Privacy Policy

Overview

Your privacy is critically important to us. Pre-PA Bestie is operated by The PA Platform, LLC ("we," "us"). This policy describes what we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. It supplements and adapts The PA Platform’s privacy practices for this Service.

What We Collect

Account information: your email address and a hashed password (we never store your password in plain text).

Application-planning data you enter: academic profile (GPA, courses, test status), healthcare experience hours, school lists and application statuses, essays and brainstorming inputs, journal entries, tasks, budgets, and similar content.

Uploaded documents: transcript PDFs are processed to extract coursework and are not retained as files after processing.

Waitlist and referral information: email, signup source, and referral codes.

Usage information: feature usage counts, device/browser information, and IP address, used to operate limits, prevent abuse, and improve the Service.

Payment information: subscriptions are processed by Stripe. We receive subscription status and customer identifiers — we never see or store your full card number.

How We Use Your Information

To operate the Service: calculations, matching, timelines, and the other features you use.

AI processing: when you use AI-powered features (essay brainstorming, transcript import), the content you provide is sent to our AI provider (Anthropic) to generate the result. Per our API agreement, this data is not used to train AI models.

Email: we send service emails and, if you opted in via the waitlist or signup, marketing emails through our email platform. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link.

We do not rent or sell your personal information. Aggregated, de-identified statistics (e.g., "X% of users hit their PCE goal") may be shared publicly without identifying anyone.

Who We Share It With

Service providers that help us run the Service, only as needed: payment processing (Stripe), hosting (Vercel), database hosting (Turso), AI processing (Anthropic), and email/marketing (Systeme.io). Each provider processes data under its own privacy and security commitments.

We disclose personal information beyond that only in response to valid legal process, or when reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of The PA Platform, LLC, our users, or the public.

If The PA Platform, LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction; this policy would continue to apply.

Cookies

We use cookies for sign-in sessions and core functionality. A cookie is a small string of information stored on your device. If you disable cookies, sign-in and some features will not work.

Data Retention & Your Rights

Your data is retained while your account is active. You can view and edit your data inside the Service at any time. You can request an export of your data or deletion of your account and associated data by emailing info@thepaplatform.com — we will honor deletion requests except where retention is required for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Security

We use commercially reasonable safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit and hashed passwords. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children

The Service is intended for users 13 and older (16 outside the United States) and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes & Contact

We may update this policy from time to time; changes will be posted here with an updated date, and continued use after changes constitutes acceptance. Questions or requests: info@thepaplatform.com.