New AI Tool Helps High Schoolers with College Admissions -- THE Journal

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New AI Tool Helps High Schoolers with College Admissions

By Richard Chang
08/29/16

SchoolWise, an online platform for high school students interested in college, has launched GoSchoolWise.com, a new website that’s designed to help high school students and their parents during the often arduous college admissions process.

The new site utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools such as IBM Watson, a platform that uses natural language processing and personality traits to reveal insights from large amounts of unstructured data, to help students find the right college for them.

According to a report by the private, Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation, only about 40 percent of high school students in the United States graduate from college. SchoolWise aims to improve that number by assisting students at the beginning of the college admissions process. By providing a college/student personality matching tool, as well as a financial aid calculator, SchoolWise seeks to give as much information up front as possible and help prevent students from encountering unpleasant surprises, such as financial shocks or environmental discomforts.

The personality matching tool on SchoolWise uses IBM Watson to analyze applicant writings and essays to determine personality characteristics and individual college fits.

“At SchoolWise, we want to be the pioneers in using technology advancements, such as AI, ML and data analytics to help families across the U.S. with college admissions,” said founder and MIT graduate Salil Sethi in a prepared statement. “While data analytics and machine learning [have] transformed many industries, [they haven’t] helped students in the college admissions space.”

SchoolWise also has college admissions experts on its platform, who can help students looking for personalized guidance. In addition, it features relevant scholarship information, a calendar to stay on top of college-specific deadlines, and an admission guidance section that curates the best college admission advice from around the web.

For more information, visit GoSchoolWise.com.

About the Author

Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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