CampusConnect

Inspiration

I ate lunch alone for three weeks straight after moving from India(Mumbai) to Michigan(Novi). High school cliques felt like fortresses, and "just join clubs!" advice never accounted for how awkward it is to walk into a room where everyone already knows each other. CampusConnect was born from that desperate moment when I Googled "how to make friends as the new kid" and only found cringe-worthy articles.

What it does

Swipe left on loneliness. CampusConnect is a campus-only friendship app that:

Verifies you're a student (no randos!)
Matches you based on shared classes, hobbies, and even cafeteria preferences.
Suggests icebreakers like "You’re in Mrs. Smith’s algebra class too? Want to suffer through homework together?"

How I built it

Tech Stack:

Backend: .NET Core (learned via 3 a.m. Udemy binges)
Database: Entity Framework (translation: glorified Excel sheet)
Matching: A janky-but-functional algorithm weighing shared interests and schedule overlap.
Auth: JWT tokens (after failing spectacularly with cookies)
UI: Bootstrap + duct tape (figuratively). Color scheme inspired by my school’s orange lockers.

Challenges I ran into

The "Ghost Town" Problem: No users = no matches. Solution? Begged classmates to test it by bribing them with homemade samosas.
Overengineering: Wasted a week building a "compatibility score" system before realizing teens just want to meme together.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Built a working prototype that at least I can use
Discovered that "Done" > "Perfect" - shipped an ugly-but-functional MVP instead of getting stuck in tutorial hell
Collected my first user feedback (even if it was just "the logo looks like a potato")

What I learned

Users > Code: No one cares about your elegant algorithms if the app doesn’t solve their actual problem (e.g., avoiding lunch-table awkwardness).
Move Fast, Break Things: My "launch now, fix later" approach got real feedback faster than perfecting the app in isolation.
Solo Dev = 10 Hats: I was the CEO, janitor and tech support.

What's next for CampusConnect

Study Group Mode: Because crying over calculus is better together.
Anonymous Confessions: "Who else thinks the cafeteria tacos are treason against Mexico?" (Hopefully doesn't get chaotic if I have word filters for posting)
Global Emoji Translations: So 🇮🇳❤️🇺🇸 doesn’t get misinterpreted.

If this app helps even one new kid find their squad, I’ll consider it a win. Now excuse me while I go fix the bug that keeps matching people with the principal.