New model enables college counselors worldwide to contribute to and benefit from a shared, privacy-first data ecosystem

NEW YORK, April 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nerd Apply, a privacy-first platform for outcome-driven college counseling, today announced that it is making its core data platform free for independent college counselors, marking a significant step toward building a shared, open resource for improving education outcomes.

Beginning today, verified college counselors can access and contribute to Nerd Apply’s National Education Research Database at no cost, helping expand a growing repository of real-world admissions outcomes. The decision is designed to accelerate the development of more transparent, data-driven college guidance while maintaining strict privacy standards.

The platform will continue to offer premium enterprise tiers for school districts, larger organizations, and advanced users seeking enhanced capabilities, including customizable AI models and tailored data outputs.

This approach mirrors the data-sharing systems that transformed healthcare, where providers contribute de-identified data to improve outcomes across the entire field. Nerd Apply is applying a similar model to education, bringing a more structured, research-driven foundation to college counseling.

“College counseling has historically relied on limited, anecdotal information or outdated benchmarks,” said Braden Weissman and Cooper Weissman, Co-Founders of Nerd Apply. “By making Nerd Apply free for counselors, we’re enabling a broader community to contribute to and benefit from a living dataset that reflects how admissions actually work today. This is about building a trusted, privacy-first resource that improves outcomes for students and gives educators the tools to make more informed decisions.”

As more counselors contribute data, the platform becomes increasingly valuable, surfacing patterns across essays, extracurriculars, and admissions decisions that have traditionally been difficult to quantify. Nerd Apply’s model is designed to create a continuous feedback loop, where participation strengthens the dataset and, in turn, improves insights for the entire community.

By opening access, Nerd Apply’s broader mission to establish a credible, research-driven foundation for modern college counseling is being put into practice. By introducing shared, privacy-first data infrastructure similar to what transformed healthcare, the company aims to bring greater transparency, collaboration, and improved outcomes to students and educators alike.

ABOUT NERD APPLY
Nerd Apply helps students find their best-match schools by giving counselors a privacy-first data platform. Trusted by 500+ counselors and powered by over 150,000 real applications, Nerd Apply makes it easy to organize student information, understand admissions patterns, and share insights without exposing identities. Instead of chasing the same 80 ultra-selective colleges, counselors use Nerd Apply to widen options, set clear expectations, and reduce anxiety for families.

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