Primary and backup path
The compare-and-commit step in Explore: choosing a primary pathway and an explicit backup rather than a single unhedged choice.
- Related
- Pathway, Still deciding
Glossary
Plain definitions of the terms Pathfinder uses: the eight pathways, the grounded / modelled / advisory claim labels, scholarship eligibility and more.
Pathways
Pathway
One of the eight routes Pathfinder treats as equally valid after high school. University is one option among many, never the default.
Trade and apprenticeship
Hands-on routes into skilled careers that combine paid work with structured training — often faster and more affordable than a traditional degree.
Registered apprenticeship
A US Department of Labor program: a paid job with structured on-the-job learning, related classroom instruction, progressive wage increases and a portable, nationally recognised credential at completion.
Definition follows the U.S. Department of Labor's apprenticeship.gov Registered Apprenticeship Program page for employers (opened 2026-09-11), which names paid employment with progressive wages, structured on-the-job learning with a mentor, supplemental classroom instruction, and a portable, nationally-recognized credential.
Community college
An affordable, flexible route to transfer to a four-year degree or enter the workforce directly.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Related
- University
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Community college, Wikidata Q1336920
Straight to work
Entering the workforce directly after high school, with a plan for the skills, experience and roles that get you where you want to go.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Related
- Certifications, Trade and apprenticeship
Military
Serving in the armed forces to earn qualifications and build a career with structure, purpose and funding.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Military service, Wikidata Q209572
Certifications
Industry credentials — from coding bootcamps to professional certificates — that open doors to specific jobs without a degree.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Related
- Straight to work, Trade and apprenticeship
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Professional certification, Wikidata Q16023913
Entrepreneurship
Starting something of your own: developing skills, finding early customers and building a business instead of, or alongside, further study.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Entrepreneurship, Wikidata Q3908516
University
A degree route: comparing courses and universities across countries and understanding what each one actually asks for.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Related
- Community college
- Read more
- Wikipedia: University, Wikidata Q3918
- Articles
- Apprenticeship vs. college: what the numbers actually show
Still deciding
"Not sure yet" as a legitimate starting point: exploring options honestly with no pressure to commit. Pathfinder treats it as a pathway in its own right.
- Broader
- Pathway
- Related
- Gap year, Primary and backup path
Gap year
A deliberate break between high school and what comes next. Not a Pathfinder pathway, but a choice Pathfinder can plan around.
- Related
- Still deciding
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Gap year, Wikidata Q1493854
How claims are labelled
Claim label
The public label Pathfinder attaches to each claim in a plan or counsellor answer, showing how grounded it is: grounded, modelled or advisory.
- Narrower
- Grounded, Modelled, Advisory
- Related
- AI counsellor, Plan
Grounded
A claim Pathfinder can point to a specific, dated source for — checked for the exact fact and the cycle in view.
- Broader
- Claim label
- Related
- Decisive claim, Source reference
Modelled (modeled)
A figure Pathfinder computed from available data rather than read from a source: a reasoned estimate, not a fact.
- Broader
- Claim label
Advisory
General guidance that is not specific to this student or this exact context.
- Broader
- Claim label
Source reference
A record that one specific fact was checked against one official publication for one cycle. It is never a quality score for a website and never a statement about a student.
- Related
- Decisive claim, Grounded
Decisive claim
A claim — an application deadline, an admission requirement or a course requirement — where being wrong changes the decision itself. Pathfinder holds it to a stricter freshness bar and never lets it soften into a lesser label.
- Related
- Grounded, Source reference
AI refusal
A behaviour Pathfinder's AI is built not to do: invent a deadline or cost, state your chances of getting in, or decide scholarship eligibility by opinion.
Acceptance odds
A predicted probability of admission. Pathfinder never states one, in any wording, because it cannot be computed honestly from a profile.
- Related
- AI refusal
Planning
Plan
Your personalised plan: a semester-by-semester roadmap and a funding section, with every claim labelled. One generation on the free plan; unlimited regeneration on Family.
Readiness gate
The check that separates a complete profile from a plan-ready one, so a shallow intake never produces a falsely confident plan.
- Related
- Plan
Living career map
The single view that brings together your plan, tasks, evidence, applications, decisions, risks and open unknowns.
- Related
- Evidence, Plan, Portfolio roadmap, Weekly mission
Portfolio roadmap
A pathway-specific, ordered sequence of experiences, projects and evidence to build — not a generic checklist.
- Related
- Evidence, Living career map, Pathway
Evidence
Documents and artefacts you attach to prove a claim or requirement — a transcript, a score report, a project — kept in your evidence locker.
Evidence locker
Where your uploads live, including transcript extraction.
- Related
- Evidence
Weekly mission
One prioritised action each week, with nudges and check-ins when things stall.
- Related
- Living career map, Plan
Application command center
The Family-plan view of deadlines, requirements and evidence reuse across everything you are applying to.
- Related
- Evidence, Family plan
AI counsellor
A bounded tool-using assistant — catalogue search, knowledge-base search, scholarship search, your own plan state — that proposes changes for you to confirm and never silently edits your data. Five messages a day on the free plan.
- Related
- AI refusal, Claim label
Counsellor endorsement
A human counsellor's sign-off on a plan, where a school or counsellor works with you. It distinguishes AI-prepared content from human-approved content.
- Related
- Parent progress view, Plan
Scholarships
Scholarship
Financial aid awarded to a student for further education.
- Related
- Scholarship matching
- Read more
- Wikipedia: Scholarship, Wikidata Q188823
Scholarship matching
Checking every approved award against your profile and sorting it into what you qualify for, what rules you out and why, and what cannot be determined yet. On the free plan.
Eligibility dimension
One of the ten rules every award is scored on: citizenship, residence, study country, field of study, pathway, grade level, GPA, demographic, financial need and deadline window.
Eligibility tri-state
Each rule is open to everyone, restricted to certain people, or simply not stated by the provider. "Unknown" is never silently treated as "open" — Pathfinder names the one detail that would settle it.
People and plans
Guardian consent
The explicit, student-initiated, token-based step that turns on a parent's read access. Parent access never exists without it.
- Related
- Parent progress view
Parent progress view
What an invited parent sees: the week's focus, tasks finished in the last seven days, what is due in the next fourteen, evidence the student chose to share, and whether a counsellor endorsed the plan. Never counsellor conversations or unshared drafts.
Free plan
Guided intake, the explorer, one AI-generated plan, scholarship matching with reasons, task and evidence basics, and five AI counsellor messages a day. No credit card.
- Related
- Family plan, Plan, Scholarship matching
Family plan
The paid tier: unlimited plan regeneration, unlimited counsellor chat, essay feedback, the application command center, and the full parent progress view with a Sunday summary email.
Country and curriculum
Country pack
A configuration bundle — currency, admissions system, intake cycles, supported curricula and languages — for one of five supported countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India and Singapore.
- Related
- Curriculum-aware, Scholarship matching
Curriculum-aware
Planning that accounts for which of the seven supported curricula you follow: IB, A-Levels, AP, CBSE, ICSE, the US high-school diploma, or a national curriculum.
- Related
- Country pack