Terms of Service

1. About ShortlistED

ShortlistED is an independent exploration and organization tool that helps families research and organize New York City school options.

ShortlistED is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the New York City Department of Education, NYC Public Schools, MySchools, or any individual school.

ShortlistED does not submit school applications, rank programs in MySchools, communicate preferences to NYC Public Schools, or make admissions decisions.

2. Eligibility and Adult Accounts

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding agreement to create an Account Owner account or purchase access to the Service.

By providing information about a student, you represent that:

• You are the student's parent or legal guardian, or you otherwise have authority and permission to provide the information;
• The information is provided for the student's school-search process; and
• You will supervise any use of the Service by the student.

Children under 13 may not create their own ShortlistED accounts.

Student Mode is a restricted experience operating within an authorized adult's account. It is intended to allow a student to contribute ratings or observations while supervised by the Account Owner or Search Manager. The supervising adult is responsible for activity conducted through Student Mode.

If you believe a child has created an account or provided personal information without appropriate authorization, contact us at info@shortlistedschools.com.

3. Accounts and Security

You agree to provide current and accurate account information and to update it when necessary.

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials;
• Activity conducted through your account;
• Using a strong, unique password;
• Managing invitations and workspace access;
• Promptly removing people who should no longer have access; and
• Notifying us promptly if you suspect unauthorized access.

Each person invited to participate must use their own account. Credentials may not be shared.

We may require email verification, reauthentication, or other reasonable security measures.

4. Workspaces, Roles, and Invitations

A Search Workspace organizes the school search for a particular student and admissions level.

Account Owners and authorized Search Managers may invite other adults and assign available roles. Workspace permissions may determine whether a participant can view schools, submit ratings, add comments, see individual ratings, manage the search, or invite others.

You are responsible for selecting appropriate participants and permissions. Information intentionally shared within a workspace may be viewed by members whose assigned roles permit access.

Removing a participant may end future access without deleting historical ratings, comments, or other contributions. Historical contributions may remain attributed to their author as part of the workspace record.

5. Private Notes and Shared Content

Notes are shared by default unless the author deliberately marks them private.

Shared comments, notes, ratings, and related information may be visible to workspace members according to their roles.

Private notes are designed to be visible only to their author through the Service's ordinary user interface. Private notes will not ordinarily be displayed to other workspace members, including the Account Owner or Search Manager.

Our collection, storage, processing, retention, and disclosure of private notes and other information, including limited circumstances involving service operation, security, fraud prevention, legal process, or protection of rights, are described in our Privacy Policy.

Do not place highly sensitive information in notes unless it is necessary for the school search.

6. No Admissions Prediction or Guarantee

ShortlistED does not predict admissions outcomes, calculate a student's probability of admission, or guarantee that a student will receive an offer.

Admissions outcomes may depend on information ShortlistED cannot fully know in advance, including:

• Final applicant pools;
• How other families rank programs;
• Seat demand and availability;
• Applicable priority groups;
• Academic, audition, testing, or other selection results;
• Random numbers and tie-breakers;
• Program changes; and
• Decisions made by schools or NYC Public Schools.

School labels, scores, categories, groupings, and rankings are provided to support exploration and organization. They are not admissions advice, official determinations, or instructions about how to rank an application.

A high score or favorable placement does not guarantee an offer. A low score or less favorable placement does not mean a student should not apply.

7. Verification and Official Sources

School and admissions information may come from public sources and may be incomplete, delayed, inaccurate, or outdated.

You are responsible for confirming current information through MySchools, NYC Public Schools, individual schools, and other appropriate official sources before making decisions.

Information requiring verification may include:

• Eligibility requirements;
• Admissions methods;
• Priority groups;
• Geographic zones and districts;
• Academic criteria;
• Audition and testing requirements;
• Deadlines;
• Seat availability;
• Accessibility;
• Programs and services;
• School size and demographics; and
• Application procedures.

ShortlistED does not replace MySchools, official admissions publications, a school counselor, a Family Welcome Center, or professional advice.

8. User Content

"User Content" means ratings, comments, notes, student-profile information, preferences, and other material submitted through the Service.

As between you and ShortlistED, you retain ownership of your User Content.

You grant ShortlistED a limited, nonexclusive license to host, store, reproduce, process, and display User Content only as reasonably necessary to:

• Provide and maintain the Service;
• Display content to authorized users;
• Prevent fraud and maintain security;
• Provide requested support;
• Comply with law; and
• Enforce these Terms.

