Land research internships before college.

Quill reads any professor's recent papers and writes the cold email that gets you a real reply. The kind that gets you into the lab.

Free during betaNo credit card2-minute setup
Students use Quill to reach labs at
PrincetonPrinceton MITMIT HarvardHarvard YaleYale UPennUPenn CaltechCaltech DukeDuke BrownBrown Johns HopkinsJohns Hopkins ColumbiaColumbia CornellCornell UChicagoUChicago VanderbiltVanderbilt Georgia TechGeorgia Tech UC IrvineUC Irvine Kennesaw StateKennesaw State
quill.ink/compose Example previews, click a researcher
Sample drafts. These are not real outgoing emails, just examples of what Quill writes for you.
Torchen@stanford.edu SubjectHigh school student interested in your work on single-cell RNA-seq

Dear Dr. Chen,

I’m a junior at Westview High in Atlanta, and I came across your 2024 paper on applying variational autoencoders to denoise scRNA-seq data in low-coverage samples, and the part about preserving biological variance while dropping technical noise was something I’d been trying to understand for weeks.

I’ve been teaching myself computational biology through a project on analyzing public 10x Genomics datasets from glioblastoma patients, and your approach made me rethink how I was handling sparsity…

Quill read 7 of Dr. Chen’s papers, drafted in 3.2s
In motion

From a name to a sent email,
in three seconds flat.

Quill reads the papers, finds the angle, drafts in your voice. All before you finish reading this sentence.

Standing by 0.0s
0papers read
0words drafted
100%in your voice
How it works

Three steps from a name to a reply.

Five minutes, start to send. No copy-paste. No "Dear esteemed professor." No generic openers a 16-year-old would never actually say.

01

Find a researcher

Search 2,800+ labs across 200+ universities, or use Quick Draft to email any researcher in the world by typing their info.

02

Quill reads their work

Our AI parses their recent papers, identifies the most accessible angle for a high schooler, and surfaces the specific findings worth referencing.

03

Send the email

You get a draft tuned to your background and their work. Edit anything, attach your CV, send from your own Gmail in one click.

Why it works

Most emails miss
the mark. Yours won't.

Fifty generic emails get one polite no. Ten sharp ones get a real conversation. Quill quietly makes you the second kind.

Generic
Toprof@university.edu SubjectResearch opportunity

Dear Professor,

I am a high school student very interested in your innovative research. I would love the opportunity to contribute to your lab.

I have always been fascinated by your field. Please let me know if there are any positions available.

Sincerely,
A High School Student

2%reply rate
Quill
Torchen@stanford.edu SubjectHigh school student interested in your scRNA-seq work

Dear Dr. Chen,

I'm a junior at TJHSST, and I came across your 2024 paper on applying variational autoencoders to denoise scRNA-seq. The part about preserving biological variance while dropping technical noise stuck with me for days.

I've been analyzing public 10x Genomics datasets from glioblastoma patients, and your approach made me rethink how I was handling sparsity...

28%reply rate

Reads the paper, not the title.

Every email points at a specific finding from a specific paper. Not the abstract. Not the buzzwords. The thing the professor actually argued.

Every lab, one place.

Browse 200+ universities by tier, region, or focus. Or type any researcher's name and have a draft in seconds.

Tracks what worked.

Every send lives in your inbox. See which subject lines, which fields, which approaches got replies. The next batch is sharper because the last one was.

Sent from you, not us.

Quill never sends mail. Your address, your signature, your sent folder, your reputation. We just write the draft.

Sounds 17, not 47.

Tuned to what makes a professor take a junior or senior seriously. No "esteemed sir/madam" energy. No fake credentials.

Your drafts stay yours.

We do not train on your emails. We do not sell anything to anyone, ever. One click wipes everything you have ever written here.

14×
Higher reply rate vs. generic emails
3.2s
Average time to generate a draft
200+
Universities indexed and growing
Live, right now

Real cold emails sent through Quill

0 8 3 1
and counting
The students who break through aren't the ones who email the most professors. They're the ones who actually read the paper, and say something real about it.
Why Quill exists
Pricing

Simple, student-priced.

Start free, upgrade when you are ready to send a real batch.

Free
$0 /forever
Try the whole product
  • 5 AI-personalized emails / month
  • All 175+ universities & curated labs
  • Quick Draft for any researcher
  • Gmail one-click send
  • CV attachment + inbox tracking
Pro
$10 every 3 months
For students serious about landing it. About $3.33 a month, billed quarterly.
  • 100 AI personalizations / month
  • Priority Claude routing
  • Everything in Free
  • Early access to new features
  • Cancel anytime
FAQ

Questions we get a lot.

