COURTESY OF LOUP WANG
BU juniors Luca Piekarski (left) and Loup Wang (right) collaborated with Wang’s high school friend and University of Alabama senior Vance Spears (middle) to create Ascendia, a job-searching platform specialized for college students. Set to launch by the end of May, Ascendia uses artificial intelligence to make the job and internship application process more efficient.
After applying to internships and jobs last summer, Boston University juniors Loup Wang and Luca Piekarski found the process frustrating and inefficient, which inspired them to find a solution.
The two teamed up with Wang’s high school friend, University of Alabama senior Vance Spears, to create their own solution: Ascendia, a web-based platform that uses artificial intelligence to help college students navigate and personalize the internship application process.
“We want to help students like us that are struggling to understand that there’s things that are bigger than just searching for jobs every day,” Wang said. “We want people to enjoy their college experience and to not worry about finding a position 24/7.”
Currently in its testing phase, Ascendia is slated to launch by the end of May and will be free for BU students.
“We’re going to completely reduce that time and that inefficiency by using AI to guide you through that process and help you apply,” Wang said.
The platform aims to improve both sides of the application process, Piekarski said. For employers, it reduces time spent filtering through unqualified applicants.
“There’s probably so many people who are applying to that position who aren’t qualified, who wouldn’t fit in, so it’s also just making the whole process as a whole more efficient,” Piekarski said.
Inefficiency wasn’t the only issue the team identified, as it also intends to “bring personality” into the hiring process, Wang said.
Ascendia’s AI analyzes key components of a student’s identity — including their hobbies, personality traits, likes and dislikes — and uses that data to match them with companies they “would fit in most at,” Wang said. The platform also helps edit resumes to fit each position the user applies for, he said.
“We can’t display our full potential with just a resume or a CV,” he said. “What we’re trying to do with personalization is to see you as a holistic applicant.”
Students often don’t receive enough guidance when applying to internships, according to Wang. Unlike platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed or Handshake, he said Ascendia offers hands-on guidance through every part of the application journey.
“No existing platform has any sort of guidance on how to apply to jobs or how to apply to internships and positions. It just gives you a couple of buttons, and you click it,” Wang said. “We’re minimizing that process by having the AI advise you through every step of the way.”
The platform runs on agentic AI, which is more focused on decision-making and less reliant on human input than generative AI. The team built its own “AI agent” using open-source frameworks and large language models, Wang said.
These systems give the AI tools to browse the internet, collect data and then summarize the information to make decisions for users, Piekarski said.
“Instead of a human doing the work, we’re giving the computer the decision-making powers, the tools and everything they need to help you out as best as possible within this internship process,” he said.
Wang said he and Piekarski began building the platform with fellow BU students but pivoted multiple times before landing on their current concept.
Their earliest idea was a “Tinder for jobs” platform that didn’t employ AI, Wang said. However, they changed direction after bringing Spears on board last summer. Wang said the three of them spent the summer in Chicago, coding and refining Ascendia.
The team described the AI agent as a “guidance counselor.”
For instance, Piekarski said the program helps prepare users for the interview process and specifically caters to a position the user is applying for.
“It’s able to search the internet and go through a hundred accredited articles on actual specific resume things you should do for this position, or actual scholarly articles on proven things that work,” Piekarski said.
Wang said the team aims to transform how students and employers think about the job application process. They want students to feel that they are not being evaluated strictly based on their academic standing, he said.
The team plans to have a “huge social media launch” in early fall, Wang said.
“This is an application from college students for college students,” he said. “We’re trying to stay relatable. We’re trying to stay on campus and we want to make something at BU first before we expand.”