Personalized University Search – A Full-Fledged Admission Support Platform
| Industry | Education Technology, Career Counselling |
| Features | User Signup and Login, AI-Powered College Search, Personalized Search History, shortlisting via checkbox, Retool Agent for Upcoming Deadline Alert via Email |
| Technologies | Retool Canvas, Retool DB, Retool Agent, Retool Workflow |
| Infrastructure | Hosted entirely on Retool, PostgreSQL instance managed by Retool DB, Retool Agent for Email |
Introduction:
Our Admission Support System simplifies the complex process of applying to colleges abroad. Students can efficiently search, shortlist, and receive alerts about admission deadlines without manual tracking. Leveraging AI-based college shortlisting, this platform delivers personalized recommendations based on user preferences. With Retool workflow automation, it ensures timely notifications and smooth app interactions, streamlining the entire application process.
Challenges:
- Multi-user Data Isolation: Ensuring that searches, shortlists and email reminders are user-specific in a shared database.
- Agent-Driven Deadline Notification: Creating an agent that could operate without direct user interaction by automatically scanning the shortlisted colleges for upcoming admission deadlines and sending email reminders only to the respective user.
- Error Handling and UX Feedback: Implementing meaningful UI feedback (e.g. validation, success/failure notifications) on a no-code platform with limited built-in capabilities, to ensure smooth signup, login and app interaction.
- AI Integration for Dynamic Search Results: Integrating AI to analyze user preferences and provide appropriate college recommendations across global institutions.
Technical Solution:
User Authentication and Session Management
- Developing a custom signup and login flow
- Using Retool’s localStorage to maintain user throughout the app.
- Ensuring strict data isolation by appending user to all relevant queries.
AI-Powered Search Result
- Generating a list of colleges depending on the user’s selected preferences by integrating with OpenAI.
- Results adding to the database with user-specific tags for later retrieval.
Email Notification via Retool Agent
- Using Retool agent that loops through each user
- Filtering their shortlisted colleges
- Sending a personalized email using Send Email tool, only if deadlines are detected
Workflow Automation using Scheduling
- Building a Retool Workflow Invoke the Agent on schedule
- Using Scheduler block to automate deadline monitoring and reminders
Frontend Logic and UX Improvements
- Adding JavaScript-based validation checks to ensuring users don’t trigger actions like searching or logging in before filling out required fields
- Using toast notifications to provide success/failure feedback
Technical stack:
- Technologies: Retool Canvas, Retool DB, Retool Agent, Retool Workflow
- Infrastructure: Hosted entirely on Retool, PostgreSQL instance managed by Retool DB, Retool Agent for Email
Architecture diagrams:
Results/Business benefits:
- Time-saving and Convenience: Users no longer have to track college deadlines or research options across multiple websites manually. Saving hours of effort.
- Easy Maintenance and Automation: Agent-based architecture with workflow scheduling automates deadline monitoring and emailing, reducing manual operations.
- Real-Time Search Powered by AI: Leveraged OpenAI’s capabilities via Retool to generate relevant college recommendations based on user criteria.
Conclusion:
The implementation of this Cloud-Native Admission Support System combines AI-based college shortlisting with Retool workflow automation to create a seamless, user-friendly platform. Students applying abroad benefit from a streamlined application process, personalized recommendations, and automated notifications, ensuring they never miss important deadlines.
Credit: –
Nagesh Pujari
Software Developer