Does Quill actually send emails from my account?
Yes. Quill never sends mail itself, we open Gmail (or your default mail app) with everything pre-filled, and you hit Send. Emails come from your address, with your signature, and land in your Sent folder.
Will professors know an AI wrote it?
If you generate, send, and don’t edit a thing, maybe. The whole point is for the email to reflect what you actually find interesting, in your voice. Every block is editable. Read it before you send it.
What if there’s no curated lab at the university I want?
Use Quick Draft. Type the researcher’s name, institution, and research focus, Quill builds the draft and infers the email format. Works for any researcher at any institution in the world.
How do you find the recipient’s email?
For curated labs, we use the PI email listed publicly on the lab’s own website. For Quick Draft, we infer the most common academic format (firstname.lastname@institution.edu) and clearly flag it as a guess to verify before sending.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your drafts and inbox live only in your browser’s local storage. We don’t train AI on your emails, don’t sell data, and don’t share anything with third parties. Reset all data wipes it instantly.
Who is Quill for?
Juniors and seniors aiming at top universities, where lab experience is what actually moves the needle on an application. Everything from the template, the AI tone, the way emails are drafted is tuned for that.

Your dream lab is two emails away.

Join the early access list. Free during beta. We’re inviting students in batches.

Students Sign up with a school email and you get Pro for free when it launches — 100 AI-personalized emails every month, on the house.
No spam. We will only email you once when access opens.

Welcome back.

Sign in to continue your research outreach.

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Free forever. Each account gets 5 AI emails per month.

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Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 7, 2026
Short version: Your data stays in your browser. We do not sell anything to anyone, ever. We do not train AI models on your emails. Anthropic processes the prompt we send when you click Generate, but does not retain it. You can wipe everything with one click from your Profile page.

1. Who we are

Quill (“we,” “us,” or “Quill”) is a tool that helps high school students draft personalized cold outreach emails to research labs. This policy describes what information we collect, how we use it, and the rights you have over it.

Quill is operated by the team at quill.ink. For questions about this policy, email privacy@quill.ink.

2. What we collect

Information you give us directly

Information we collect automatically

3. Where your data is stored

Right now, the overwhelming majority of your data lives in your browser’s local storage. That means:

The exceptions are the data sent to third parties listed below.

4. Third parties we use

5. How we use your data

We do not:

6. Your rights

7. Children

Quill is built for high school students (typically 14 and up). We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use Quill or create an account. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us information, contact privacy@quill.ink and we will delete it.

8. Security

See our Security page for details on the technical and operational safeguards we use.

9. Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top and notify active users by email. Continuing to use Quill after changes means you accept the new policy.

10. Contact

Questions? Email privacy@quill.ink.

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Terms of Service

Last updated: June 7, 2026
Short version: Use Quill to send real, thoughtful emails to researchers. Do not spam, do not pretend to be someone you are not, do not break the law. We are a small team, the service is provided as-is, and we are not liable if a professor does not write back.

1. Accepting these terms

By creating an account or using Quill, you agree to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use Quill.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use Quill. If you are under 18, you confirm that a parent or legal guardian has reviewed these terms and approved your use of the service. Quill is designed for high school students.

3. Your account

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

If we believe you are violating these terms, we may suspend or terminate your account without notice.

5. The emails you send are yours

Every email Quill helps you draft is sent from your own Gmail account, through your own mail provider, with your name and signature. Quill is a drafting tool, not a sending tool. You are responsible for the final content of every email you send. Read what we draft before you hit Send.

6. AI-generated content

The AI personalization is generated by Claude, an AI model from Anthropic. AI output can be wrong, weird, or occasionally embarrassing. You are responsible for reviewing and editing every email before sending it. We make no guarantee that AI-generated content is factually accurate.

7. Subscriptions and refunds

When Pro launches, payments are processed by Stripe. Monthly subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled. You can cancel anytime in your account; access continues through the end of the billing period you have already paid for. We generally do not offer refunds for partial periods. If you have a legitimate billing issue, email hello@quill.ink.

8. Intellectual property

9. Service availability

Quill is provided “as is.” We do not guarantee the service will be available 100% of the time, that AI generations will always succeed, or that any specific professor will respond to your emails. We will do our best to keep the service up but make no formal uptime commitment.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Quill, its team, and its affiliates are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you have paid us in the last 12 months (or $50 if you are on the free plan).

11. Termination

You can stop using Quill at any time. We can suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. On termination, your right to use the service ends immediately. We may retain certain data for legitimate business purposes (e.g., billing records) consistent with our privacy policy.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms occasionally. If we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date and notify active users. Continued use after changes means you accept the new terms.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Georgia, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts of Fulton County, Georgia.

14. Contact

Questions? Email hello@quill.ink.

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Security

Last updated: June 7, 2026
Short version: All traffic is HTTPS, the AI API key never leaves our server, your data lives in your browser, and you can wipe everything with one click.

How we protect your data

Transport security

Every connection between your browser and Quill goes over HTTPS with TLS 1.3. Our hosting (Vercel) automatically provisions and renews SSL certificates. There is no way to use Quill over an unencrypted connection.

