OUR METHODOLOGY
How goAcorn Builds Every Report
AI handles the data retrieval. We handle the judgment. Every report is the synthesis of both — built once, to the same standard, for every student who needs it.
THE PROBLEM WE SOLVE
Your advisor doesn’t have time. AI doesn’t have judgment.
Most students are stuck in the middle.
The average college advisor manages 300+ students. They can’t go deep on labor market data or AI-resilience analysis for every major a student is weighing. That’s not a failure of effort — it’s a structural impossibility.
At the same time, AI tools can surface data fast — but they can’t tell you which questions actually matter, verify whether a figure is current or five years stale, or stake a reputation on a recommendation. goAcorn was built to do all three, for every major in our library.
THE PROCESS
Four Steps. One Report. 48 Hours.
1
LABOR MARKET RESEARCH
We pull current data from BLS Occupational Outlook, O*NET, LinkedIn Workforce Insights, and NACE salary surveys — verified directly from the source, not pulled from an aggregator.
2
FRAMEWORK APPLICATION
Every major is run through the same analytical framework: AI-resilience by task layer, growth and saturation signals, entry-vs-mid-career pay, and the skills that actually open doors — not a generic template, a consistent standard applied major by major.
3
VERIFICATION PASS
Before a report is finalized, every cited figure is checked against its original source and tagged with its reference period, so no stat is silently outdated or mismatched against a different vintage.
4
REVIEW & VERIFICATION
Every report is reviewed and signed by Viv, goAcorn’s founder, before it’s added to the library. We don’t publish a report we wouldn’t put our name on.
DATA SOURCES
Where the research comes from
We don’t manufacture confidence. Every recommendation is grounded in publicly verifiable labor market data.
BLS OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK
10-year employment projections by occupation
O*NET ONLINE
Skill requirements, task profiles, and automation exposure ratings
LINKEDIN WORKFORCE INSIGHTS
Real hiring trends and in-demand skills by industry
NACE SALARY SURVEY
Entry-level salary benchmarks by major and industry
COLLEGE SCORECARD
Post-graduation earnings by institution and program
ANALYST JUDGEMENT
Human interpretation of what the data means for each major — not a personalized read of any one student, but a consistent analytical standard applied to every report in the library.
THE HUMAN LAYER
Why Every Report Gets Reviewed
AI can retrieve data. It can’t tell you that a major has a two-year hiring lag worth planning around, or that two similar-sounding career paths carry very different debt-to-ceiling tradeoffs. That’s analyst judgment — and it’s why every report in our library is reviewed and verified before publication, not shipped as an auto-generated summary.
FULL TRANSPARENCY
What AI does. What we do.
We use AI tools in our research process. Here’s exactly where, and where we don’t.
AI HANDLES
- Data retrieval and aggregation
- Initial synthesis of labor market sources
- Drafting report sections
- Surfacing occupation clusters
WE HANDLE
- Designing the analytical framework applied to every major
- Verifying every figure against its primary source
- Reviewing every report for accuracy before it’s published
- Overriding or correcting AI output when it’s wrong
- Reviewing every report before publication
- Correcting the record if something’s factually wrong
Ready to see the methodology in action?
Reports are delivered within 48 hours. No calls. No back-and-forth. Just a clear, sourced answer.
Every figure in your report is sourced and verified. If something’s factually incorrect or out of date, tell us and we’ll correct it at no charge.