For Academic Advisors ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have ChatGPT configured as a persistent advising assistant that already knows your typical advising scenarios, communication style, and common institutional context. Instead of re-explaining yourself every time, you'll open ChatGPT and get useful output immediately — for session notes, outreach emails, policy explanations, and more.
What you'll need
What you should see: A clean chat interface with a "Message ChatGPT" text box at the bottom. No login errors. Troubleshooting: If you see a "service unavailable" message, try again after a few minutes — it's usually a temporary load issue.
Type or paste the following into the message box, customized with your own details:
I am an academic advisor at a [public/private] [4-year university/community college/liberal arts college]. I advise approximately [number] students in [major/program area or "undeclared/general studies"].
My most common tasks are:
- Writing advising session notes after appointments
- Drafting outreach emails to at-risk students flagged by our early alert system
- Explaining degree requirements to students in plain language
- Writing follow-up emails after appointments
- Handling parent inquiries under FERPA constraints
My communication style: [warm and encouraging / professional and direct / supportive but clear about expectations]
Important context:
- I use [EAB Navigate/Salesforce/institutional CRM] for advising notes
- My institution uses [Banner/PeopleSoft] as the Student Information System
- FERPA is always a consideration — I will never include real student names or ID numbers in my prompts
- When I say "write a session note," I need something I can paste directly into my CRM
For every task, please:
- Write in a tone that matches my communication style above
- Keep emails under 150 words unless I specify otherwise
- Use [Student Name] as a placeholder in all communications
- Never include fictional student data — I will provide all specifics
Ready to help?
What you should see: Your conversation is saved in the left sidebar under the renamed title.
Try one of these to verify it's working well:
Test 1 — Session notes: Type: "Write a session note for this appointment: junior, psychology major, discussed switching to social work, needs to check prerequisites, action item: send list of social work prereqs. No academic concerns."
Test 2 — At-risk email: Type: "Write an outreach email to a student who got a D at midterms. Warm and inviting, not punitive."
Test 3 — Policy explanation: Type: "Explain this degree requirement in plain language for a freshman: [paste any confusing catalog language]"
If the output matches your voice and needs, your assistant is ready.
Once your assistant is set up, use these directly in the conversation:
Session notes:
Write a session note for this appointment: [student year and major], [topics covered], [decisions made], [action items — student and advisor], [any referrals]. Keep it under 200 words.
At-risk outreach:
Write an outreach email to a student flagged for [alert reason]. Warm, non-punitive, invite them to schedule. Under 150 words. Use [Student Name] placeholder.
Policy explanation:
Press Enter to send this.
What you should see: ChatGPT will respond confirming it understands your setup and is ready to help. It will often summarize back your key context points.
Explain the following degree requirement in plain English for a [year] student: [paste requirement]
Follow-up email:
Write a post-appointment follow-up email. Topics: [list]. Student action items: [list]. Advisor action items: [list]. Under 120 words.
Outreach campaign:
Write a 3-email sequence for students who [situation]. Email 1: warm. Email 2: urgent reminder. Email 3: final notice. Each under 100 words.