The best AI tools for students: from academic success to career development

Juggling university projects while deciding on a career path and applying for graduate opportunities can be overwhelming. What if we told you there are heaps of dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) tools out there that can help take the edge off – boosting your productivity, while saving you time and effort?

We’re talking beyond ChatGPT – the ones that can help you achieve specific goals – from mind-mapping, and improving your writing, to finding you personalised career matches, creating tailored CV’s and cover letters, and more, there’s plenty on offer.

So, what’s out there, and how do you choose the best ones? Today, we’re introducing you to the best AI tools for students, rounding up the ones we think could support you most, so you don’t have to. Read on to learn more.

Key takeaways:

• Remember the 5 golden rules of using AI responsibly
• AI tools can help you establish your strengths and give you personalised career recommendations
• Get tailored CV and cover letter support – AI tools offer templates, feedback, grammar checks and more
• AI can help you improve your university work, including your assignments and presentations
• Career development doesn’t stop when you’ve landed a role – use AI to boost your skillset further

Using AI tools responsibly: the golden rules

Before we get into it, it’s important to mention that while AI can make your life easier, if you don’t use it responsibly you won’t be doing your university work or career any good. Here are 5 golden rules to keep in mind.

1. Use AI to guide, inspire and enhance your work, not to replace it.
2. Edit AI content – make sure it genuinely sounds like you (AI content is easily detectable!) and isn’t ‘waffly’.
3. Fact-check, fact-check again, and do it once more to make sure there aren’t inaccuracies.
4. Be mindful of your data – don't enter yours, or anyone else’s personal information into AI tools.
5. Only pay for AI tools when you’ve exhausted the free options and have done enough research to know specific ones would be useful to you.

The best AI tools for choosing a career

Some AI tools can help you establish your strengths and give you personalised recommendations to help you find a career that’s right for you. Here are some of our top picks.

Strengths Profile

What is it?

Strengths Profile helps you identify and develop your strengths so you can achieve your career goals.

How does it work?

• Complete a strengths assessment – it'll reveal your realised and unrealised strengths, learned behaviours and weaknesses
• Share your profile with others
• Use its resources to help boost your strengths
• Get recommendations for jobs that could match your strengths

How much does it cost?

Prices start from £15 for an introductory profile, £40 for an expert one, and £70 for a leader profile. The introductory profile should be all you need to help you kickstart your graduate career.

Career Explorer

What is it?

Career Explorer uses machine learning, psychometrics and career satisfaction data to find your personalised career matches.

How does it work?

• Do a career match test, lasting around 30 minutes
• Get career matches based on things like your interests, skills, and experience
• Do career test retakes – you can test semi-regularly to see how your results evolve over time
• Share your career matches with coursemates, tutors, family and friends

How much does it cost?

This one’s totally free to use.

Existential

What is it?

Existential gives you personalised career recommendations to help you find your ideal career path.

How does it work?

• Answer questions about your goals, interests, skills, values and experience
• Get suggested career paths
• See a roadmap to your ideal career
• Get tips and advice to help you achieve your goals
• Get automated journal entries to reflect on your progress

How much does it cost?

• Free: doing the test, plus getting career recommendations and a roadmap.
• Pro: beyond that, you’ll get a seven-day free trial, and then after that it’s £3.99/month.

Find out more: I have a degree – now what?

The best AI tools for applications

Whether you’re applying for jobs, schemes, internships or placements – these tools can support you through the journey.

Grammarly

What is it?

Grammarly is an AI writing assistant. If you want your CV, cover letter and applications checked before you submit them, it’s well worth a look in.

How does it work?

• Check your work for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
• Get help with developing your key points
• Get tone, clarity and style improvement suggestions
• Give Grammarly a prompt and it’ll suggest some topic ideas

Check out Grammarly’s dedicated student hub

How much does it cost?

• Free: you’ll get basic checks like spelling, grammar and punctuation
• Premium : £10/month for advanced features like plagiarism detection and full-sentence re-writes

Teal HQ

What is it?

Teal HQ is an AI tool that’ll help you create and edit tailored CVs.

How does it work?

• Upload your existing CV or use your LinkedIn profile
• Match your CV with job descriptions
• Choose a CV template
• Use the CV editor to select things to include in it
• Get feedback on your CV and suggestions to improve it

How much does it cost?

Free: create unlimited CVs, choose from 10 templates and get basic feedback.

Pro: you’d need to pay $9/week for things like unlimited feedback and templates.

CV Genius

What is it?

CV Genius is another CV builder – this one has a wealth of templates to choose from.

How does it work?

• Choose a template
• Upload your CV or create one from scratch
• Use AI to generate bullet points from job ads
• Edit your CV and download it

How much does it cost?

CV Genius is free to use.

