Privacy policy

Last updated · July 12, 2026

Gradvisor ("we", "us") helps students explore graduate programs at US universities. This policy explains what information we collect, why, and the choices you have. The short version: we collect only what the product needs, we don't sell your data, and you can delete your account — and everything attached to it — yourself, at any time.

What we collect

• Account details — when you sign up: your email address, a password (stored only as a salted hash), and optionally your name. If you sign in with Google, we receive your email, name, and profile picture from Google; we never see your Google password.
• Profile information you choose to add — such as your city, country, date of birth, academic background (degree, institution, major, GPA), test scores, research interests, and study preferences. All of it is optional and used only to tailor recommendations to you.
• Your activity in the product — saved programs and lists, your advisor chat history, and settings. For signed-in users these are stored with your account so they follow you across devices; without an account they stay only in your browser's local storage.

What we use it for

• Providing the service: search, the advisor chat, saved lists, and reminders you ask for.
• Personalizing results and recommendations to your profile — only when you've added one.
• Keeping the service secure (session management, abuse prevention).

We do not sell or rent your personal information, and we do not share it with universities or advertisers. We currently run no third-party analytics or advertising trackers.

Cookies

We use one essential cookie: a session cookie that keeps you signed in. It is httpOnly (not readable by page scripts) and is deleted when you sign out. We set a short-lived cookie during Google sign-in to protect against cross-site request forgery. That's it — no tracking cookies.

Where processing happens

• Google sign-in — if you use it, Google processes your login under its own privacy policy.
• Language-model providers — when you use search or the advisor chat, the text of your query is processed by our AI providers to understand it. Queries are not linked to your name or email by those providers.

Retention and deletion

Your data is kept while your account exists. Deleting your account (Settings → Account → Delete) permanently removes your account, profile, sessions, saved lists, and chat history from our database. You can also export a copy of your shortlist and preferences from Settings → Privacy at any time.

Children

Gradvisor is intended for prospective graduate students and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes

If we make material changes to this policy we will update this page and its date. Significant changes will be announced in the product.

Contact

Questions or requests about your data: rahmanole.bd@gmail.com.