This license ends when the content is deleted from active systems, subject to reasonable backup retention, legal obligations, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, and other practices described in the Privacy Policy.

You represent that you have the right to submit your User Content and that it does not violate another person's privacy, intellectual-property, or other legal rights.

9. License and Intellectual Property

Subject to these Terms, ShortlistED grants you a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable license to use the Service for your household's noncommercial school-search purposes.

ShortlistED and its licensors retain all rights in the Service, including its software, design, branding, organization, scoring structures, original text, and other proprietary materials.

School names, public records, factual information, third-party logos, and third-party content remain subject to their respective owners' rights.

You may not copy, sell, sublicense, publicly display, create a competing database from, or commercially exploit the Service except with our written permission.

If you voluntarily provide suggestions or product feedback, you authorize us to use that feedback without restriction or compensation, provided we do not publicly identify you without permission.

10. Acceptable Use

You may not:

• Use the Service unlawfully or fraudulently;
• Harass, threaten, impersonate, or discriminate against another person;
• Post content you do not have the right to share;
• Attempt to access another account, workspace, private note, or restricted information;
• Circumvent access controls or security measures;
• Introduce malware or interfere with the Service;
• Use automated means to scrape, harvest, or extract substantial data;
• Reverse engineer the Service except where applicable law expressly permits it;
• Resell or redistribute Service data or access;
• Use the Service to build or train a competing product without written permission; or
• Misrepresent ShortlistED scores or classifications as official admissions decisions or guaranteed outcomes.

Reasonable personal downloading, printing, and use of information for your family's school search are permitted.

11. Search Passes and Access Periods

A paid ShortlistED Search Pass provides access for the student search, features, and period disclosed at checkout.

Unless the checkout page states otherwise:

• A Search Pass covers one Student Profile and one Search Workspace;
• Access begins on the purchase date;
• Access lasts for the defined admissions cycle;
• Access does not renew automatically; and
• We will not charge you for another term without a new purchase authorization.

Additional Student Profiles or Search Workspaces may require an additional purchase.

When access expires, editing and other paid features may end. We may offer temporary read-only access or a data-export period as described at checkout or in the Service. Our Privacy Policy explains applicable retention and deletion practices.

12. Trials

We may offer a free trial for the period stated when the trial begins.

Unless we clearly disclose otherwise and separately obtain authorization:

• No payment is required for the free trial;
• The trial will not automatically convert into a paid plan;
• The user must affirmatively purchase a Search Pass to continue using paid features; and
• Trial functionality may be limited.

We may limit one trial per person, household, payment method, or student search and may prevent abuse of trial offers.

13. Pricing, Payments, and Taxes

Prices and included features are displayed before purchase. You authorize our payment processor to charge the amount shown at checkout.

Payments may be processed by a third-party payment provider. ShortlistED does not necessarily receive or store complete payment-card information. The payment provider's terms and privacy practices may also apply.

You are responsible for applicable taxes unless the checkout page states that taxes are included.

We may change prices for future purchases. A price change will not alter a completed purchase or shorten an already-paid access period.

Founding Family Pricing

If your purchase expressly includes Founding Family pricing, the precise eligibility, covered product, future-purchase price, exclusions, and duration of that benefit will be stated at checkout or in separate promotional terms.

Unless those terms expressly state otherwise, Founding Family pricing does not include taxes, additional Student Profiles, additional Search Workspaces, third-party fees, or materially different future products or premium features.

14. Promotions and Referral Codes

Promotional and referral offers may be governed by additional terms presented with the offer. Those additional terms are incorporated into these Terms.

Offers may be limited by:

• Date;
• Admissions cycle;
• New-customer status;
• Household;
• Account;
• Student;
• Number of redemptions; or
• Other disclosed eligibility conditions.

Codes have no cash value unless the offer expressly provides a cash refund. Codes may not be sold, transferred, duplicated, used for self-referrals, or combined unless permitted by the offer.

Referral rewards may be issued only after the qualifying purchase is completed and any stated refund period has passed. If a qualifying purchase is canceled, refunded, disputed, reversed, or found to be fraudulent, the related reward may be canceled or reversed.

We may investigate suspected promotion abuse and deny rewards associated with fraudulent, duplicate, or ineligible accounts.

