Built for US high schoolers — especially immigrant & Chinese-American families · Grades 8–12

Build the application from four years of real work,
not the summer before deadlines.

A bilingual four-year companion that helps your teen capture, reflect on, and organize every project, award, and activity — so senior-year applications tell a specific, authentic story built from real work, not reconstructed from memory. Open to any student applying to US colleges — built first with the immigrant and Chinese-American families we know best.

Free · No credit card · Set up in 2 minutes

Why now

Three shifts in US admissions reward students who capture their story as they live it:

Specific beats generic

Holistic review judges accomplishments in the context of each student's life — leadership, curiosity, real contribution. Specific, detailed stories stand out; vague activity lists blur together.

NACAC & College Board · holistic review

AI is reading applications

Caltech, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech already use AI to screen essays and flag generic, template-like writing. Authentic, specific stories — grounded in real work — stand out.

CollegeData / Forbes, 2025–26

Consultants cost $10,000+

Full-service admissions consulting packages run $10,000–$32,000. Most of that money buys senior-year scrambling. We build the raw material for four years, at a small fraction of the price.

Empowerly published pricing, 2026

How it works

A private space your teen builds a little at a time — with structure, reminders, and an AI reflection coach.

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Achievement Vault

Photos, PDFs, code, essays, certificates — captured in the moment with a 60-second guided reflection, organized by semester and theme automatically.

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Semester Checkpoints

Smart reminders make sure nothing gets forgotten: end-of-semester reviews, summer program deadlines, award submission windows, and Common App milestones.

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Reflection-First AI Coach

Our AI asks questions instead of writing for your teen — building authentic essays in their own voice, with AI-use transparency built in. Exactly what AI-screened admissions now reward.

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Bilingual for Parents

Your school's free tool won't read to you in Chinese at the dinner table — this one does. Progress reports and guides in Traditional/Simplified Chinese and English, so parents always know where things stand.

We've done this in the world's strictest portfolio system.

TIPS Education has coached students through Taiwan's national learning-portfolio system — where every high schooler must upload evidence of coursework and activities to a government database each semester, and universities review it for admission. We built software and coaching that keeps students on track for three years. Now we're bringing that discipline to US applications, where a specific, authentic story is the differentiating edge.

Tools alone don't build portfolios. Habits do — and habits need a companion.

Simple, honest pricing

Free through July 31. Founding families lock in the lowest price for life.

Now → July 31: Free

Full access, no credit card. Start capturing today.

August: $9/mo (founding)

September: $15/mo

Regular price later. Founding families never pay this.

Less than a coffee a week — for the four years that decide college.

Questions parents ask

Straight answers, before you sign up.

Is it really free?

Yes — completely free through our founding period, with no credit card required. We'll add affordable paid plans later, and founding families keep a locked-in early-bird price. You'll always see the price and agree to it before anything is ever charged.

Does the AI write my child's essays?

No. Our AI coach asks questions and helps your teen reflect — the writing stays in their own voice, and any AI assistance is disclosed transparently. Admissions offices now use AI to flag generic, template-written essays, so authentic writing built from real work is exactly what gets rewarded.

Do you guarantee admission, or fill out the application for us?

No — and be cautious of anyone who promises admission. We don't write or submit applications on a student's behalf. What we do is help your teen capture and organize four years of real work, so that when application season arrives, the story is specific, honest, and ready to tell.

What grade is the best time to start?

Eighth or ninth grade is ideal, because the whole point is to capture work as it happens instead of reconstructing it from memory. But any grade helps — even starting junior year beats scrambling the summer before deadlines.

Is our data private, and who owns it?

Your family's content is private to your account. You own what you upload, we never sell your data, and you can remove your material whenever you want.

We're not a Chinese-American family — is this for us?

Yes. TIPS is open to any student applying to US colleges. We built it first with the immigrant and Chinese-American families we know best, so the bilingual support and parent guides are unusually strong — but the four-year capture-and-reflect habit helps any applicant.

Does this replace our school counselor or private consultant?

No — it makes them more effective. TIPS is the capture-and-reflect layer underneath everything else. Bring your organized four-year record to whoever helps you apply, and their time goes to strategy instead of digging up what your teen did two years ago.

Build the application from four years of real work,not the summer before deadlines.