A disarray of paper bureaucracy, software bureaucracy, transcripts, and advice letters mendacity in a scattered heap is what the table of an bold scholar making use of for college looks as if. Formidable but nervous, the grasp of all the ones items of record friends over them scrutinising each phrase because it holds the capability to fulfil his goals.
“Questions like which college to use to and the place one holds probably the most probability of having via hang-out us. Whilst there are counsellors who may assist you to, they fee impossibly top charges to stroll us in the course of the procedure,” recollects Dirghayu Kaushik, the founding father of Ambitio.
Just about part a decade in the past, Dirghayu too discovered himself in a identical scenario. “I sought after to pursue a masters however didn’t know which school to choose between. The forms, the anxiousness of all of it used to be making me very stressful,” he stocks with The Higher India.
When he went out on the lookout for assist, all he discovered used to be an overpriced possibility. This resulted in the basis of Ambitio — India’s first AI admissions platform, to assist candidates protected admissions to most sensible world universities.
Dirghayu explains intimately how Ambitio makes use of AI to assist scholars protected admissions.
No longer his first check out at entrepreneurship
After finishing his commencement from IIT-BHU, Dirghayu Kaushik were given a role in a startup.
He recollects, “I were given employed as a founding member in a startup. For approximately two years, I spearheaded their whole product building, overseeing the introduction of each the tech and product groups from scratch. We began with only a four-member group, together with the founders, and expanded considerably all the way through my tenure.”
Whilst he used to be running on the startup, he used to be additionally on the lookout for faculties to additional his schooling.
“I finished my commencement and began to search for international universities to use for an MBA. The method used to be tedious and I realised that there used to be no platform to assist scholars,” he says.
He provides, “There are counsellors who assist scholars get into universities however they fee some huge cash which will not be inexpensive to everybody. Moreover, they may be able to assist you to with specific school admission and no longer with plenty of faculties,” he says.
Dirghayu sought after to create a platform that did it focused on scholars — school packages, non-public essays, and discovering the appropriate school for the scholars.
“I went to my school pals — Vikrant Shivalik and Vaibhav Tyagi — and informed them about my thought. They had been enthralled and we joined palms to create the platform,” he says.
The trio evolved the platform and introduced it in 2023. “We started by way of assembling a cohort of 25 scholars after which assisted them in securing placements at most sensible establishments. Previous to growing any product, we curious about refining their profiles.”
“We initiated this procedure by way of leveraging perception templates, air tables, and different native gear to create a small MVP (Minimal Viable Product). Via those approach, we meticulously analysed how lets support their probabilities of gaining admission to respected establishments,” he provides additional.
Amongst more than a few scholars who’ve availed in their services and products is Prakhar Kamal who were given into Warwick Trade Faculty. “I used to be already running with a counsellor sooner than I knew about Ambitio. My enjoy with the counsellor used to be no longer excellent and I misplaced motivation. Once I began to make use of Ambitio, I began to regain self belief in myself. I used to be ready to make use of their services and products to seek out the schools that swimsuit me after which make a choice the appropriate one,” he says.
Since its operation, the platform has helped over 175 scholars get into global universities comparable to Carnegie Mellon College, NYU, Imperial Faculty Dundon, UC Berkeley, and many others.
The use of AI to seek out the dream school
Ambitio started with a core problem we aimed to deal with: simplifying the admissions procedure for college students the use of AI.
“To reach this, we evolved a platform product designed to enhance scholars right through their whole admissions adventure. Our final goal is to ascertain a complete world AI admissions platform,” he says.
He provides, “Without reference to a scholar’s background or location, our intention is to offer equivalent alternatives and get admission to to the appropriate steerage, a privilege frequently reserved for the prosperous or the ones ready to come up with the money for pricey counsellors. We leverage state of the art generation, together with AI, to reach this purpose.”
Explaining how AI comes into play with the method, he says, “We make use of AI in two number one spaces. Originally, we utilise it to lend a hand scholars in figuring out probably the most appropriate program or college lately to be had available in the market. Whilst there are current filtration gear enabling scholars to filter out lessons they’re eligible for and think about them, we’ve taken an extra step ahead. We incorporate personal tastes into the equation.”
In different phrases, the AI strives to grasp and combine the person personal tastes of each and every scholar into the suggestions that it supplies.
“We accomplish this via our proprietary advice engine, which has been skilled on over 15 million acceptance and admit knowledge issues. Whilst it’s undoubtedly imaginable for college students to behavior this analysis themselves by way of visiting a lot of internet sites, studying more than a few articles, and compiling the ideas manually, our platform streamlines this procedure considerably,” he stocks.
By means of synthesising and analysing huge quantities of data, the platform can ship personalized suggestions temporarily and seamlessly, saving scholars treasured effort and time.
The next move the place AI is available in to assist the scholars is writing their non-public essays. “As soon as the scholars know what school they would like, your next step is to jot down a stellar essay. We skilled our type with 5,000 accredited essays from throughout universities.”
He explains, “We commence by way of making sure fundamental grammar and punctuation are right kind. Past those basics, we center of attention on supply and specificity. Supply relates to how successfully the essay is conveyed as a complete, whilst specificity refers to its relevance to the programme being carried out for and the person applicant’s profile.”
Call to mind it as a customized Grammarly instrument adapted in particular for varsity packages!
“The platform is most commonly loose for college students aside from for the segment the place they want efficient control in their essays and packages. This segment comes beneath a small paid subscription. Prior to this segment, the whole lot else from discovering the appropriate school to making use of for a scholarship comes beneath the loose subscription,” he informs.
The corporate has additionally just lately raised Rs 1.5 crore in a pre-seed spherical of investment from First Cheque and angel buyers from the USA and India.
As for the longer term plans, he says, “We wish to entail competitive expansion throughout the Indian marketplace. At the moment, we’re managing round 200 scholars on this consumption, and we intention to scale as much as 2,500 throughout the upcoming monetary 12 months. Moreover, we’re making plans to increase our services and products to incorporate undergraduate admissions as smartly. This strategic enlargement will let us cater to a broader vary of scholars and extra determine ourselves as a complete admissions platform.”
(Edited by way of Padmashree Pande; All photos credit score: Ambitio)