For 9th–11th graders and the parents in their corner
Get into the college you actually want.
Not by cramming senior year — by building a standout story over four years. Path & Link shows you the next small step, every week, starting in 9th grade. The plan is yours, the pace is yours, and it's free.
- Free forever
- No counselor required
- Private by default
The numbers nobody tells you
The college game is decided early. Most families find out too late.
372:1
students per school counselor
The national average. The recommended number is 250. Most students face the biggest decision of their lives with almost no one in their corner.
#1
factor in selective admissions
Transcript rigor outranks your GPA, your essay, and your test scores at nearly every selective college — and the courses that decide it are chosen in 9th and 10th grade.
77%
of students feel overwhelmed
More than three in four say the process feels overly complicated, and 73% fear one small mistake could cost them. Starting early, one step at a time, is how that fear goes away.
Sources: American School Counselor Association, national counselor ratios 2024–25; the Common Data Set, “rigor of secondary school record” among the top admission factors at selective colleges; national surveys of high-school students on the college process.
The odds you're up against
The acceptance rates are brutal. Starting early is the one edge you control.
These are the real, official admit rates for the Class of 2028. The students who make it through aren't the ones who started senior year — they're the ones who built a story over four years.
4.6%
admitted
Princeton
More than 9 in 10 applicants are turned away.
5.1%
admitted
Vanderbilt
More than 9 in 10 applicants are turned away.
8.4%
admitted
Cornell
More than 9 in 10 applicants are turned away.
Source: official Class of 2028 overall acceptance rates (Princeton 4.6%, Vanderbilt 5.1%, Cornell 8.4%). Rates shown are how selective each school is for all applicants — not a Path & Link outcome figure.
Real starts, real finishes
Four years of small steps. One letter that changes everything.
Freshman year I thought I was already behind, like everyone else had a plan and I'd missed the memo. Path & Link turned it into one small thing a week. By senior year my transcript actually told a story — and it got me into the program I'd quietly wanted since 9th grade.
One daughter, one shot, and every counselor wanted thousands of dollars we didn't have. For the first time I could see what she was leaning toward without nagging her about it every night. The day her acceptance came, we both cried at the kitchen table.
I was the kid with no 'thing.' Path & Link helped me stumble into design in 10th grade and quietly lined up my electives around it before I even knew it mattered. I just got my acceptance letter and I still keep re-reading it to make sure it's real.
Why start now, not senior year
Most families start in junior or senior year, when course tracks, activities, and recommendation relationships are already set. Starting in 9th means the choices are still wide open — and the work fits in a few minutes a week.
Sound familiar?
If any of these keep you up at night, you're exactly who we built this for.
“You have no idea what to major in — and everyone keeps asking like you should already know.”
“You can't tell how your GPA, scores, and activities stack up against everyone else applying to the same schools.”
“You suspect you might already be behind, but no one will give you a straight answer on whether you are.”
“Your activities feel random, and you don't know which ones actually matter for the colleges you want.”
“You're not sure which classes to pick next year to keep the doors you care about open.”
“You want to help your kid without nagging — but you can't see how things are really going.”
9th through 11th grade, student or parent — if even one of these is you, this is where it gets less scary. One small step a week, on your terms.
A week in Path & Link
One screen, on Monday. One small thing to try this week, and a calm read on which futures are still wide open.
This week
Try Model UN's open meeting
Wednesday after school. ~1 hour. A low-stakes way to see if you like the rhythm of debate — no signup, just walk in.
What's still open
- Engineering — open
- Design — open
- Pre-med — needs lab science by 10th
Want the deeper walkthrough? See how it works
The actual app, not a mockup
See exactly what you'll get. In about two minutes.
After a short setup, this is your real screen — a readiness verdict for your dream school, scored priorities, and the few things worth doing next.
Your roadmap. A live readiness verdict for your dream school, with the highest-impact moves ranked first.
Your dashboard. Target school, grade, major, and a single progress read — the whole picture in one glance.
Your profile. A living preview of your application: courses, activities, and the evidence behind each one.
Where our students are headed
From state flagships to the most selective campuses in the country. The students who start early aren't the ones who had everything figured out at 14 — they're the ones who took one small step at a time, for four years.
- Stanford
- MIT
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Carnegie Mellon
- University of Michigan
- Georgia Tech
- RISD
- NYU
- UT Austin
- University of Washington
- Northwestern