Changes to a promotion will not retroactively remove a reward already earned under the published terms, except in cases of fraud, refund, chargeback, or material error.

15. Refunds

You may request a full refund within 14 calendar days after the original purchase by contacting info@shortlistedschools.com.

Approved refunds will be returned to the original payment method. Processing times may depend on the payment provider.

After a full refund:

• Paid access may end immediately;
• Related referral rewards may be canceled or reversed; and
• The account's data will be handled according to the Privacy Policy.

Except as required by law or expressly stated at checkout, refunds are not available after the 14-day period.

Nothing in this section limits rights that cannot legally be waived.

16. Third-Party Services and Links

The Service may contain information, links, maps, websites, or integrations provided by NYC Public Schools, MySchools, individual schools, mapping services, payment processors, authentication providers, and other third parties.

ShortlistED does not control and is not responsible for third-party services, content, availability, security, or practices. Your use of a third-party service may be governed by that provider's terms and privacy policy.

A link or integration does not imply endorsement.

17. Service Changes and Availability

We may update, modify, suspend, or discontinue features to maintain, improve, secure, or change the Service.

We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability. Outages, maintenance, data-source changes, technical failures, and third-party disruptions may affect the Service.

If we permanently discontinue the material paid functionality of a Search Pass before its access period ends, we will provide an appropriate remedy, which may include continued limited access, data export, or a prorated refund, subject to applicable law.

18. Suspension and Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time.

We may suspend or terminate access if we reasonably believe that:

• You materially violated these Terms;
• Your use creates a security or legal risk;
• Payment is reversed or disputed;
• You engaged in fraud or promotion abuse; or
• Suspension is required by law.

When practical, we will provide notice and an opportunity to address the issue. Immediate action may be taken when necessary to protect users, data, the Service, or third parties.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, dispute provisions, and accrued payment obligations, will survive.

19. Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available."

ShortlistED disclaims implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and noninfringement.

We do not warrant that:

• The Service will always be available, secure, or error-free;
• School or admissions information is complete, current, or accurate;
• Scores or classifications will reflect an official determination;
• Use of the Service will produce a particular shortlist or admissions outcome; or
• A student will receive an offer from any school or program.

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain warranty exclusions, so some exclusions may not apply to you.

20. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, ShortlistED and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, opportunity, goodwill, or profits arising from or related to the Service.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total aggregate liability of ShortlistED for claims arising from or related to the Service will not exceed the greater of:

• The amount you paid to ShortlistED during the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; or
• $100.

These limitations do not apply where liability cannot legally be limited, including any liability that applicable law prohibits us from excluding.

21. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless ShortlistED and its owners, officers, employees, and contractors from third-party claims arising from:

• User Content you submit;
• Your unlawful or unauthorized use of the Service;
• Your material violation of these Terms; or
• Your violation of another person's rights.

This provision does not require you to indemnify ShortlistED for its own unlawful conduct, gross negligence, or willful misconduct.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms as the Service changes.

For material changes, we will provide reasonable notice through the Service, by email, or by another appropriate method before the revised Terms take effect.

The updated Terms will identify their effective date. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance where permitted by law.

Changes will not retroactively alter completed purchases or remove accrued refund or promotional rights unless required by law or agreed to by the affected user.

23. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles.

Any dispute that is not resolved informally will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Kings County, New York, unless applicable consumer law permits or requires a different forum.

Nothing in these Terms limits rights available under applicable consumer-protection law.

24. Electronic Communications

You consent to receive transactional communications electronically, including account notices, purchase confirmations, security messages, invitation notices, and material updates to these Terms.

Marketing communications are optional and may be unsubscribed from using the method provided in the message. Unsubscribing from marketing does not prevent necessary transactional or legal notices.

25. General Terms

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the checkout disclosures, and any applicable promotional terms constitute the agreement between you and ShortlistED regarding the Service.

If a provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect.

Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.

You may not assign your account or these Terms without our permission. We may assign these Terms as part of a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of all or part of the business, subject to applicable law.

Section headings are for convenience and do not affect interpretation.

26. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

SMahrt Creative, LLC

Email: info@shortlistedschools.com

Contact page: /contact

27. Copyright

© 2026 SMahrt Creative, LLC. All rights reserved. ShortlistED, its software, design, branding, scoring structures, and original text are the property of SMahrt Creative, LLC and are protected by copyright law. School names, public records, and third-party content remain the property of their respective owners.