Kolly
Kolly is a web platform for college applications that reviews essays with a model trained on essays accepted to top US schools, scoring six dimensions and marking the lines holding a draft back. It also tracks deadlines, builds school lists, matches scholarships and summer programs, reviews activities and honours, and runs a final read before submission.
What is Kolly?
Kolly is a web application for college admissions that started as an AI essay reviewer and now covers the whole application. Its homepage describes it as the first AI built for college admissions, and the company says the scoring model was trained on more than 500 essays that were accepted to top US schools, so a draft is graded the way an admissions reader would grade it, with the specific lines holding it back marked in the text.
Essay review is the centre of the product. A student pastes or writes a draft and Kolly returns a score across six dimensions the site names as hook, theme, detail, authenticity, reflection and writing, plus a percentile against students who were admitted, and it points out the single paragraph doing the most damage. Reviews take about a minute. Every plan includes writing feedback in the student's own register: Kolly reads the student's earlier writing, resume and uploaded context first, then proposes one edit at a time so the line, the paragraph or the rewrite can be accepted or rejected, and anything that no longer sounds like the student can be discarded.
Around the essay, Kolly acts as an application home. Students add target schools and the platform pulls the matching deadlines, lays the year out week by week on a timeline and flags what to work on next. A scholarship finder filters awards by grade, state, major, background and deadline and shows an estimated match, while summer programmes are covered in a similar library. Essays can be shared with a parent, counsellor or teacher through a private link without an account, so they can comment while the student keeps the final say.
Paid plans add the parts that need more compute. These include school-specific strategy briefs, a mock admissions committee that reads the application the way a school's readers might, reviews covering activity lists, honours and letters of recommendation, AI detection on drafts, and Final Read, which scans every essay, activity, honour and recommendation on submission day and reports what is ready and what still needs a pass. The accepted essay library, holding more than 1,000 essays from students admitted to schools such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Penn and Yale, is free on every plan, and the site publishes free standalone tools including an essay reviewer, a chance-me calculator and an application timeline.
Kolly is operated by Kolly, Inc. The company states that student writing is stored privately, is never sold and is not used to train AI models, that material or a whole account can be deleted at any time, and that a full refund is available within 30 days. Pricing is published openly as a free tier, a monthly plan and an application season pass. The site also notes that it is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ivy League or its member institutions.
Kolly Core Features
Six-dimension essay scoring
Drafts are graded on hook, theme, detail, authenticity, reflection and writing, with a percentile against admitted students and the weakest paragraph named.
Voice-matched rewrites
Kolly learns the student's voice from earlier writing, resume and uploaded context, then proposes one edit at a time to accept or reject.
Deadline timeline
Target schools are loaded once and their deadlines are laid out week by week, with the next task flagged.
Scholarship and summer programme finder
Awards are filtered by grade, state, major, background and deadline, saved to a shortlist and dropped onto the application timeline.
Mock admissions committee
A per-school simulation reads the application the way an admissions committee might and returns a strategy brief for each target school.
Final Read
On submission day it scans every essay, activity, honour and letter of recommendation and reports what is ready and what needs another pass.
Accepted essay library
More than 1,000 essays from students admitted to schools such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Penn and Yale are readable on every plan, free included.
Shared review links
Any essay can be shared with a parent, counsellor or teacher through a private link, and they comment without creating an account.
Who is Kolly for?
Kolly is built for high school students applying to colleges in the United States, most often juniors and seniors working through the Common App, supplemental essays and school-specific prompts. It fits students who want tutor-level feedback on their writing but cannot pay for a private admissions counsellor; the company says more than 60,000 students have used it and frames the product as the same coaching a consultant gives, for the price of one hour with a consultant. The free tier suits two groups in particular. Students who are still assembling their school list get the application home, the deadline timeline, the scholarship finder, the summer program finder and the accepted essay library without entering a card, and students who only want a second opinion on one draft can run a single full review before deciding whether to pay. Students with deadlines in the next month or two, who want unlimited reviews across every essay, activity and recommendation, are the ones the 29 dollar monthly plan addresses, since it can be cancelled at any time. The season pass targets students going through a whole application cycle. Six months covers one admissions season, and the company notes that a parent can pay from a link the student sends, which fits families where the student is not the person holding the card. Because any essay can be shared by private link with a parent, counsellor or teacher who does not need an account, the product also suits students who want a second reader involved while keeping the final edit themselves. It is less relevant to students applying to graduate programmes, to applicants outside the United States, and to anyone who wants the model to write the essay for them, since Kolly states that the student keeps the final say on every line. Students who want a blunt, paragraph-level critique and are willing to act on it will get the most from it, while students looking for reassurance rather than revision are likely to find the scoring model demanding. It also assumes a student is organised enough to work from a deadline timeline rather than in one late night before a submission date.
Kolly Use Cases
Score a Common App personal statement and see which paragraph weakens the draft most.
Plan an application year by loading target schools and working from the deadline timeline.
Find scholarships and summer programmes that match grade, state, major and background.
Rewrite an essay line by line while keeping your own voice.
Compare your draft with accepted essays from the schools you are applying to.
Review activities, honours and recommendation choices before submitting.
Run a final check of every application component on submission night.
Share an essay with a parent or counsellor for comments before the deadline.
Kolly Pros and Cons
Pros
- Pricing is published: a free tier, a 29 dollar monthly plan and a 149 dollar season pass covering six months.
- Essay feedback is specific rather than a single score, with paragraph-level notes, six named dimensions and a percentile against admitted students.
- The planning side is broad for the price, covering deadlines, school lists, scholarships, summer programmes and a submission-day check.
- The accepted essay library is free on every plan, which is uncommon for admissions software.
- The company states that essays are not used to train AI models and offers a 30-day refund.
Cons
- Built around US undergraduate applications, and the school lists, deadlines and accepted essay library on the site are US-focused.
- No public API or developer documentation, so it cannot be wired into other tools or workflows.
- Social presence is thin: the site links a Discord server and an Instagram profile, with no X, LinkedIn or YouTube account.
FAQ About Kolly
Kolly Pricing
Kolly is freemium. The free tier includes the application home, deadline timeline, scholarship and summer programme finders, the accepted essay library, 3,000 credits and one full essay review with no card required. The Monthly plan costs 29 dollars a month and the Application Season Pass costs 149 dollars every six months; both renew until cancelled and a full refund is offered within 30 days.
Check official pricingFree
One full essay review with score, notes and rewrite, 3,000 Kolly credits, application home with deadlines, schools and roadmap, scholarship and summer programme finders, and the accepted essay library. No card and no trial countdown.
Monthly
Strongest scoring model on every review, unlimited essay reviews, paragraph rewrites in the student's voice, school-specific strategy briefs, mock admissions committee per school, reviews on activities, honours and letters of recommendation, Final Read, AI detection up to 20,000 words a month and unlimited chat, rewrites and drafting. Renews monthly, cancel anytime.
Application Season Pass
The same features as Monthly, billed as one application season every six months with the option for a parent to pay from a link. Renews at $149 unless cancelled.
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