OpenAI Previews a College Deadline Tracker for ChatGPT for Teens
College Planner pulls school-by-school requirements, deadlines and financial aid steps into one place. The first version targets high schoolers planning to attend four-year colleges in the US.
OpenAI said on October 7 that it plans to add College Planner, a college preparation tool, to ChatGPT for Teens. The company also introduced study features that turn handwritten notes into flashcards and quiz students in a conversational format. The idea is to help teens use AI for studying and college prep, and to gather student input while the products are being built.
What College Planner does for applicants
College Planner gathers the application processes for multiple schools into a single plan. For every school a student adds to their list, it organizes the requirements, deadlines and to-do items. By putting progress and timelines on one screen, the tool focuses on making sure students do not miss requirements that differ from college to college.
Financial aid steps are part of the plan as well. Students can also look into scholarships and application fee waivers. The first US version is aimed at high school students in grades 10 through 12 who are planning to attend a four-year college. OpenAI said it plans to expand the scope to other countries and to two-year colleges, technical colleges and vocational schools.
Handwritten notes become quizzes
The study features are designed so that students can review notes they have already written. ChatGPT can generate flashcards from notes or a study topic, then save them for later review. OpenAI also unveiled a feature that turns uploaded notes into an interactive quiz. Rather than simply reading over what they have written, students can review by working through questions.
Uploading paper notes has gotten simpler, too. Students can snap several photos of their notes in a row and have them combined into a single PDF for upload. The feature is available on iOS first, with an Android version still in development.
How teens are using ChatGPT
ChatGPT for Teens is applied automatically to accounts identified as belonging to users under 18. It includes study tools and reminders to take a break. OpenAI said roughly 1.2 million teens used Learning Visualizations over the course of one week to understand math and science concepts. In the same period, more than 180,000 users turned to Study Mode.
The average usage time for teens that OpenAI disclosed came to under 15 minutes a day. Fewer than 2 percent of teens used the service for more than three hours in a row. In nearly half of the conversations where a break reminder appeared, OpenAI said the user took a break or ended the conversation within five minutes.
The company is also building channels to hear from teens. OpenAI will support the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and an independent student advisory council for the next three years. For the 2026-27 school year, about 22 participants will be split into two groups. Roughly 10 of them will focus specifically on AI chatbots and emerging technology. Topics up for input include default safety settings for teens, parental controls and notifications, and AI literacy.
The announcement focuses on expanding how ChatGPT for Teens supports studying and college application prep. What to watch from here: when College Planner actually ships, how far it expands beyond the US, and how the student advisory council’s input makes its way into the product.