events related to AI or tech and college counseling/admissions, please let me know! There’s been a growth in these events that I find difficult to stay on top of!

That’s it for this week, but, first, a couple of non-tech articles that all of us should be aware of:

Opinion | The College Game Is Changing. It’s Still Rigged.

The frantic competition that we’ve normalized is based on a lie about what makes a college education truly valuable.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/opinion/college-admissions-seniors-stats.html

U.S. Will Need 5.3 Million More Workers With Some College By 2032

The U. S. will need 5.3 million more workers with some college education by 2032, finds a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education & the Workforce.

www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2025/09/17/us-will-need-53-million-more-workers-with-some-college-education-by-2032

Anyway, best wishes for a great week! Happy counseling!

Jeff