Gen Z is rethinking how they discover, research, and choose a college. From AI-powered search to social media, prospective students are forming impressions long before they visit your website. Explore what these changing habits mean for higher ed marketers and how to reach students with content that builds trust and supports their decision-making.
A high schooler scrolls TikTok, not Google. They ask ChatGPT a follow-up question instead of clicking through to your website. They watch a fifteen-second clip about your program before they ever read a single page of your site. If your marketing strategy still assumes people start with a search engine and end on a landing page, it's worth stepping back and looking at how this generation actually spends their time online. Gen Z's media habits look different from the generations before them, and AI is the fastest-moving piece of that shift.
How Gen Z Actually Finds Information
AI Tools like ChatGPT have gone from novelty to habit for Gen Z and beyond. To this generation, those born between 1997 and 2012 - asking an AI tool a question feels as normal as running a Google search ever did for generations before them.. Whether someone is doing homework, planning a purchase, or researching where to apply to school, AI is becoming a key part of the process.
For years, "search" meant typing something into Google, but that's no longer the default for many Gen Zers. Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become a go-to way to find information. Traditional search hasn't disappeared, but it's no longer the first, or only, stop.
And to Gen Z, format matters just as much as platform. Short-form video is the clear favorite. Long articles, long videos, and live TV now take a back seat to content that is quick, visual, and easy to scroll past if it doesn't hold its viewers’ attention in the first few seconds.
Why This Is a Bigger Conversation Now
None of this is exactly new. Social platforms have been eating into search traffic for some time now, and AI tools have been around long enough to be familiar. What's changed is the pace and the stakes. More of Gen Z's decisions, including big ones like choosing a college, now run through platforms and tools that didn't exist as decision-making resources a few years ago.
For higher ed specifically, that means prospective students are forming opinions about a school before admissions ever has a chance to make a direct impression. An AI-generated answer, a TikTok comment section, or a quick Instagram search can shape a student's shortlist long before they fill out an inquiry form.
Where AI Actually Shows Up in the Student Journey
AI doesn't just show up once in the process. It shows up at nearly every stage, just in different ways.
Early on, when a student is still figuring out the basics of what direction they want to go, they are using AI tools as a sounding board. They might describe what they liked and didn't like about a few schools they've toured and ask for suggestions based on that, the same way they might have once asked a school counselor or a parent's friend who once attended one of the schools.
Once a student creates their shortlist, AI helps them break it down further. Instead of opening five different admissions pages in five tabs, a student can ask a direct question and get a synthesized answer: which of these schools has a better placement rate for this major? Which one costs less after aid? Which one has the stronger internship pipeline? The answer they get is only as good as what the AI tool can find and trust, which means that if your institution's information is thin, outdated, or scattered across a dozen disconnected pages, you may simply not be part of the answer.
Social platforms can influence a student's decision as well. College vloggers, campus tours filmed by actual college students, and social media comment sections can carry more weight than anything an admissions office publishes directly. AI helped students narrow their lists. Real people help them make the final call.
Getting Surfaced in AI Answers Is Its Own Skill
Ranking on page one of Google used to be the goal. Now there's a second, related goal: being the source that an AI tool actually cites or recommends when a student asks it a direct question.
AI tools tend to pull from content that is clear, current, and structured in a way that's easy to lift, things like specific program outcomes, cost breakdowns, and answers to direct questions, rather than tone-heavy marketing copy. A page that's beautifully designed but vague will often lose out to a plainer page that actually answers the question being asked. That means keeping program pages, cost information, and outcomes data accurate and easy to extract matters more than it used to, not less.
For marketers,this implementation doesn't replace traditional SEO practices, but rathersits alongside them. But writing for AI is worth treating as its own discipline rather than assuming that whatever already works for search will automatically carry over.
Heavy Use Doesn't Mean Blind Trust
Here's the part that's easy to miss: while Gen Z are heavy AI search users, they may not completely trust its results. Recent research suggests that as AI usage climbs, actual enthusiasm and excitement about AI may be cooling. Many Gen Zers are wary of content that feels obviously AI-generated or automated, but still use those tools themselves every day.
So instead of making a blanket statement like, "Gen Z loves AI,” instead think "Gen Z relies on AI regularly and is still figuring out how much to trust it."
For higher ed marketers, that distinction matters. Being on the right platform isn’t enough on its own. Showing up in the right place still has to be paired with content that feels authentic, not recycled or automated, or it risks getting scrolled past just as quickly as anything else.
What You Can Do
The goal is to meet students where they already are rather than trying to pull them back to a traditional search-and-landing-page journey. A few places to start:
Think about how your institution shows up in AI-generated answers, not just search engine results.
Favor short, direct video over long-form content whenever you can.
Keep it human. Authenticity tends to outperform polished with this audience, especially now that AI-generated content is everywhere and easy to spot.
The opportunity for higher ed marketers is to show up early, in the right formats, with content that feels real, not automated. The institutions paying attention and making these adjustments will have a real recruiting advantage on those who rely on practices that worked with past generations.
About the Author Olivia Caldwell // Associate Media Strategist
Olivia "Liv" is our well-organized associate media strategist. Her happy place is found in building creative strategies and developing campaigns with purpose.
