After Julia Dixon Graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014, his family and friends asked for his help in the college candidacy process. Dixon was happy to share his recently deserved expertise on the world of higher education, but quickly realized the number of parents and students in his community needed help and how difficult it was to access this support.
According to the American School Counsersor Association, the ratio of university advisers to students in the United States is one for 376 students. Many students do not have appropriate access to a university advisor to help them with admissions or choose schools and areas of study to suit them best. The hiring of a private university advisor is an option, but it can cost thousands of dollars.
In 2023, Dixon founded Esai, a platform powered by artificial intelligence designed to help students in the college admission process. She also publishes videos on Tiktok on university planning and explains how IA tools can support children who do not know what their career options are. Access to the AI platform begins at around $ 21 per month, much less than private advice.
The right adjustment
Esai uses a matching algorithm, says Dixon, to help students understand all the factors that go to the selection of a school.
First of all, Esai directs the students to a “major mentor” and then to the school contribution. These tools assess things like the future objectives of students, their sociability, the size of the class in which they thrive and if they want to live near the campus. The results are highly personalized.
“Many children come to see us when they apply more actively at school,” says Dixon. They can know where they want to apply and just need help to write their intake tests or strengthen their applications. “Our support and quantification calculator of university tests helps children quantify the impact of the activities they have already carried out,” she says. For example, if a student spends a lot of time keeping younger brothers and sisters, the software can help them quantify this time as a strengthening of leadership skills and so that it can put it on their application as a learned skill.
Pass wisely
Although the search for good school and the major is in the lead for most families, the same goes for the cost of higher education. “A huge piece is the financial side,” says Dixon. “How do we weigh options for tuition fees in the state and outside the state?” How can you consider scholarships that can complement you? ” The ESAI scholarship tool corresponds to the pastime and the interests of a student as well as to his demography and his financial situation to combine them with the best scholarship options. For example, there are scholarships available for first generation American students or for women who are interested in STEMs: science, technology, engineering and mathematical programs.
Jon Carson launched the Guidance Network college, a consulting platform fed by the AI when his son was a second year student at high school. At the time, Carson could not obtain an appointment with the school advisor, and there were few resources specifically for parents.
The conversations that families have about university – to which they can afford – generally occur after hours, says Carson. “We are talking to our children at night, on weekends and during the holidays, because during the day, they are in history and we are at work. Well, the advisers are outside the building at night, on weekends and during the holidays. It is an unfortunate gap. “
