User guide
How to use Professor Love Monkey
Work top to bottom. You can edit an earlier step; later steps stay hidden until you save or cancel, so the list and the route do not jump around while you are changing inputs.
Start
Open lovemonkey.app. We ask the student’s age first — this is a high school college-planning tool. Minimum age 13. We keep only an age band and delete the exact number. Under 13: no account, no transcript save, no payment, no email. We do not sell student data or use GPA or SAT for ads.
You can poke the model as a guest. Sign in (email and password) when you want the list, route, and scores to follow you. Tap your name at the top for the account page — name, address, phone, password, and links to saved routes and reports.Click your name in the top right for the account page — name, address, phone, password, and links to saved routes and reports.
Fit vs Love Monkey score
Two different 1–100 scores, on purpose. Fit is the paper match before anyone visits. Love Monkey score is the walk-the-quad match after the tour. Admit odds are a third thing — a badge, never mixed into either score.
| Fit | Love Monkey score | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Before the trip | After you walk campus |
| Who fills it | The model, from your weights | The student, from the visit |
| Inputs | Size, setting, cost, academics, distance | Vibe, beauty, classrooms, housing, food, facilities, town, safety, staff, gut on value, “I can see myself here” |
| What it measures | Does this school match what you said matters on paper? | Did it feel right once you were there? |
| Where it shows | Sorts The List | Step 4 and the visit report |
A school can be high Fit (cheap, close, right size) and low Love Monkey score (dead campus on Saturday). That split is the product.
Step 1
Admit odds (GPA and SAT)
Enter an unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale and an SAT (or leave SAT blank if you have not tested). This only computes Likely / Match / Possible. It does not sort The List. You can add activities if you want richer context later on the report.
Step 2
Set what matters — this is Fit
Weight campus size, setting, cost, academics, and distance from home. Critical counts 4×. Don’t care drops out. Add a home city if distance matters. Fit is the paper match from those weights and published campus facts. The List ranks by Fit. Admit odds stay a badge. Love Monkey score does not exist yet — that waits until you walk the campus.
Step 3
States, then Narrow the list
Tap states (or a region) on the map. Tap a state again to drop it.Click states (or a region) on the map. Click a state again to drop it. If you picked a region and then uncheck one state, the region chip turns off and those states stay selected. Then filter: degree programs (Undecided, or search and pick several — a school stays if it offers any). Sports and extracurriculars are musts: search football, robotics, marching band, and anything else that is required. A school stays only if it offers every one you picked. Then public or private, religious life, size, setting. Opt in to community colleges only if you want two-year campuses within 50 miles of home.
Step 4
The List
Schools sort by Fit, not by Love Monkey score and not by US News. Each full card shows admit odds, women/men mix, tuition, room & board, and why it scored. Watch the live count at the bottom of the screen as you change filters — it tells you how many schools stay in play.Watch the live count in the lower-right corner as you change filters — it tells you how many schools stay in play. Lock the ones you want to visit.
Step 5
Build the shortest visit plan
Step 3 clusters locked campuses into realistic loops. Add or drop a stop; the order updates. Each stop has a Reserve a visit link that opens that school’s tour calendar when one exists. Save the route (Family Season Pass) to keep it and to open scoring. Export the driving order to Google Maps.
Step 6
After the tour — this is Love Monkey score
Step 4 is scoring what you felt, not re-running Fit. Rate vibe, beauty, classrooms, housing, food, facilities, town, safety, tour staff, gut on cost vs value, and “I can see myself here.” Weight those the same way you weighted Fit. The Love Monkey score (1–100) is that campus after you walked it. The visit report ranks by Love Monkey score. Fit and admit odds stay on their own lines so a cheap close school can still lose after a dead Saturday.
Filters that fight each other
Public and Religious cannot both be on — there are no public religious campuses in the pool, so Religious disables when you pick Public only. Sports and extracurriculars are musts: pick Football and Robotics and only schools with both remain. Community colleges stay off unless you opt in. If The List goes empty, loosen a chip or add a state; the count at the bottom of the screen will show the pool recover.the count in the lower-right corner will show the pool recover.
Free vs Family Season Pass
Free lets you enter stats, set weights, filter, and see a ranked sample (top 8 full cards) plus one sample visit weekend. A Family Season Pass is $49 paid once — not a subscription, and it does not auto-renew. It is good for one full year. One pass covers the household, so you can run a different scenario for each child. It unlocks every full school card, saved routes, tour scoring, reports, and Google Maps export. The scoring model is the same either way — the pass is for the plan you keep. Full comparison on Why.
Account and reports
Saved routes and reports live on your account page. Open a route to drop back into the planner. Opt in to special offers if you want a box when a school on your list posts visit news. Change your password there. We never show Google or X login — email only.
Want the why behind the product? Read the philosophy.