Archival

AI-powered app helping students save achievements, essays, media, and school plans over the years, turning them into stronger college and independent school applications from day one of high school.

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Inspiration

Every year, millions of students scramble to write college essays, remember their achievements, and build application materials — all in the last few months of senior year. We wanted to fix that. The insight behind Archival is simple: the best application materials come from years of reflection, not weeks of panic.

What it does

Archival is a full-stack college portfolio app that acts as a personal operating system for the college application process. Students can:

  • Capture notes about experiences, achievements, and essay ideas as they happen — organized by category with full version history
  • Build a multimedia portfolio of photos, documents, recordings, and links over multiple years
  • Draft and refine essays with a live word counter, version history, and AI-powered feedback that analyzes clarity, storytelling, and structure
  • Manage their college list with Dream, Stretch, and Safe school categories, deadlines, and AI-generated admissions advice tailored to each school
  • Find best-fit schools through an AI-powered questionnaire that analyzes their academic profile, campus preferences, and goals to recommend personalized matches
  • Track their application timeline through a dashboard showing upcoming deadlines and progress

The app includes a freemium monetization model — core features are free forever, while AI-powered tools (essay feedback, admissions advice, school finder) are available on the Pro plan at $7.99/month, powered by real Stripe subscriptions.

How I built it

  • Frontend: React + Vite, deployed on Vercel, installable as a PWA
  • Backend: Node.js + Express, deployed on Railway
  • Database: MongoDB Atlas
  • Auth: JWT + bcrypt for secure authentication
  • Payments: Stripe Subscriptions with webhooks for real-time Pro status updates
  • AI: Claude API (claude-sonnet) for essay feedback, admissions advice, and school recommendations

Challenges I ran into

Integrating Stripe webhooks with a deployed backend required careful handling of raw request bodies before parsing them as JSON. Getting Railway to correctly identify the backend subfolder as the root deployment directory took significant debugging. We also had to architect the paywall carefully so free users get genuine value while Pro features feel worth upgrading for.

Accomplishments that I am proud of

I built a production-ready, fully deployed app with real payments, real auth, and real AI — not just a prototype. The School Finder questionnaire generates genuinely personalized recommendations using the student's full profile. The essay feedback is specific and actionable, not generic.

What I learned

Deploying a full-stack app end-to-end — from MongoDB Atlas to Railway to Vercel with Stripe in the middle — taught us how many moving parts go into a real production system. We also learned how powerful it is to design for long-term user behavior rather than a one-time interaction.

What's next for Archival

  • React Native mobile app for iOS and Android
  • Recommendation letter tracking
  • Activity description generator
  • Interview prep tools
  • Counselor dashboards for schools
  • AI admissions probability modeling

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