Data & methodology.

What Circulus is

Circulus combines a structured university catalog (PostgreSQL via Prisma), your profile, shortlist, and application tracker so discovery and execution stay in one workspace. We aim to show what we know, label gaps, and avoid implying precision we do not have.

Catalog depth & “quality tier”

We label institution and programme rows with a simple deep / good / partial signal (shown as “Deep catalog”, “Good coverage”, or “Partial data”) based on whether tuition, deadlines, languages, curriculum topic mix (when ingested), and verification timestamps are present. This is not a ranking of how “good” a university is — only how complete our row is for decisions.

Circulus signals on university pages turn existing fields into short, honest summaries — e.g. teaching-language breadth and selectivity context from acceptance rate and applicant counts when published.

On Explore, the sort option Top ranked surfaces well-known institutions (QS/THE and similar, plus scale signals) when our catalog page for that school is documented enough for confident browsing. Famous names with thin pages stay lower until enrichment catches up — we do not pretend to rank schools we have not described properly.

Catalog & freshness

Universities and programmes are ingested and enriched from official and licensed sources where possible. Many rows include verification timestamps and source links on detail pages when available. Rolling refresh is prioritized by traffic and launch-corridor demand — not all entries update on the same cadence.

CI enforces minimum catalog coverage thresholds for releases (see npm run coverage:universities:gate). Incomplete tuition, deadlines, or teaching-language fields trigger a Limited info badge on cards so decisions are not made on silent gaps.

Launch corridors (priority)

We deliberately deepen quality for a few applicant journeys before chasing global breadth:

• English Master’s in Europe. English-taught Master’s programmes in Northern and Western Europe — with preset Explore views, deadline orientation, and country hubs.
• UK undergraduate (from Europe). European applicants exploring UK Bachelor routes — deadlines, requirements, and catalog links in one place.
• German-taught study in DACH. German-taught programmes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — language, deadlines, and tuition orientation.
• English Master’s in France. English-taught Master’s in France — Explore shortcuts, deadlines, and requirements to verify on official sites.
• English Master’s in Ireland. English-taught Master’s in Ireland — catalog links, deadlines, and requirements in one guide.
• English-taught study in Spain. English-taught programmes in Spain — discovery presets, hubs, and planning checklists.
• English-taught study in Italy. English-taught study in Italy — Explore, country hub, deadlines, and requirements.
• English Bachelor’s in the Nordics. English-taught Bachelor’s in the Nordics — hubs, presets, and planning orientation.
• Bachelor’s in the Netherlands (international). International applicants to Dutch bachelor’s programmes — deadlines, requirements, and catalog links.
• English programmes in Portugal. English-taught programmes in Portugal — discovery, deadlines, and requirements overview.
• English Master’s in Belgium. English-taught Master’s in Belgium — catalog, deadlines, and requirements.
• Affordable English study in Poland. English-taught study in Poland — affordable options, hubs, and verification checklists.
• English STEM Master’s in Sweden. English STEM Master’s in Sweden — hubs, Explore, deadlines, and requirements.
• Erasmus+ semester planning. Erasmus and exchange semester planning — discovery and deadlines; apply through your home university.
• Medicine & health sciences in Europe. Medicine and health sciences in Europe — orientation only; always confirm with regulators and universities.

Honest Fit Hub — two lenses, one shortlist

On Fit (/fit), each saved university can show two separate reads:

• Fit score (Reach / Match / Safety) — a deterministic score from our match engine using your profile grades, languages, budget, and the university's published requirements. This answers “how well do I fit on paper?” It is not an admission probability.
• Honest Chances(/simulator) — an AI estimate of realistic admission probability with cited sources, shown as five bands (Long shot through Safe). This answers “what are my odds of getting in?” and uses web search where your plan allows it.

We show both so you are not surprised when a strong fit school is still a reach for admission, or when a long shot still aligns with your goals. AI explanations for fit scores use your profile and catalog fields; they do not replace official requirements.

Not modeled in full: committee judgment, interview performance, reference strength, cohort competitiveness for a given intake year, and portfolio quality.

Limits and billing vary by tier (fit batch scores vs Chances runs). See Pricing.

Report a data error

Signed-in users can use Report data issue on university and programme modals; we route reports to our ops inbox when email is configured. Anyone can also use the contact form (topic “University catalog or data correction”) or email circulus.universities@gmail.com with the university name, programme (if any), and a link to an official source when possible. Critical factual errors are triaged with a best-effort response window (target: 72 hours for issues that could mislead applicants).

Privacy & export

Account data export and deletion are available from Settings. See the Privacy Policy for legal bases and processors.