Questions, answered

Everything about how The Application works — free and paid, AI runs, seasons, and your data. Can't find it? We're easy to reach at support@theapplication.app.

33 questions shown

Getting started

What is The Application, and who is it for?

One calm place to run your college applications — schools, deadlines, essays, requirements, and (for grad applicants) the advisors you're hoping to work with. It's built for PhD, master's, and undergrad applicants, by someone who was mid-PhD-application herself and needed it to exist.

Do I need to pay to try it? What can I do for free?

No card, no trial clock. Free accounts track up to 2 schools with everything — deadlines, essays, requirements, advisors, and reminder emails — plus 1 AI run per season to try on any school. When you outgrow 2 schools, the Season Pass is there.

How is this different from a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet doesn't email you before a deadline, read a program's website and pull out its requirements, or keep your essays next to the prompts they answer. We love a good spreadsheet — this just does more of the work for you, and it never breaks a formula at midnight.

AI features & runs

What do the AI features actually do?

There are four. Program Import reads a program's website from a URL you paste and pulls out deadlines, requirements, and essay prompts. Advisor Match (for grad applicants) scores your potential advisors and searches the program's faculty against your sentence of purpose. Admissions Fit and Athletic Fit (for undergrad applicants) compare your numbers and your sport against a school's published data — a rough signal, not a prediction.

What's an “AI run”? What counts as one?

Each use of an AI feature on one school is one run — importing a program's details, or matching advisors for one school.

How many free AI runs do I get, and do they reset?

Free accounts get 1 AI run per season, usable on any school you track. It resets when a new season starts on June 1.

Why can't I run AI on unlimited schools for free?

Honestly: every run costs us real money — the AI reads real websites and does real work. One free run lets you see whether that work is useful to you; the Season Pass covers a full application list. That trade is what keeps the free tier free.

Why do the AI buttons say free runs are paused?

Very occasionally the free tier hits its shared daily limit and free runs pause until tomorrow. Your own free run isn't touched — it'll still be there. Try again after midnight UTC, or the Season Pass never waits in that line.

What happens when a run fails — do I lose a run?

No. If a run fails, it doesn't count — not against your free run, your included runs, or your credits. You're only ever charged for runs that finish. A failed run also never locks your school's details.

Is the AI always right?

No — treat it like a very fast research assistant, not the final word. Every AI result is shown to you for review before anything is saved to your application, and deadlines deserve a double-check on the program's own site. It's your application; the AI just does legwork.

Credits & packages

What are AI credits, and how are they different from my included runs?

The Season Pass includes 10 AI runs, usable on any school in any mix. Credits are runs beyond those: 5 for $10.

When would I need to buy credits?

When you've used your 10 included runs and want more. Credit packs are 5 runs for $10 and are available to Season Pass holders.

Do credits expire? Do they roll over to next season?

Purchased credits roll over into your next season if you renew the Season Pass. Season Pass credits expire at season end. Purchased credits are spent last, so you never lose paid credits to expiry while Season Pass credits remain.

If I upgrade partway through my free runs, what happens to the ones I didn't use?

They're not lost — any free run you haven't used converts to a credit when you upgrade. It converts as a Season Pass credit, so it's spent first and expires at season end.

Can I use credits on any school?

Yes — any school you track, any time.

Seasons & terms

What is an “application season”, and when does it start and end?

A season runs June 1 to May 31 — the natural rhythm of an application cycle. One Season Pass payment covers the season you buy it in. No subscription, no auto-renewal.

Why does my application term lock after I run AI?

On the free tier: the AI's work — deadlines, requirements, prompts — is anchored to the term you're applying for, so changing the term after a run would quietly make those results wrong. It locks for the season once a run succeeds, and unlocks automatically on June 1. Season Pass holders can edit the term any time between runs — it only locks while a run is actively in progress on that school — and you'll see a confirmation first if the school already has AI-imported deadlines, essays, or requirements, since repointing the term can leave that data out of sync.

What resets when a new season starts?

On June 1: included runs reset, Season Pass credits expire, and purchased credits roll over if you renew. Your schools, essays, requirements, and history don't go anywhere — nothing is ever deleted at season end.

I'm planning ahead for a future term — can I still buy in now?

Yes. Seasons are about when you're doing the work, not which term you're applying to — you can track schools and run AI for any future term during the current season. If your work stretches across two seasons, each season needs its own pass.

Billing & refunds

How much does it cost? What's included in a Season Pass?

Free to start. The Season Pass is $99 for a full season — unlimited schools and 10 included AI runs. Extra credits are 5 runs for $10. That's the whole price list.

Are purchases refundable?

No — all purchases are final. The Season Pass and credit packs are non-refundable, in full or in part, once purchased. We say this plainly before every purchase, and it's part of why the free tier exists: start free, upgrade when you're sure.

Will I be charged automatically? Does it auto-renew?

Never. One payment, one season, done. If you want another season next year, that's a decision you make then — we don't keep your card on a subscription.

What payment methods do you accept?

Payments run through Stripe Checkout: major cards, plus whatever wallets Stripe offers on your device (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and friends).

Schools & data

Why can't I edit a school's name or program info after running AI on it?

On the free tier: once a run succeeds, the fields that define which program this is — name, degree, department, program URL, term, and so on — lock for the season, so renaming a school can't quietly reuse your one free run on a different program. Status, deadlines, essays, requirements, and notes always stay editable, and the lock lifts on June 1. Season Pass holders can edit those fields any time between runs — they only lock while a run is actively in progress on that school — and you'll see a confirmation first if the school already has AI-imported data, since repointing it can leave that data out of sync.

What happens to my data if I delete a school?

The school and everything attached to it — deadlines, essays, requirements, advisors — is deleted. Any AI runs you already used on it stay used for the season: a run is spent capacity.

What happens if I delete my account?

You get a 30-day grace period: sign back in any time within 30 days and everything is restored, including any remaining Season Pass. After 30 days, your account and all its data — schools, essays, uploaded files — are permanently deleted and can't be recovered, and remaining paid time isn't refunded.

Can I export my data?

There's no export button yet. Email support@theapplication.app and ask — a copy of your data is part of your privacy rights, and we'll respond within 45 days as our Privacy Policy promises.

Privacy & security

Who can see my applications and essays?

Only you. Access is enforced in the database itself — every table is scoped to its owner, so your schools, essays, and files are private to your account. We don't share your application data with schools, and we don't sell your data.

How is my data stored and protected?

Your data lives in Supabase (database, sign-in, and file storage) behind row-level security, hosted on infrastructure we name openly in our Privacy Policy. The short version: owner-only access rules at the database layer, and no analytics cookies beyond the two we disclose.

Do you share my info with schools or third parties?

Never with schools. We use a small set of providers to run the product — Supabase, Vercel, Google sign-in, Resend, Kit, Stripe, and Anthropic for AI (which doesn't use our API data to train its models) — each named in our Privacy Policy. We do not sell your data.

Account & support

How do I sign in? Can I change my email?

Sign-in is with your Google account — no password to invent, forget, or reuse. Your account email is your Google email, and changing it in-app isn't currently possible.

The site is blocked on my school or work computer — why?

Some school and workplace networks run web filters that block newly registered domains by default, and ours is still new to them. Try a personal device or network, or ask your IT folks to allow theapplication.app — we're a college application tracker, we promise.

How do I get help or contact support?

Email support@theapplication.app and tell us what's going on. Free accounts hear back within 2 business days; Season Pass holders get priority — within 1 business day.