Your All-in-One University Application Companion
Pineapple Pathways empowers students to navigate the complex world of university applications with confidence. From personalized scholarship matching to AI-powered essay feedback, we're here to help you achieve your academic dreams while securing the financial support you need.
Being surrounded by many high school and university students, along with two of ourselves applying to universities, we wanted to create an all-in-one tool to help students navigate the complex world of university applications. We recalled how over $20 million worth of scholarship money goes unclaimed in Canada each year, and given many struggle with the weight of tuition, one of our key functionalities is a scholarship database ensuring that students can get all the financial support they deserve.
Applying to university is not an easy task—quite the opposite. With so many resources spread out sparsely, we wanted to create a one-stop platform to empower students on their journey toward the future.
Pineapple Pathways offers:
- Personalized scholarship matching tailored to your profile and aspirations
- AI-powered essay feedback to help you craft compelling application materials
- Tuition calculator to plan your budget and financial future
- Stats predictor to assess your chances of admission at different programs
- Step-by-step application guidance to make the process smoother
Whether you're aiming for top universities or seeking financial aid, Pineapple Pathways is here to make your journey smoother, helping you achieve your academic dreams with confidence.
- Access to 500+ scholarships specifically curated for Canadian students
- Powered by Cohere Rerank API for intelligent matching
- Find scholarships relevant to your aspirations, characteristics, and qualifications
- Ensure you claim all the financial aid you're eligible for
- AI-powered feedback on short answers and essays
- Trained custom ChatGPT model for detailed improvement tips
- Communicate yourself in the best way possible on your applications
- Calculate your chances of admission at different programs
- Comprehensive university statistics database
- Make informed decisions about where to apply
- Estimate tuition costs for your desired program
- Compare costs across various universities
- Begin your budgeting plans with confidence
Scholarship Recommender:
- Built with Python and Flask for server-side processing
- Compiled a comprehensive spreadsheet with 500+ scholarships
- User inputs sent via POST request as JSON to Flask server
- Cohere Rerank API intelligently ranks scholarships based on user parameters
- Top 12 recommendations returned to frontend for display
Essay Helper:
- Trained a custom ChatGPT model for application-specific feedback
- Flask server communicates between OpenAI API and React frontend
- Provides detailed, actionable tips for essay improvement
Stats Predictor:
- Downloaded and processed extensive university statistics
- Converted Excel files to CSV for efficient data handling
- Integrated with Flask backend for real-time predictions
Tuition Calculator:
- Flask and Python backend processing
- POST requests compare user inputs with compiled tuition dataset
- Returns approximate costs for various programs and universities
Landing Page:
- Built with React for dynamic functionality
- Brutalist design approach for eye-catching, unique aesthetic
- Raw, unpolished feeling that stands out from corporate templates
- No smooth animations—intentionally minimalistic
Dashboard:
- Maintains minimalistic, "bare bones" aesthetic
- Complex React architecture with clean presentation
- Intuitive navigation between features
Backend:
- Python
- Flask
- OpenAI API
- Cohere Rerank API
- Beautiful Soup (Web Scraping)
- CSV/Database Management
Frontend:
- React
- HTML5
- CSS
Data Processing:
- Excel/CSV conversion
- Database management
- Web scraping
Visit the live project here: Pineapple Pathways Live Demo
Note: This is currently a static version hosted on Vercel. Some features require dynamic backend connectivity and work best when run locally. We're working on hosting improvements for full functionality!
Learning Flask: This was all of our first time using Flask for backend processing. We faced challenges with sending specific user inputs (checkboxes, dropdown menus) to the server, requiring a lot of experimentation and learning.
Data Processing: The stats predictor was by far the most challenging feature. We had to download tons of university statistics as Excel files, convert them to CSV, and process them into our application—all while ensuring data accuracy.
Hosting Hurdles: Our biggest challenge was hosting the webpage. Since we created a dynamic site that makes requests to the Flask server, we couldn't use static hosts like GitHub Pages. After scouring the web, we found Vercel, but even then faced many debugging challenges getting the scripts to run properly on the server.
- First-time success with ChatGPT API and Cohere Rerank
- Exceeded expectations with Cohere Rerank—scholarship ranking was incredibly consistent and relevant
- Created a clean, polished UI that breaks away from cookie-cutter designs
- Built an all-in-one platform that genuinely helps students navigate university applications
- Successfully connected multiple technologies (Flask, React, OpenAI, Cohere) into one cohesive project
Every member of our team tried something new for the first time:
- Flask for backend development
- OpenAI API integration and custom model training
- Cohere Rerank for intelligent data matching
- React for dynamic frontend development
- Web scraping with Beautiful Soup
- Database management and CSV processing
While we all had basic understanding of these technologies, this project allowed us to explore even further and, most importantly, connect everything into one big, functional project.
AI Model Improvements:
- Integrate newest AI models to enhance platform capabilities
- Improve recommendation accuracy and personalization
Data Expansion:
- Expand scholarship dataset using web scraping and automated databasing
- Add statistics for more universities and programs
- Collect more accurate and up-to-date university data
Infrastructure:
- Purchase a dedicated domain for professional hosting
- Migrate from free plan to reliable server for consistent uptime
- Enable full dynamic functionality for all users (not just local)
- Make the platform accessible to students worldwide
Feature Additions:
- More comprehensive application deadline tracking
- Interview preparation resources
- Community forum for students to share experiences
- Mobile app for on-the-go access
- Python 3.8+
- Node.js and npm
- OpenAI API key
- Cohere API key
-
Navigate to the backend directory:
cd backend -
Install Python dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txt
-
Set up environment variables:
export OPENAI_API_KEY='your-openai-key' export COHERE_API_KEY='your-cohere-key'
-
Run the Flask server:
python app.py
The server will start on
http://localhost:5000
-
Navigate to the frontend directory:
cd frontend -
Install Node.js dependencies:
npm install
-
Start the development server:
npm start
The app will open at
http://localhost:3000
PineapplePathways/
├── backend/
│ ├── app.py
│ ├── scholarships.csv
│ ├── tuition_data.csv
│ ├── university_stats.csv
│ └── requirements.txt
├── frontend/
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── components/
│ │ ├── pages/
│ │ └── App.js
│ └── package.json
└── README.md
We welcome contributions! If you'd like to improve Pineapple Pathways:
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature') - Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/AmazingFeature) - Open a Pull Request
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.
- Cohere for their amazing Rerank API
- OpenAI for ChatGPT API access
- Beautiful Soup for web scraping capabilities
Over $20 million in scholarship money goes unclaimed in Canada each year. Pineapple Pathways was built to change that.
Made with 🍍 for students everywhere
Empowering the next generation, one application at a time.