Cover Letter Copilot

What is it?

With Cover Letter Copilot you can create cover letters tailored to each role you apply for.

How does it work?

• Upload your CV and the job description
• Get an AI-generated cover letter
• Check and edit the cover letter
• Download it as a PDF

How much does it cost?

Cover Letter Copilot is free.

Find out more: The big guide to CV writing

The best AI tools for interviews and assessment centres

Interviews by AI

What is it?

Interviews by AI is a tool that gives you practice interview questions tailored to job descriptions.

How does it work?

• Upload a job description
• Get realistic interview questions for the role including behavioural and technical questions
• Record your answer either by audio or text
• Get feedback on your answers to help you improve them

How much does it cost?

Free: you’ll get its basic version – which gives you 3 interview questions a month.

Pro: you’ll get unlimited questions for $9/month.

Interview Warmup

What is it?

Interview Warmup is Google’s very own AI interview prep tool. You can practice your answers and improve your responses with this one.

How does it work?

• Tell Interview Warmup which sector you want to practice interview questions for – e.g. project management, UX design, or digital marketing
• You’ll get some standard interview questions
• Say your answers out loud – they're recorded
• Get insights on your answers to help you fine-tune them

How much does it cost?

Interview Warmup is completely free.

Find out more: Expert video interview tips to impress recruiters

Best AI tools for university projects

Need a helping hand with your university work? These tools can make it easier to brainstorm ideas, organise your assessments, make your writing clearer, and more.

Mendeley

What is it?

Mendeley is a reference manager that can help you to organise your assignments and create citations.

How does it work?

• Upload research papers from your browser
• Get references, citations and bibliographies generated
• Collaborate with other students on shared projects

How much does it cost?

Free: you'll get 2GB of personal library space.

Pro: you can pay $4.99/month for 5GB, $9.99/month for 10GB, or $14.99/month for unlimited space.

Canva

What is it?

Canva is an AI-powered visual suite that allows you to create presentations, assignments infographics, posters, and more.

How does it work?

• Choose from thousands of customisable templates
• Create visuals and resize designs with AI-powered design tools
• Collaborate on projects with your coursemates or team, and add feedback notes

How much does it cost?

Its basic version is free for everyone, and students can access its pro version for free with an academic email address.

Learn more about Canva for students.

MindMeister

What is it?

MindMeister is a mind-mapping and brainstorming tool that helps you to visualise your thoughts and present them to others.

How does it work?

• Choose from its themes, templates, and layouts
• Add in your ideas with your preferred style, images and emojis
• Share your ideas with others

How much does it cost?

Free: basic tools including 3 mind maps.

Pro: ranges from £6/month - £9.50/month to add things like unlimited mind maps and file exports.

Hemingway Editor

What is it?

Hemingway Editor will help you to make your writing clearer – ideal for writing essays.

How does it work?

• Paste or write your copy into the text editor
• It’ll highlight your hard-to-read sentences
• It’ll show you alternatives for complex wording
• Its AI tool can fix wordy sentences

How much does it cost?

Free: its basic option will highlight sentences to change

Pro: ranges from $10/month - $15/month for things like AI sentence rewrites and feedback.

The best AI tools to support personal development

Career and personal development go beyond landing your first job. These tools are designed to help you take your career to new heights.

Zelfio

What is it?

Zelfio is an AI coach that gives you daily guidance to help you evolve your skills.

How does it work?

• Create a profile by answering some questions around your strengths and areas of growth
• Get personalised advice and guidance from your coach each day to build on the skills you’ve already got and develop new ones, and take a deep dive into specific topics that pique your interest
• Key milestones will be logged, and you can reflect on your progress

How much does it cost?

You’ll get a 14-day free trial. Its monthly subscription costs €12.95 or you can buy an annual one for €115.00.

Rocky.AI

What is it?

Rocky.AI is a personal development AI coach that’ll help you practice your soft skills with coaching questions.

How does it work?

• Set and track personal growth goals
• Get a development plan by creating a vision statement
• Get tips to support your growth journey

How much does it cost?

Free: Unlimited coaching.

Pro: $9.99/month to add things like articles and personal development plans; $19.99/month to add things like coach panel and monitoring.

Ready to launch your career? We’ve got you covered

• Sign up to targetjobs to get a personalised feed with the latest jobs, career advice, courses, and events, tailored to your needs
• Discover career paths and top tips to help you apply with confidence and land that role – learn how to nail the application process , get interview guidance, and more
• Do a GradSim - designed to help you decide whether specific roles at companies that pique your interest are right for you
• Network with top employers at our events - boost your skills and knowledge, get expert advice, and show off your abilities
• When you’re ready, browse open graduate jobs and graduate schemes, and apply for roles that are the right fit for you