iSchoolConnect: Modernizing higher education admissions with AI
About iSchoolConnect
iSchoolConnect provides an AI-powered platform that helps students navigate the often complicated and time-consuming higher education admissions process, while alleviating strain on college and university admissions offices.
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Contact usiSchoolConnect uses Google Cloud to power its AI-driven platform for more efficient and faster higher education admissions processes.
Google Cloud results
- Supports user growth from thousands to millions with serverless scaling
- Manage advisors and engage students better, reducing the cost by 15%
- Reduces time to complete an admissions process from 200 hours to 15 hours
Enables cost-effective development of AI models
The process of applying to colleges and universities can be as difficult for schools as it is for students. Given the huge volume of applications, complex requirements, and the speed with which schools need to make decisions, admissions offices increasingly view modern technologies as answers to long-standing challenges.
“We were offered credits from Google Cloud, which gave us the resources to train our ML models. It was a big boost at the start of our business. Based on those very positive early experiences, we chose to migrate all our services onto Google Cloud.”
—Vinay Naik, Chief Technology Architect, iSchoolConnectiSchoolConnect was founded with the goal of connecting students with admissions offices and demystifying the entire process through artificial intelligence.
“From my own experiences applying for an MBA program, I knew that there had to be a better way to navigate this process,” says Ashish Fernando, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iSchoolConnect. “We launched iSchoolConnect to automate admissions processes through cloud technologies that could scale to any university’s needs.”
With a goal of bringing the average time spent on applications from 200 hours to 15 hours, the iSchoolConnect team knew they needed to combine advanced AI and machine learning with powerful infrastructure solutions. The approach: Build the underlying environment with Google Cloud and partner with Google for Education to help student aspirants submit applications with convenience and admissions offices process applications faster.
“Google Cloud enables us to go to market faster with new features, services, and offerings. This is critical given the intense competition in EdTech.”
—Ashish Fernando, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, iSchoolConnectFaster time to production and market with Google Cloud AI
Shortly after its launch in 2017, iSchoolConnect was testing and experimenting to optimize its machine learning models. Like many startups, the expenses of iSchoolConnect at this stage were restrictive and difficult to overcome.
“We were offered credits from Google Cloud, which gave us the resources to train our ML [Machine learning] models,” says Vinay Naik, Chief Technology Architect at iSchoolConnect. “It was a big boost at the start of our business. Based on those very positive early experiences, we chose to migrate all our services onto Google Cloud.”
iSchoolConnect hosts its entire production environment on Compute Engine and its database on Cloud SQL. Google Cloud Armor provides important security controls to maintain compliance with regulations covering student information, while frontend deployments are handled through Firebase. iSchoolConnect also uses Cloud Functions and other native Google Cloud solutions to maintain uptime and manage scale.
By having everything on Google Cloud, iSchoolConnect’s platform and ML teams saved time and money by building their first prototype in 18 months.
“Google Cloud enables us to go to market faster with new features, services, and offerings. This is critical given the intense competition in EdTech,” says Ashish. “With so much of higher education moving into digital environments, demand for platforms like ours is skyrocketing. The agility within our development and release practices is an important differentiator.”
Scaling from 10,000 users to millions
With its platform up and running, iSchoolConnect quickly worked to increase adoption among admissions offices. Between 2018 and 2020, the company scaled from roughly 10,000 users to millions of users, quickly reducing the strain of dealing with higher education applications for both students and schools.
“I’ve spent a lot of time working in admissions at universities and with businesses offering solutions, which helped us to develop a wish list of capabilities that inform iSchoolConnect innovations,” says Angel Ahmed, Strategic Advisor at iSchoolConnect. “We are all former students as well, so we built this platform to make everyone’s lives easier—both students and admissions professionals.”
With its strong user base of students and schools, iSchoolConnect continues to make purpose-driven improvements to its platform. “About 80 percent of our new features are direct products of customer feedback, while the other 20 percent are to show users what we can do with AI and ML,” says Ashish.
Schools that have adopted iSchoolConnect also see its value outside of the admissions office, including among counselors who help students find the right program. iSchoolConnect drives down costs and time throughout the search for the right school and program.
“A defining moment for me in our relationship with the Google Cloud team was the belief and support that they demonstrated in our company and technology, long before we had such a large user base.”
—Ashish Fernando, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, iSchoolConnectA partnership grounded in elevating learning for everyone
iSchoolConnect has since become a Google Cloud Build partner through the Partner Advantage program, while continuing to use Google Cloud solutions to further expand its platform.
“A defining moment for me in our relationship with the Google Cloud team was the belief and support that they demonstrated in our company and technology, long before we had such a large user base,” says Ashish. “And even more than that, Google continues to prove its commitment to learning, deploying tens of millions of Chromebooks and building student success platforms without concerns about costs. This alignment with our own core philosophies makes a huge difference.”
As its solutions evolve, iSchoolConnect is working to further unify admissions, graduation, and career success for students. The company plans to release new AI-powered features and capabilities that will help recent graduates thrive in the workforce and find perfect jobs.
iSchoolConnect was born out of the need for unbiased fair information related to admissions and enrollment. Today, the company uses AI to actually help reduce the human bias, which is sometimes counterintuitive for users. When building a thoroughly researched AI application, the benefits quickly become clear.
iSchoolConnect’s AI can simultaneously match 400,000 higher-ed programs in a matter of seconds, a tough challenge for humans otherwise. Building in a human-in-the-loop construct also ensures the presence of human experts in the conversation and creates a variety of meaningful jobs.
“Working with Google Cloud has helped us immensely in this regard, since there is a mutual urge on both sides to build ethical, unbiased AI that complements educators and students globally,” says Ashish. “There’s so much we can do with AI to improve prospects for today’s students. It’s exciting to be a part of something that will have powerful impacts on the workforce of tomorrow,” says Ashish.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About iSchoolConnect
iSchoolConnect provides an AI-powered platform that helps students navigate the often complicated and time-consuming higher education admissions process, while alleviating strain on college and university admissions offices.