Helping families plan for college since 2018
Knowing where your student wants to go
is only the beginning.
CollegeHound helps them get the application done, and do it well. The free workspace keeps colleges, essays, recommendations, testing, scholarships, and deadlines in one place your whole family can see, instead of Google Docs, email threads, and group texts. Scout looks at your student and says what deserves attention next. CollegeHound is free.
Start with your email, your student's grade, and their high school. Add the rest as you go.
Add CollegeHound Plus for unlimited Scout — $15/mo
Free CollegeHound — no credit card. Plus adds unlimited Scout at $15/mo. Grades 9–12.
Watch Scout answer
Not a generic checklist. Next steps for this student.
Jordan is a sample senior: six colleges, three of them Early Action, a 3.7 GPA, a 1230 SAT with an October retake booked, marching band, a part-time job, and three teachers lined up for recommendations. Nothing submitted yet. A parent asked the question every senior family asks in September, and Scout found the deadline, the recommenders, and the next priority.
Scout
Parent
Scout
1. Lock down the college list and know the earliest deadline. You have six schools tracked. If Jordan is applying Early Action to UNC Chapel Hill, that October 15 deadline is 43 days out and drives everything else.
2. Ask recommenders formally, this week. Jordan has three contacts in the binder. If the formal ask hasn't happened yet, do it now. Teachers get flooded with requests by late September, and an early ask means a better letter with more time for revision.
3. Start the Common App personal essay. Most of your schools use it. Jordan should pick a prompt and get a rough draft down in September.
That's the September sprint. Does this match what Jordan is already working on?
Scout knew this because the student's information was already in CollegeHound.
Real Scout response, edited for length and privacy. Jordan is a sample student. Scout's answer changes when the student does.
Scout supports the work your student and advisor are already doing. It helps them plan and brainstorm; it does not write the essay for them.
Free CollegeHound includes limited Scout. No credit card.
“One place instead of twenty Google Docs.”
Stuti · Senior
Free forever
Free CollegeHound. Everything in one place.
You know that moment where your student says "I already sent you that" and you are staring at 47 unread emails? CollegeHound fixes that. One shared workspace where your family keeps test scores, college lists, essays, scholarships, activities, and deadlines. All of it. Updated by either of you. Visible to both of you.
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GPA, classes, activities, and awards
captured once and used everywhere. No more reconstructing from memory in October of senior year.
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College list with deadlines.
Not a wishful spreadsheet. A working list your family actually maintains together.
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Standardized testing.
SAT, ACT, AP exams. Registration dates, scores, score sends. All tracked in one place instead of buried in email confirmations from College Board.
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College visits and prep.
Keep notes from tours, track which schools you have visited, and plan the ones still on the list. No more "wait, did we already visit that one?"
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Contacts and recommendations.
Counselors, teachers, coaches. Track who is writing what, who you need to follow up with, and what has been submitted.
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Your own To-Do list.
Add tasks, check them off, keep track of what still needs to happen. Simple, shared, and always visible.
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Parent and student views.
You see what matters to you. Your student sees what matters to them. Same data. No more "did you update the spreadsheet?"
CollegeHound's planning workspace is free forever. Every family also gets limited Scout access. Plus unlocks unlimited Scout.
CollegeHound Plus
Scout tells you what to do with it.
CollegeHound organizes everything. But organization without direction is just a really tidy pile of stress. Scout is the AI advisor inside CollegeHound that actually reads your student's profile and gives guidance based on their GPA, their test scores, their activities. Not a generic student. Yours.
Personalized college fit
Scout looks at your student's actual profile and tells you which schools are reaches, targets, and safeties. With reasoning, not just labels.
College research that goes deep
Campus feel, dorms, food, activities, social scene, jobs after graduation. One student gave Scout a 6 out of 5 for campus descriptions. Not a typo.
"What should we do next?"
Scout looks at where your student is in the process and tells you what to focus on this week. Not a generic checklist. Actual next steps for your family.
Essay help that isn't cheating
Scout helps your student find their story and brainstorm angles. It does not write the essay for them. That is actually the point.
“I thought the AI would give generic answers, but it actually read my exact stats. It noticed the gap between my unweighted and weighted GPA and told me how to use my specific extracurriculars.”
Stuti · senior
A student put Scout to the test
A CollegeHound student intern tested Scout against ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot across 16 college planning questions.
Scout came out ahead, and the biggest gap was personalization. Scout was the only AI that used the student's actual GPA, test scores, and activities to answer. The others gave generic advice.
On handling dream school rejection: Scout was “extremely supportive and even said my stats were good to get into it.” ChatGPT? “Not as emotional. More like 'it happens.'”
Scout is $15/mo or $150/yr.
Start planning with Scout — $15/mo or $150/yr
What students are saying about Scout
“Before CollegeHound, I felt very lost on how to prepare. Now I am going to have a less stressful senior year.”
Senior
“Absolutely pivotal. Never seen another website that gives so much information.”
Senior
“The college application process is like uncharted territory for many families, and every experience is individual. Scout addresses your specific concerns and tells you what to expect.”
Senior
Sound familiar?
