Where our numbers come from
The figures on these pages are surfaced from the shared dataset the app reads — not written by hand on the page, not generated by an AI. Here is how each one is derived, how current it is, and what it does not tell you.
Sourced, not authored
Numbers are read straight from the shared dataset and shown as-stored. No language model writes a fact.
Confidence is capped
Risk confidence never exceeds 92% — we don’t imply a certainty we don’t have.
Neutral by design
The public site never knows or infers where you’re from. Personalization happens inside the app, from a profile you fill in.
Traceable and dated
Where the dataset records a source and a review date for a figure, both are shown next to it. Many figures do not carry one yet — those are shown without a citation rather than borrowed from an unrelated one, so you can see which is which.
How we estimate monthly costs
Each destination shows a monthly living-cost band, broken into rent, food, transport and other across lifestyle tiers. These come from the shared living_costs dataset — the same records the app’s budget tool reads, so the two are derived from one source rather than maintained separately.
Figures are surfaced as stored: no hand-entered numbers, no AI estimation. The country pages show a coarse band; the decomposition shows where the money actually goes.
Basis: Numbeo + Expatistan cost indices, shown per lifestyle tier (economic / moderate / comfortable). See it in context on any destination page.
How the risk score is calculated
The score is a weighted blend of three signals — the weighting reflects what actually disrupts a student’s year:
Full explainer: What is the country risk score? Sources are cited per country on each destination page.
How we pick the “leader” in a comparison
On comparison pages, each row flags the stronger destination for that metric — lower cost, faster visa, longer post-study work, higher QS rank, safer score. The flag is a direct read of the two numbers, nothing more.
One row is deliberately not flagged: acceptance rate. A higher rate means more open, a lower rate more selective — neither is universally “better,” so we show both and let you decide. Comparison prose is generated from the metrics; we don’t editorialize about a country.
All comparison metrics are nationality-neutral — no origin-relative figures appear on the public site.
How we tier scholarship sources
Each scholarship carries a provenance tier — how official the source is. This describes where the listing came from; it is not a verification of the amount, the deadline, or that you’ll qualify.
Every scholarship links to its official page. Always confirm the current amount and deadline there — figures move. Browse them on the scholarships explorer.
What these numbers do not mean
Every figure here describes a destination, not you. A country-level number is an average or a band across many institutions and programmes; the one you apply to can sit far from it. None of this predicts an admission decision, and nothing on this site should be read as a promise that a place, a visa or a cost will be available to you.
Estimate and official record are different things. Some figures are transcribed from an official authority; others are indicative values compiled to make destinations comparable. Where the dataset knows which is which, the page says so. Where it does not, treat the figure as indicative and confirm it at the source before you act on it — especially anything that costs money or has a deadline: visa processing time, proof of funds, work rights, scholarship dates.
When a figure goes out of date. Figures whose age we can measure are checked at build time. One that has aged past our threshold is withheld rather than shown as current, and the build stops instead of publishing it. If the live dataset cannot be reached, the site falls back to a stored snapshot — that state is recorded in /data-health.json for the build you are looking at, so a fallback is never silent.
Hero photo: University of Miskolc Library reading room (Szalax, CC0).
Take Meridian with you
The public site stays neutral. ATLAS applies your budget, field and origin to give personalized matches and a risk score tuned to you — free in the app, from a profile you fill in.