Classmates

Classmates

Inspiration?

The idea for Classmates was born from our experiences as students struggling to navigate degree requirements and plan for graduation. Many of our peers found academic advising tools overwhelming and difficult to use. We wanted to build a solution that simplifies this crucial part of the college experience. Our goal was to create a tool that empowers students to make informed decisions based on their unique academic histories and career aspirations.

What it does?

Classmates is a desktop application that utilizes academic transcripts to assist UC Davis students in creating personalized academic course schedules. With AI implementation, it aims to create curated schedules that are intuitively based on the UC Davis curriculum. With the help of Classmates, students can quickly create academic schedules that are tailored toward academic pathways and professional interests. It ensures students stay on track for graduation and reduces the stress often associated with academic planning.

The prototype is above the github link and it accepts a basic cs transcript.

How we built it?

The design was created with Figma. We used react for frontend and fast api for the backend. We used PostgreSQL as data storage.

Challenges we ran into?

We had trouble getting the AI to work properly because we did not realize that the class generation needs to be chronological. Time spent on frontend also ended up being a lot longer than we realized. Our team also struggled with the time constraint of conducting user research within the 24 hour time limit.

Accomplishments that we're proud of?

We’re proud of how intuitive and user-friendly the final product turned out to be.

What we learned?

Throughout this project, we learned the importance of user-centric design and iterative feedback. We gained valuable experience integrating AI with real-world academic data and dealing with complex institutional requirements. Lastly, we learned how to effectively manage a cross-functional team to bring a robust application from concept to reality.

What's next for Classmates?

In the future, we plan to expand Classmates to other universities. We’re also exploring features like real-time advisor chat integration, alerts for prerequisite conflicts, and support for double majors and minors. Additionally, we aim to launch a cloud-based version to allow for easier updates and access. In the long term, our vision is to turn Classmates into a comprehensive academic success platform for students nationwide.