Simplifying the College Admission Journey
Appli – Applying to Colleges made easy with few clicks
💼 What I Did
I designed a full-stack product experience for Appli, a student-first app that helps users explore colleges, apply in one click, track results, and secure education loans. My focus was to design an intuitive, engaging, and data-secure product from end to end.
Skills Used
- UX Research
- Wireframing & Prototyping
- Design Systems
- UI Design (Figma)
- UX Writing
- Product Strategy
The Problem
For students in India completing 12th grade, applying to colleges is a frustrating and fragmented process—multiple websites, form deadlines, lack of result updates, and uncertainty around finances.
Key User Pain Points:
Application forms are complex and repetitive.
Board results are hard to track and verify.
Education loans involve offline paperwork and delays.
The Goal
We aimed to build a mobile-first and web-supported app that allows students to:
Explore and compare colleges.
Track their 10th/12th results.
Apply to colleges in one click.
Apply for an education loan quickly.
Business Goal:
Improve college application conversions.
Build partnerships with banks and colleges.
Drive verified student traffic to partner institutions.
Hypothesis
If we centralize the college application and result-tracking experience in one app, students will apply faster, track better, and be more likely to secure financial aid—improving both user satisfaction and completion rates.
College application
result-tracking experience
secure financial aid
UX Methods Used
10 user interviews (students + parents)
Online survey (120 responses)
Observed DigiLocker and education loan workflows
Key Insights
72% of students felt stressed about missing deadlines.
86% found college websites confusing.
65% had never applied for a loan because they didn’t know how.
Competitor Analysis
Studied platforms like CollegeDekho, Shiksha, DigiLocker, and fintechs like Leap Finance.
Gaps Identified:
- No unified application process.
- Lack of verified result tracking.
- Poor student-first design in loan platforms.
How Might We
- How might we reduce friction in applying to colleges?
- How might we notify users the moment their results are out?
- How might we help students get loans without collateral?
Key Screens & Features
Homepage
Smart search bar with filters
Colleges Listing and Advanced Filters
Compare, save, and apply
College Details
Get to know your Course and College
Track Results
Linked with DigiLocker
Education Loan
Up to ₹4L without collateral, extendable to ₹20L with parent details
Results
- ⏱ Reduced average college application time from 45 mins to under 7 mins
- ✅ 95% of test users said the result-tracking experience felt “stress-free”
- 💸 3 fintech partners expressed interest in offering instant education loans
- 🧾 80% of students downloaded their Application Summary PDF after applying
Learnings
- Automating user flows (like DigiLocker integration) must come with clear user education.
- Students are highly emotional users—tone and language matter.
- A guided experience beats flexibility when the stakes (college decisions) are high.