If your college planning looks like this, you are not doing anything wrong. This is just what it looks like without a system.
Right now
- Test scores in an email somewhere
- A college list that has not been updated since March
- Essay drafts scattered across three Google Docs
- No idea if the college list is actually balanced
With CollegeHound
- One shared workspace. Both of you can see it.
- Everything updated in real time.
- An AI that knows your student's actual stats.
- Nothing falls through the cracks.
What educators are saying
We did not just build this for ourselves.
“This is an incredible tool. It finally gives structure to everything students do before applying to college.”
Christina Winter
Educator & Parent · Lead in Literacy / Sure Start Reading
“The college journey can feel overwhelming for kids with learning challenges but CollegeHound makes it manageable.”
“Knowing where to start is often a roadblock for students with ASD, ADHD and executive function challenges. CollegeHound lessens that burden by providing a clear framework that starts as early as 9th grade, building crucial skills like planning, time management, working memory and organization over several years.
This long-term approach helps students stay on track and reach deadlines with reduced stress. Its personal assistant, Scout, is a standout feature that sets realistic goals, identifies gaps in applications, and uses AI to match individualized interests to schools that are the right fit for specific learning needs.
As an executive function coach who works with kids with learning differences, I would highly recommend this platform. It helps break down large tasks into smaller steps, improves the quality of applications, reduces overwhelm, and empowers students to take ownership and accountability during the college journey.”
Lindsay Strobl, MA, LSC
Executive Function Coach · Functioning Success
We are parents. Ask us how we know.
We are Shelley and Ed. Between our kids, we have been through six application cycles across 24 years. We built CollegeHound because we needed it ourselves and it did not exist. We founded the company in 2018 and we are still here, still building, still figuring out senior year right alongside you.
Private by design
CollegeHound does not require your student’s last name and does not ask for birthdates or Social Security numbers. The profile stores a last initial.
Current, not stale
Scout's research refreshes weekly. Not once, years ago, when a model was trained.
Real families use this
Families across 24 states. No VC money, no boardroom, no investors telling us what to build. Just parents building for parents.
Questions we get a lot.
My kid will not use it. Why should I bother?
That is actually the most common reason parents sign up. You do not need your student's permission to start organizing. Most parents of 9th and 10th graders use CollegeHound to capture grades, activities, and awards as they happen. When senior year hits and applications start asking for everything, it is already there. Your student can join when they are ready. Or not. CollegeHound works either way.
We already have a counselor. Do we need this?
Your counselor probably has 400 other students. CollegeHound does not replace your counselor. It fills the gaps between meetings so you show up prepared, your student's info is organized, and nobody forgets what was discussed last time. It actually makes your counselor meetings better.
Is the AI going to write my kid's essays?
No. And that is on purpose. Scout helps your student find their story, brainstorm angles, and figure out what makes their experience worth writing about. It does not write the essay. Admissions officers can spot AI-written essays, and more importantly, the essay is supposed to be your student's voice. Scout helps them find it.
Think you already have this covered?
Knowing where your student wants to go is only the beginning. CollegeHound helps them get the application done, and do it well.
"She already knows where she wants to go."
Great. Choosing the colleges is the beginning. CollegeHound helps her manage everything required to submit her strongest applications.
"We have a spreadsheet."
A spreadsheet stores what you remember to enter. CollegeHound helps identify what is missing, what is due, and what deserves attention next.
"We hired a college advisor."
Keep them. CollegeHound helps your family execute the plan between meetings and arrive prepared for the next one.
"We'll figure it out ourselves."
You can. CollegeHound means you do not have to reconstruct the entire process while your student is also managing classes, activities, testing, and senior year.
What it costs and why.
CollegeHound Plus
CollegeHound Plus Monthly: $15/mo · CollegeHound Plus Annual: $150/yr
Free CollegeHound
Free
Free forever. No credit card.
- GPA, classes, activities, awards
- College list with deadlines
- SAT, ACT, AP tracking
- College visit notes
- Contacts and recommendations
- To-Do list
- Limited Scout access
- Parent and student views
CollegeHound Plus Monthly
$15/mo
Cancel anytime.
- Everything in free CollegeHound, plus:
- Unlimited Scout
- Personalized college fit scoring
- Deep college research
- "What should we do next?"
- Essay brainstorming
- Less stress, more clarity
CollegeHound Plus Annual
$150/yr
Billed annually.
- Everything in CollegeHound Plus Monthly
- Same features, better price
- Best value for junior year through decision day
Here is why we charge for Scout instead of making it free and selling ads or taking referral fees from colleges: because the moment we take money from a school, Scout stops working for your family.
We do not sell student personal information or use your student’s profile or Binder contents for advertising. No college pays to be recommended.
CollegeHound Plus
CollegeHound is free. Add Scout for $15/mo.
CollegeHound is free. Unlock unlimited Scout with Plus for $15/mo. Cancel anytime.
“College applications are not as scary as they seem. They just need organization and proper planning.” — Rohan, Senior
Create a free account — no credit cardFree CollegeHound — no credit card. Plus adds unlimited Scout at $15/mo or $150/yr. Grades 9-12.