yhteishaku.app

A helpful tool for people applying the Finnish higher-education joint application for Universities. A site where you can view previous applicant amounts, required points and compare programs.

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Inspiration

As a 22-year-old searching for the right higher-education programme, I found it frustrating to navigate multiple pages and complex reports just to find admission score requirements and applicant numbers. I decided to solve the problem by creating a centralized site with the key information applicants need about Finland’s higher-education joint application.

What it does

The service helps prospective higher-education applicants explore programmes available through the joint application. Users can review previous admission score requirements, applicant numbers, and application pressure, compare programmes, and save options they are interested in.

Features

View applicant numbers by programme and institution Compare two programmes Review admission score requirements from previous years Browse programmes available in the current or upcoming joint application Save and revisit programmes of interest

How we built it

I started by defining the core features required for the MVP and used AI tools to scaffold the project. The frontend was built with React, TypeScript, Chakra UI, and Vike for static pre-rendering. I used Go to clean and transform third-party data into a frontend-compatible format.

Challenges we ran into

No API was available for retrieving the required admission scores for joint-application programmes. However, the official Finnish EDUFI statistics service, Vipunen, provided the data through a pivot report. I used Codex to convert and format the data into CSV and then JSON for use in the frontend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I’m proud to have launched the site for public use and received positive feedback that it was convenient and easy to use. Several upper-secondary school staff members also said it was a helpful tool and that they plan to use it when supporting students with the higher education joint application.

What we learned

I learned the importance of shipping early and seeing how people respond. Real user feedback provides both inspiration and motivation to keep improving the project. I also learned that AI can significantly accelerate the development workflow.

What's next for yhteishaku.app

I plan to keep developing the project based on my own vision and user feedback. The goal is to help people who are unsure about what or where to study discover the programme that best fits their interests and goals.

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