Inspiration
The inspiration for this project came because we wanted to create a user-friendly application that helps students manage their course selections and academic progress. As students at UCSB, we often found it challenging to keep track of our courses and requirements due to GOLD's difficult-to-navigate UI. We wanted to build a tool that could simplify this process—not only providing a visual representation of a student's academic journey but also allowing them to plan ahead.
What it does
GauchoGraduate is a web app (currently locally hosted) that allows students to plan their academic path with real-time trackers for graduation requirements, including unit limits and required courses. We stress an easy-to-use, intuitive user interface that makes planning less daunting. No more GOLD!
How we built it
The frontend was built using React with Next.js for the user interface, utilizing Tailwind CSS for styling. On the backend, we created a simple JSON-based API to serve course data, simulating a database. We used React’s built-in state management to handle the application’s state, particularly for the drag-and-drop functionality.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into a lot of challenges scraping data for the classes offered at UCSB and major requirements. Initially, we used UCSB's public API, but it didn’t provide the exhaustive collection of class and major information we expected. Another pressing issue was optimizing our search functionality and property checks so that our large dataset wouldn’t slow down the app or make it inconvenient to use.
Accomplishments that we’re proud of
We are proud of how well we problem-solved and brainstormed as a team. Some problems felt too complex when approached individually, but coming together allowed us to take significant steps forward. As relatively new programmers, participating in SBHacks and leaving with a functional, useful application is an exciting achievement for us.
What we learned
We learned that the most growth takes place when you struggle and throw yourself into the fire. None of us had experience with React, data scraping, or presenting data in a polished format before this hackathon. We discovered that programming is about learning as you go—emphasizing the importance of breaking large problems into smaller, more digestible ones.
What's next for GauchoGraduate
Our primary goal is to add value to our fellow Gauchos and eventually scale the platform to other schools. We have many exciting features we plan to implement, such as:
- AI-powered class scheduling recommendations
- Further optimizations for faster runtime and data parsing
- A more colorful and engaging landing page
We’re excited about the future of GauchoGraduate and how it can continue to evolve to support students in their academic journeys.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.