Frequently asked questions

An app for high-school students and parents to find U.S. colleges that fit, see what they cost, find scholarships, keep track of applications and deadlines, and ask Owl, an AI college counselor.

iPhone and iPad running iOS / iPadOS 18 or later.

No. There is no login. Your profile, college list, essays and scores are saved on your device.

Yes. Choose International student on the welcome screen. You'll see scholarships open to international students, and Owl can explain English tests, proof of funds and the F-1 visa steps.

On the Home tab, tap the person icon at the top right. Everything there is optional.

Yes. Tap Take the quiz on Home, or the person icon › Continue.

From the U.S. Department of Education: the College Scorecard, the IPEDS directory (official admissions and financial aid links) and Campus Safety (Clery Act) reports. CollegeWiseOwl is not affiliated with any college or government agency.

A quick guess at your chances, from each college's admit rate and your GPA. Reach: hard to get into. Target: a solid chance. Safety: very likely. It's an estimate, not a prediction — apply to a mix.

From federal data: graduates' earnings (50%), graduation rate (30%) and net price (20%), among schools of the same type. They are our own rankings, not U.S. News or any other published list.

What families actually pay per year after grants and scholarships, on average. Each college's Cost section also shows net price by family income.

On the Colleges tab, tap Any type and choose 4-year college, Community college (2-year) or Trade school.

Yes. Tap the major chip, type to find a major, and pick as many as you like. Colleges offering any of them are listed.

Not every college reports every number. Missing values show as “—”. Small schools and trade schools report the least.

Logos come from each college's website icon. When a sharp one isn't available, the app shows the college's initials.

It is the latest three years of on-campus crimes that colleges reported to the U.S. Department of Education under the Clery Act. Schools that encourage reporting can show higher numbers, so compare trends.

An AI college counselor. It looks up colleges, costs and majors in our database before answering, and uses your profile (GPA, budget, interests) to make answers fit you.

Yes. Tap the microphone in Ask Owl or in the Essay Coach brainstorm, speak, and pause when you're done. Allow the microphone and speech recognition the first time.

No. AI can make mistakes. Owl is a starting point — always confirm deadlines, costs and requirements with the college.

No. Colleges require your essay to be your own work. Owl helps you brainstorm, builds an outline from your own answers, and gives feedback on your draft. You do the writing.

Open the essay and tap the envelope icon. You can email it or share it to Notes, Messages or another app.

Free: 15 a month. Ad-free: 40. Premium: 150. Ask Owl questions and Essay Coach outlines and feedback each use one message. The count resets each month.

Well-known national scholarships plus main state aid programs. Choose your home state (or pick a state on the Scholarships tab) to see state programs. Amounts and deadlines change every year, so check each provider's website.

No. The app links you to StudentAid.gov, the Common App and each college's own pages. You apply there.

From StudentAid.gov. The app shows the federal deadline and your state's deadline. Colleges can have their own earlier priority dates.

It shows the typical dates (Early Action, Regular Decision, Decision Day) and links to each saved college's admissions page, where the exact dates are.

With Premium, go to Home › My Plan › Deadline reminders (or the Deadlines tab) and turn them on. You'll get a notification a week before and on the day. You can also add the CollegeWiseOwl widget to your Home Screen for a countdown.

For reference only. CollegeWiseOwl isn't paid by any lender. Use grants, scholarships, work-study and federal loans first.

Yes. College search, matched scholarships, full college details and rankings, comparison tools, My Plan, Deadlines & FAFSA, the interest quiz and 15 Ask Owl messages a month are free with ads. Ad-free ($1.99 per year) removes ads and includes 40 Owl messages a month. Premium ($4.99 per year) adds the Essay Coach, deadline push reminders and 150 Owl messages a month.

• Free: college search with all filters; scholarships matched to you; full college details and rankings; what-if admission chances and your family's price; My Plan (application tracker, compare colleges and aid offers, test score targets, visit map); the Deadlines & FAFSA guide; the interest quiz; 15 Ask Owl messages a month; ads.
• Ad-free ($1.99/year): everything in Free, with no ads and 40 Owl messages a month.
• Premium ($4.99/year): everything in Ad-free, plus the Essay Coach, deadline push reminders and 150 Owl messages a month.

Tap Unlock on any locked feature, or open the Ask Owl tab and tap the crown icon at the top left.

On your iPhone: Settings › your name › Subscriptions › CollegeWiseOwl › Cancel. Apple handles all billing and refunds.

It keeps renewing as before, and the new app treats you as Premium.

Open the plans screen and tap Restore Purchases. Make sure you're signed in with the Apple ID you bought with.

There is no account. Your profile, list, essays and scores stay on your phone. Searches and Owl questions are sent to our server to get answers and are not linked to your name; Owl questions are processed by Anthropic's Claude AI. Ads use Google AdMob. See the Privacy Policy.

No recording is saved. Apple's speech recognition turns your voice into text, and only the text is sent as your question.

Delete the app to remove everything stored on your phone. We don't keep a profile of you on our server.

Use the contact form or email support@beeitech.com. Tell us the college name and what looks wrong.