A UPenn master’s student has launched a social app that links users across prestigious universities through simple email verification — with plans to expand into FAANG, M7, Big 4, and other elite networks.

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What if every Ivy League student could connect in one place — not just within their own school, but across all eight institutions?

That’s the idea behind Circles Verified, a new social networking app developed by a master’s student in Penn’s AI program. The app connects users based on verified organizational affiliations, creating “Circles” that span entire prestige networks. All it takes is verifying your email.

As an example, a Harvard student verifies their .edu and instantly gains access to Harvard Circles, the Ivy League Circle, and more — connecting them with classmates around shared interests and with peers across all eight schools.

For the first time, these universities are unified in one place.

How It Works

Verify your email, earn a badge, and unlock access to every Circle associated with that affiliation.

One verification opens multiple doors. A single .edu email verification grants access to your school’s internal Circles for connecting with classmates, plus broader network Circles like Ivy League for networking across all eight institutions.

Within your school, students find interest-based Circles — pickup basketball, film buffs, hiking, gaming, photography, and more. These are communities of verified students who share your interests on your campus.

Across the network, you can join Circles that span institutions — like the Ivy League Circle, where students and alumni from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell come together.

Inside each Circle, members can:

Create and discover Hangouts — events and meetups with scheduling, location details, attendance management, and Zoom integration for virtual gatherings.

Share Memories — photo posts that live within the Circle’s shared feed.

Post Thoughts — text-based discussions with an option for anonymity.

Message in Chat Rooms — topic-based channels for ongoing conversations within the community.

A Penn student might join the Penn Pickup Soccer Circle to find games on campus, the Penn Film Circle to discuss movies with classmates, and the Ivy League Circle to connect with students across all eight schools — all verified, all in one app.

Currently Live: Ivy League and Top Universities

Circles Verified currently supports the Ivy League and other top universities. Students and alumni from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, and others can verify their emails and join both their school’s internal interest-based Circles and the unified Ivy League Circle.

The app also supports other leading institutions, allowing students to connect within their own schools and across peer networks.

On the Horizon: FAANG, M7, Big 4, and More

The model is built to scale beyond universities. Circles Verified plans to expand into professional prestige networks, including:

FAANG — Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Netflix. Employees across all five tech giants will be able to connect in a single Circle.

M7 — The top seven MBA programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Wharton, Booth, Sloan, Columbia Business School, and Kellogg.

Big 4 — Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG.

MBB — McKinsey, Bain, and BCG.

The same email verification system applies. A Google employee would verify their @google.com email and gain access to both internal Google interest Circles and the broader FAANG Circle. An MBB consultant could connect across all three elite firms.

Prestige Networks, Finally Connected

These networks have always been valuable. Ivy League students and alumni help each other. FAANG employees move between companies. M7 MBAs recruit from each other’s programs. But until now, there was no single place where these cross-organizational connections could happen.

Circles Verified changes that. By using email verification to confirm affiliations and building Circles at both the interest level and the network level, the app creates communities that simply didn’t exist before.

The value proposition is straightforward: your affiliations matter, and now you can actually use them. Find pickup basketball games on campus. Discover events across your network. Meet people from peer institutions. Build relationships based on shared interests within verified communities.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/circles-verified/id1670176496

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renelabs.circlesocial&hl=en_US

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Circles Verified is available now on iOS and Android. The app is developed by Rene Labs.