The admissions and student system behind one of the most selective universities in the US

The problem

Minerva University replaced the SAT with its own admissions process: six timed, proctored challenges that test reasoning and communication instead of memorization. Over the last five admission cycles, more than 15,000 people a year applied and about 2% got in. After a first year in San Francisco, students move between cities such as Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Berlin.

No off-the-shelf student information system handles proctored challenges, mixed automatic and human grading, and a student body that moves between countries twice a year. Minerva needed a system built around how it actually works, and a team that would keep building it as the university grew.

What we develop and run

• Application intake that handles each year’s cycle, from first form to final decision.
• The six-challenge flow and its face and screen monitoring, which we maintain, improve and have partly rewritten.
• Automatic grading for the challenges that allow it, and grading tools for the admissions staff who score the rest.
• The student record through four years and several cities: enrollment, rotations, visas, arrival information and the logistics that follow a globally mobile cohort.
• Everything a student information system normally does: admissions records, enrollment, courses, grades and transcripts, and reporting.
• The complex flow that prepares every student for the next semester.
• Everything that keeps a system like this honest over seven years: upgrades, security, performance, and the small changes every admissions cycle brings.

How we work together

Three developers and a product owner from Vilantis work inside Minerva’s organization. Our product owner works directly with Minerva’s stakeholders. We have developed and run Minerva’s system for seven years.

We work as Minerva’s integrated software team rather than an outside supplier. That is the relationship we aim for with every client.