Storage

The majority of your data (profile, saved labs, sent email log, AI usage counter) lives in your browser’s local storage. It never reaches our servers in the first place. Resetting your browser or clicking “Reset all data” in Profile wipes it instantly.

API keys

The Anthropic API key that powers AI personalization is stored as an environment variable on our serverless function (Vercel). It is never sent to your browser, never visible in our public source code, and never logged. If you choose to bring your own API key for development purposes, that key stays in your local browser only.

Authentication

You can sign in with Google (OAuth) or email + password. We prefer Google because it offloads credential security to Google’s identity infrastructure. Email-based passwords are never sent to any third party.

Payments

When Pro launches, payments are processed entirely by Stripe. We never see, store, or transmit your card number. Stripe is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant.

What we do not do

Reporting a vulnerability

If you find a security issue with Quill, please email security@quill.ink with details. Do not disclose the issue publicly until we have had a chance to investigate and fix it. We will respond within 72 hours and credit you (if you wish) once the fix ships.

Current limitations (honesty disclosure)

Quill is in early beta. We want to be upfront about things that are not yet enterprise-grade:

Contact

Security questions: security@quill.ink.

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About Quill

A startup built by a high school student, for high school students.

Why Quill exists

Most high school students who want a real research internship are stuck with the same playbook: send 50 generic emails to professors, wait, get ignored, repeat. The students who break through are the ones who write emails that show they actually read a paper and have something specific to say about it. That kind of email takes hours per professor to write. Quill takes minutes.

How it works

You pick a lab, Quill reads the researcher’s papers (using Claude), and produces a draft email that references real findings in your voice. You edit it, attach your CV if you want, and send it from your own Gmail. We never send mail ourselves, never store your password, and never share your data.

Who built it

Quill was started by a high school junior who wanted into a lab and got tired of writing the same email forty times. The kind of high schooler this is for is the one who has already tried, who wants a real reply, not just a polite no.

Contact

Reach us at hello@quill.ink.

Step 1 of 3
Skip for now
Step 01 · The basics

Let's start with who you are.

This is what Quill uses to introduce you in every email. You can change anything later.

⌘K
0 / 5 AI emails this month
U
Lists/List

List

Lists/List/University

University

Labs at this university
Lists/University/Lab

Discover labs.

Search across labs at universities you've saved.

Ready to draft your first email?

Pick a lab from a curated list and Quill will draft a personalized email in seconds. Or use Quick Draft to email any researcher in the world.

Quick draft.

Email any researcher in the world. Type who they are and what they work on, Quill drafts the rest using your template + AI personalization. Email auto-inferred from common academic formats.

Who are you emailing?

Required fields are marked with *. Lab name is optional but helps the AI personalize better.

Two sentences max works fine. The more specific, the better the AI personalization.
⚠ Always verify the recipient's email on the lab website before sending

Your outreach.

Every email you send through Quill is logged here.

Your profile.

Quill uses these fields in every email.

About you

Your name, school, year, location, pulled into every email.

Resume / CV

Optional. When attached, Quill auto-adds a line referencing it.

Your email template

The default template, pre-loaded from your skill. Edit anything. The {{lab_field}} token is dynamic, it's set per email based on the lab's research area.

Available tokens: {{name}}, {{school}}, {{city}}, {{lab_field}}, {{salutation}}, {{lastname}}, {{paper_title}}, {{ai_paragraph}}, {{cv_line}}

Default send method

When you finish a draft, this is the option Quill highlights in the Send panel. Switch any time — you can always pick a different option per email.

Triggers the Google permission flow without sending anything. Use it to verify your Cloud Console setup (Gmail API enabled, gmail.send scope on the consent screen, this origin authorized, and your account added as a test user if the app is still in Testing mode).

Personal Anthropic API key Optional

Only needed if you're testing on localhost (where the /api/generate proxy isn't running) or if the deployed proxy is failing. Paste a Claude API key and Quill will route AI generation through your account instead. Stored only in this browser.

Account

Sign out or wipe all local data.

Pick a plan that fits.

Free forever for getting started. Upgrade to Pro for 100 AI-personalized emails every month when you are ready to send a real batch.

Frequently asked

Is the free plan really free?
Yes. You get 5 AI-personalized emails every month, every feature unlocked, no credit card required. Use it as long as you want.
What happens when I hit the free limit?
You can keep using the template version (no AI) or upgrade to Pro for 100 AI generations per month. Your sent emails and saved labs stay yours either way.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel inside Stripe with one click. Your Pro features stay active through the end of the billing period you already paid for.
Do you offer student discounts?
Quill is already built for students. The Pro price is set to be affordable on a teen budget. If a price is still a hard block for you, email us and we will work it out.
What payment methods?
All major debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Cash App. Processed by Stripe.
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