Optimum turns years of Oxbridge and US-admissions guidance into a live planning tool — built by a serving Head of Senior School, not a start-up guessing at what schools need.
Optimum was built around a simple idea: the right subject, activity, and university choice depends entirely on which system a student is in. So rather than force UK and US applicants through the same logic, Optimum runs two purpose-built products.
For students on UK-facing qualifications, aiming at Russell Group and global universities — including medicine and other competitive courses.
A separate build for the US college process — GPA-aware, holistic, and honest about what "competitive" means relative to a student's own school.
Jonathan David Marchant — Head of Senior School, Epsom College Malaysia
Jonathan has spent his career inside the rooms where these decisions get made — as Deputy Head Academic at Fettes College, Head of Sixth Form at Cheltenham Ladies' College, and now Head of Senior School at Epsom College Malaysia. Along the way he built an extensive track record guiding students into Oxford, Cambridge and beyond, work that has been recognised in The Times and K-12 Digest.
His interest in AI and curriculum innovation isn't new either — he founded EET, an educational-technology initiative, while at Fettes. Optimum is the next step: turning two decades of pathway guidance into something every student can access, not just those at schools with a large university guidance team.
Pricing below reflects one working model for launch — figures are illustrative and open to revision once early users and school partners confirm what a fair fee looks like in practice.
These figures are suggested starting points, not confirmed pricing — they're designed to sit comfortably below comparable university-guidance software while still funding ongoing development. Final pricing should be sense-checked against comparable tools before publishing publicly.