A student intern's own college search
Planning for 11 colleges gets complicated.
CollegeHound helped me organize it.
I'm Leo, a rising senior and CollegeHound intern.
I used the product for my own college search, adding my classes, activities, test scores, preferences, and college list so I could see what to work on next.
CollegeHound is free. Scout is an optional paid upgrade.
Meet Leo
CollegeHound student intern
Rising senior
I spent the summer using CollegeHound for my own college search while preparing to apply to eleven schools. I tested it, found where it broke, reported what went wrong, and built this page to show students what the experience was actually like.
AT A GLANCE
- My college search
- Eleven colleges I was actively researching and preparing to apply to
- Product findings
- Reported bugs, proposed product improvements, and produced findings that led to fixes and shipped changes
- The test nobody assigned me
- I compared Scout with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot across 16 questions a real student would ask
- What that test showed
- Scout gave the strongest answer on 9 of 16 questions, and I documented where the other tools did better, too
- How I learned to report bugs
- What I did, what I expected, and what happened instead
- Work that went further
- My independent AI comparison helped shape a published CollegeHound blog post
I'm not describing a product I read about. I'm describing one I used for my own list.
This page was created by Leo and reflects his experience and perspective as a CollegeHound student intern. Along the way he built skills in structured testing, product analysis, research, and web design.
How I actually used CollegeHound
Three things I did, in the order I did them.
I built my Binder
I added my:
- Classes and grades
- Activities
- Test scores
- Achievements
- College preferences
I organized 11 colleges
I could keep my schools together and see which ones needed more research, instead of tracking them across notes, tabs, and screenshots.
Eleven is a lot to hold in your head at once.
I asked Scout specific questions
Because Scout could use information from my Binder, I did not have to explain my entire situation every time I asked something.
Scout is the optional paid upgrade. CollegeHound is free.
One question gave me a useful starting point
This is the kind of question I asked once my Binder had real information in it.
WHAT I ASKED
“Can you help me evaluate and balance my college list?”
I did not paste in my grades or my list. Scout already had what I had saved.
WHAT SCOUT CAME BACK WITH
Here's what I looked at:
- Reviewed the colleges already saved in your Binder.
- Considered your grades, test scores, and the preferences you'd saved.
- Pointed out that your list leaned heavily toward reach schools.
- Suggested questions to research so the list would be more balanced.
Scout gives guidance, not an admission guarantee. College categories can change as student information and college data change.
How I thought about balancing my list
Once I had 11 schools saved, the useful question stopped being “where do I want to go” and became “is this list balanced.”
Likely option
My academic profile appears strong relative to the college's commonly reported ranges, but admission is never guaranteed.
Possible match
My profile appears reasonably aligned with the school's ranges, although many other factors still matter.
Reach
Admission may be especially competitive based on selectivity, program, or how my profile compares with reported ranges.
These are planning labels, not predictions. CollegeHound does not guarantee admission.
Was Scout actually better than the free AI tools?
Nobody assigned me this. I wanted to know whether Scout was actually better than what I could already get for free, so I asked Scout, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot the same 16 questions a real student would ask, using my own college list, and scored every answer.
MY SCORES, OUT OF 240
Scout came first on 9 of the 16 questions. It also lost some. It was weakest on scholarships, it got a dorm detail wrong that I had to correct, and it was slower than the others. I reported all of that too.
What changed for me as a student
“I think that CollegeHound is a wonderful tool that really has lowered my stress about the college application process.”
The biggest change was knowing what to research next, instead of guessing.
For parents: Families can participate too, while students still have their own space and information controls.
Private by design
CollegeHound limits the personally identifying information students need to provide and gives families control over what they save.
Not sold or shared with advertisers
CollegeHound does not sell student information or allow advertisers to use it.
You control what is saved
Scout can use only the information you choose to add to your Binder.
Less personal information required
You can get started without providing a full legal name, birthdate, or Social Security number.
Privacy settings and access may vary by account role and feature.
Start free. Add Scout when you want more help.
CollegeHound is free. Scout is the optional paid AI upgrade.
Your list doesn't have to live in fifteen browser tabs.
Start the way I did. Put what you already know in one place, then figure out what's next.
Start with Free CollegeHoundCollegeHound is free. Add Scout whenever you're ready.
Designed by Leo