Private, self-hosted college guidance
A private, self-hosted college-guidance companion for families in grades 9 through 12 — it runs on your own computer, and your family's data stays there.
opens your Bloom on a computer that runs it
The four years, one path
Self-hosted
Your family's records live on your computer, not our cloud. Nightly local backups, and nothing to leak from a server we don't run.
Encrypted sharing
Share pages decrypt in the counselor's browser. The server holds only ciphertext and never sees the contents.
Status-aware
Eligibility-aware guidance for citizens, permanent residents, EAD, DACA, and asylee or TPS families. Most tools ignore this.
Honest data
Sources cited and freshness shown. We'd rather show you nothing than something wrong.
Good morning, Maya — three things move the needle today.
Next deadline
Activity description
An illustration of Bloom's workspace — the real thing lives on your computer.
Built for the whole family
Students do the work, parents see the picture, counselors get exactly what's shared — no more.
A guided path from ninth grade to submitted applications — one thing at a time, grounded in the student's own story.
A clear picture of cost and progress — enough to help, without hovering.
Everything a counselor needs to help, and nothing the family didn't choose to share.
How it works
01
One line in the terminal downloads Bloom and starts it on your own computer.
02
Type the claim code from your Bloom host to connect the app to your family's account.
03
Bloom lives in your Dock or taskbar and updates itself overnight — nothing to maintain.
curl -fsSL https://install.bloomtocollege.com | shPricing
Simple annual pricing
One plan, everything included — ask for details.
Runs on your computer. Your data never leaves it.
Get startedQuestions
On your own computer. Bloom runs as an app on your machine and stores your family's records there, with nightly local backups. There's no Bloom cloud holding your data — nothing to breach on a server we run.
The app keeps working — your records, trackers, and plans are all local. The parts that reach out — AI drafting and encrypted sharing — simply pause and pick back up on their own once the connection returns. Nothing is lost.
Only what the student chooses to share. A share link carries an encrypted snapshot that decrypts in the counselor's browser; the server can't read it. You can add a PIN, and a single click revokes the link whenever you want.
No. Bloom prepares everything to the exact limits — activity descriptions at 50, 100, and 150 characters, essays coached and ready — and you paste it into the Common App yourself. Bloom is an independent product and isn't affiliated with the Common Application.
AI requests are proxied through your family's Bloom host. Drafts are grounded in the student's own records — real activities, the real essay in progress — and personal details are scrubbed before anything leaves. The AI helps write; it doesn't invent facts about your student.
Bloom labels AI-generated content, cites where data comes from, and shows when it was last updated. Even so, colleges change deadlines, requirements, and costs without notice — treat Bloom as your family's planning guide and confirm important details on official websites before acting on them.
Most documents — transcripts, score reports — are read entirely on your own computer and never leave it. A scanned or photographed document that needs heavier processing is sent to the Bloom service end-to-end encrypted, converted in memory, and returned encrypted; nothing is stored, and even the relay in between sees only ciphertext. Your files live with you.
Yes. Bloom gives eligibility-aware guidance for citizens, permanent residents, EAD holders, DACA recipients, and asylee or TPS families — the aid, the deadlines, and the options that actually apply to your situation. Most tools ignore this entirely.
Automatically, overnight. As long as your computer and Docker are running, Bloom quietly pulls the latest version in the background. There's nothing for you to install or click.
A computer that can run Docker (Mac, Windows, or Linux) and about ten minutes. One line in the terminal does the rest, and the setup guide walks you through every step.