Halo is an AI-powered college application workspace that helps students write, organize, and improve their essays with feedback calibrated to each school's actual admissions standards. The platform scores drafts on a 100-point scale using data from thousands of admitted essays and admissions officers, then provides written explanations and prioritized fixes. Students can manage essays, research schools, and track deadlines in one place, with a free tier and premium plans starting at $100 per month.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
High school students applying to college often rely on fragmented tools like Google Docs for writing and ChatGPT for generic feedback, which are not calibrated to what admissions officers actually evaluate. Without access to real admissions data or school-specific rubrics, students struggle to know how their essays compare to the actual bar at their target schools, leaving them at a disadvantage—especially those without professional counselors.
Solution
Halo is an AI-powered college application workspace that centralizes the entire application process in one platform. It analyzes essay drafts against a 100-point scale calibrated to thousands of admitted essays and input from hundreds of admissions officers, scoring students on every dimension of a school's rubric with a written reason for each score and the highest-impact fix prioritized first. The platform also offers brainstorming tools, essay organization, school research, and deadline tracking, while AI coaching provides feedback without ghostwriting, ensuring students produce authentic work. Halo's story profile feature lets students record or type audio answers during onboarding to build a personalized coaching profile that tailors guidance throughout the application cycle.
Target Audience
Primary users are high school students preparing for college admissions, along with their parents or guardians who may create accounts to monitor progress, with support for students as young as 13 and required parental consent for minors under 18.
Features
- AI essay scoring on a 100-point scale calibrated to real admissions data from thousands of admitted students and hundreds of admissions officers, with written reasons for each score dimension
- School-specific rubric alignment that evaluates drafts against the actual bar at each target institution
- Prioritized feedback that identifies the highest-impact fix first to guide revision efforts
- Brainstorming tools, essay writing and organization, school research, and deadline tracking in a single workspace
- Story profile feature that uses voice recordings or typed answers to build a personalized coaching context
- AI analysis powered by Anthropic for essay evaluation and coaching without ghostwriting, preserving academic integrity