Uni-Advisor Chatbot

I built this repository as a lightweight Python chatbot web application. The app is implemented in main.py, is intended to run as a small web service (there is a Procfile for Heroku-style deployment), and lists its Python dependencies in requirements.txt.

What the chatbot does

This chatbot is designed to help students with their college applications by acting as a lightweight college counselor and advisor. Key behaviors and features:

• Collects student profile details:

  • Academic information: GPA / grades, class rank (if available), standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, etc.).
  • Background: intended major, extracurriculars, honors, intended country/state for application, financial aid needs.
  • Preferences: size of school, public vs private, campus setting, deadlines and target application term.

• Provides college discovery and filtering:

  • Fetches a list of available colleges from the local dataset or configured API.
  • Filters colleges by the student's preferences (location, major availability, size, cost).
  • Supplies summary information for each matched college (admission rates, popular majors, estimated cost).

• Estimates required statistics and admission guidance:

  • Compares the student's academic profile to typical admitted student stats for each college.
  • Labels colleges as safety / match / reach and explains why.
  • Suggests target scores or improvements to strengthen applications.

• Acts as a virtual college counselor:

  • Recommends a prioritized list of colleges tailored to the student’s profile.
  • Provides actionable next steps: application checklist, suggested timeline, recommendation letter tips, essay prompts to consider.
  • Answers follow-up questions and refines recommendations based on additional inputs.

• Interaction & flow:

  • The bot walks students through a short intake conversation to collect required fields.
  • After intake, it runs matching and scoring logic and returns recommendations and explanations.
  • Supports follow-up dialogs to refine results or ask for clarifications.

What’s in this repo

• main.py — application entry point / web server for the chatbot.
• requirements.txt — Python dependencies to install.
• Procfile — process declaration used when deploying to Heroku or similar hosts.
• .gitignore — files and folders excluded from version control.

Quick start (local)

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/Tensorflow-Ranger/U-U_Chatbot.git
   cd U-U_Chatbot

2. Create and activate a virtual environment

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate   # macOS / Linux
   venv\Scripts\activate      # Windows

3. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the app

   python main.py

   Open the URL printed by the server (commonly http://localhost:5000 or http://127.0.0.1:5000).

Deployment

• The included Procfile means you can deploy to Heroku (or other platforms that respect Procfile):
  • Create a Heroku app and push this repository to it, or connect the repo through the Heroku/GitHub integration.
  • Configure any required environment variables in the host dashboard (see next section).
• If you prefer Docker or another host, add a Dockerfile and CI workflow for reproducible builds.