Traditional college counseling isn’t keeping up with today’s digital-first students.
Jeff Neill, Director of College Counseling at Graded - The American School in São Paulo, is using AI to make counseling more effective. By handling routine tasks, AI frees up Jeff’s time to connect more deeply with his students. And for Jeff, it’s not just about saving time; it’s about giving students a new kind of support that’s always there when they need it.
Here are the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Jeff on VineDown, showing you how you can use AI as a tool in your educational pursuits.
Make sure you catch the full episode here:
Jeff sees AI as a way to streamline tasks in college counseling without losing what matters most: real human connections. Rather than using AI to replace counselors, he uses it to handle repetitive tasks, freeing up time to engage more deeply with his students.
“Efficiency is a big piece of that,” he says. “I just happened to get on the early side of things and started experimenting, found ways in which it can make the work that we do a little bit simpler, and in many cases, a lot faster.” For Jeff, this efficiency isn’t about cutting corners; it’s about investing his time where it counts.
Jeff believes that AI’s greatest benefit in counseling is how it gives back time to counselors and students alike.
With time as a finite resource, he explains that AI can help counselors get the most out of each day without sacrificing quality. “When things have gotten quicker, when they’ve gotten faster, what are you going to do with that time?” he asks. By using AI strategically, Jeff’s team has more time to create genuine, meaningful relationships with students, not less.
Jeff acknowledges that AI’s potential is limited for students without internet access.
“If artificial intelligence is fundamentally linked to internet connectivity, that’s a big concern about exacerbating differences between the haves and the have-nots,” he points out. For those with internet, though, AI offers major advantages, especially for students without traditional college counseling support.
Coming in 2025, solutions like CollegeVine’s free AI counselor are making this guidance more widely available. It’s a step toward leveling the playing field and helping students who might otherwise be left out.
Jeff questions the fairness of requiring counselor recommendations, especially when some students lack adequate support.
“The counselor letter of recommendation exacerbates inequity in our society,” he explains, sharing a story about a counselor who was able to use AI to generate letters for a large caseload of students, something he couldn’t do before. While AI can help make this process easier, Jeff wonders if we need to rethink the role of recommendations altogether, as they may not always provide a level playing field.
One of Jeff’s core messages is that every student should learn the skill of introducing themselves effectively. In his sessions, he encourages students to craft their “elevator pitch” as a way of presenting who they are in a concise, genuine way. Jeff shares how his team uses AI to help students refine their pitches: “We had this idea to teach them about an elevator pitch… and what we did is we gave them an artificial intelligence prompt.” He recalls the moment students saw their pitch reflected back to them and began editing their responses to create an authentic, compelling summary of themselves.
Jeff Neill’s approach to AI in college counseling shows that technology can improve access and deepen student connections without losing the human touch. He uses AI not to replace counselors but to empower them—and their students.
Programs like CollegeVine echo this mission by offering free tools that help students navigate their path with confidence. As AI continues to evolve, Jeff’s work is a reminder of how it can be a helpful guide, bringing students closer to understanding themselves and their goals.
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