Why HiTA is a Game-Changer
If I could give one piece of advice to students or instructors thinking about using HiTA, it would be – use it. It is an incredibly valuable tool that transformed my learning experience in HADM 4205/6205. It wasn’t just a resource I used occasionally – it became my go-to assistant in the class. It helped me push through some of the most technical parts of the course and deepen my understanding of the material, all without overwhelming the professor or teaching assistants.
HiTA doesn’t just hand out answers, it gives guidance – real, useful hints that force you to think critically and work through problems on your own. That balance was key in my experience. It made me explain what I understood, pushed me to look in the right directions, and prompted me to make connections I might have missed if I were just following a formula or copying a solution. What made it even more useful was that HiTA was trained specifically on our course materials and assignments, so the help it gave was always directly tied to what we were actually working on – it wasn’t generic, it was targeted and relevant.
I started using HiTA early on for problem sets. Every time I got stuck or wanted to double-check my understanding of a concept – whether it was how to think about equity multiples, how to structure a waterfall, or where to find something in a spreadsheet – I’d message HiTA. It was fast, specific, and reliable. I could just ask, get a response, and keep working.
The most valuable use, though, came during the take-home final. By that point, there were no more TAs to reach out to, and the entire project was pretty much a solo mission. HiTA was the main support for students, I believe the data indicates the same. I asked HiTA probably hundreds of questions over several weeks: everything from modeling technicals to more conceptual things and general understanding. Every time, it helped me get unstuck and keep moving. It was the closest thing to having a private tutor 24/7.
It also adapted to how I worked. If I wanted a quick confirmation, it would give me a gut-check benchmark. If I needed a walkthrough, it would break it down step by step. When I didn’t even know what to ask, it would suggest key areas to focus on based on the assignment context. It was way more dynamic than any static document or even a recorded lecture.
One thing I really noticed is how much HiTA made me more independent. In a class where the technical demands were high and every assignment built on the one before, being able to move at my own pace and get just-in-time help made all the difference. I didn’t have to wait for office hours or feel like I was overwhelming the professor. And I didn’t have to dig through a giant folder of PDFs or Excel files trying to find the one relevant slide from weeks ago. Everything I needed was just a question away.
Compared to other courses I’ve taken, this was one of the most smooth experiences I’ve had and where I was the most efficient. HiTA was always available and it actually understood the context of what I was working on and responded accordingly. You can’t say that about Google or even ChatGPT without fine-tuning. As mentioned earlier, HiTA was tailored to our class, and that made it ten times more helpful.
Something else I really liked: the tone. It never felt condescending, and it didn’t overdo it with technicals. It explained things in a way that made sense without oversimplifying. I could go from “I kind of get this” to “I know exactly what’s happening here” in a few back-and-forths. For example, when I was working on equity waterfall distributions with dual hurdles, I got stuck on how to calculate the balance to pay while also dealing with a circular reference in Excel. HiTA walked me through why the circular reference was intentional, how to manage it with iterative calculations, and how to build a formula that balanced between IRR and equity multiple hurdles. It didn’t just help me finish the problem – it helped me understand why the problem was structured that way in the first place.
Looking back, I think that I would’ve spent much more time on understanding the details of problem sets and exams without HiTA. The complexity of the modeling and the volume of small but important details made the last stretch of the course a challenge. It gave me the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and revisit earlier conversations to build on what I’d learned. I am pretty sure that without this assistant I wouldn’t have achieved high performance in this course.
I’d love to see HiTA integrated into more courses. The help that it offers can sometimes be better than human help, while still supporting true understanding. For professors, it’s a great way to offload repetitive questions while still helping students succeed. For students, it lowers the friction to getting help. You don’t need to wait, feel stuck, or get frustrated. You just ask – and keep learning.
At the end of the day, HiTA didn’t do the work for me. It helped me do it better. And for that, I’m very grateful.
About The Author
Irina Chochua