findYourUni

Inspiration For many international students, applying to universities abroad is confusing, stressful, and expensive. There’s no single clear path. Students often rely on third-party agents just to figure out where to apply and how to apply. These agents charge hundreds of dollars in commissions from students. At the same time, universities also pay those same agents for bringing in applicants. It creates a system where students are paying for access to opportunities that should already be open to them. We wanted to change that. The idea behind FindYourUni came from a simple question: Why should students have to pay someone just to apply to their future? What it does FindYourUni is an AI-powered platform that helps international students discover universities, understand requirements, and complete applications without needing a middleman. Instead of going through an agent, students can: Get personalized university recommendations Understand admission criteria instantly Navigate the application process step by step Access everything in one place, for free The goal is to make global education more accessible, transparent, and fair. How we built it We built FindYourUni using a combination of modern web technologies and AI tools. Frontend for a simple, student-friendly interface Backend to manage user data and application workflows AI models to generate personalized recommendations and guidance APIs to structure university data and requirements We focused heavily on keeping the experience clean and intuitive, since many users may already feel overwhelmed by the process. Challenges we ran into One of the biggest challenges was simplifying a very complex system. Every country, university, and program has different requirements, deadlines, and processes. Another challenge was making the AI responses accurate and genuinely helpful. It’s easy to generate answers, but much harder to make them reliable enough for something as important as education decisions. We also had to balance speed with usability during the hackathon. Building something powerful is one thing, but making it easy to use in a short time frame was a real challenge. What we learned We learned how broken and fragmented the international application process really is. More importantly, we saw how much impact a simple, transparent tool can have. We also improved our skills in: Building user-focused products under time pressure Integrating AI into real-world workflows Designing for clarity instead of complexity What's next We want to expand FindYourUni by: Adding more universities and countries Improving AI accuracy and personalization Supporting direct application submissions through the platform Partnering with institutions to remove dependency on agents entirely Our long-term vision is simple: a world where any student can apply anywhere without barriers, confusion, or unnecessary costs. Built With JavaScript React Node.js OpenAI API REST APIs

Built With

• javascript
• next
• node.js
• python