JumboPlan

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Course Descriptions
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Inspiration

At Tufts, especially in the School of Engineering and combined-degree programs, students face overwhelming and confusing degree requirement sheets. Many struggle to understand what they’ve completed, what’s left, and how to plan ahead. This often leads to scheduling mistakes, delayed graduation, and unnecessary stress. As students ourselves, we experienced this frustration firsthand and wanted to build a better way.

What it does

JumboPlan is an interactive degree-planning platform that transforms static degree sheets into a clear, visual roadmap. It automatically tracks progress, highlights unmet requirements, and helps students plan future semesters with confidence. With JumboPlan, students can instantly see where they stand and what they need to do next.

How we built it

We built JumboPlan using a modern web stack with a React/Next.js frontend and a backend that processes degree requirements and course data. We structured each major’s curriculum into modular requirement blocks and connected them to a progress-tracking system. We focused heavily on UI/UX design to make the platform intuitive, responsive, and student-friendly.

Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was translating complex and inconsistent degree requirements into structured, machine-readable rules. Different majors and combined programs often have exceptions and overlapping requirements, which made automation difficult. We also had to balance flexibility with simplicity while designing the interface.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully functional interactive degree planner within a short timeframe
Successfully visualized complex requirements in a simple, intuitive layout
Created a system that adapts to multiple majors and degree tracks
Received positive feedback from fellow students who tested the platform

What we learned

We learned how important user-centered design is when dealing with complex academic systems. We also gained experience in data modeling, frontend-backend integration, and rapid prototyping. Most importantly, we learned how small design improvements can have a big impact on student well-being.

What's next for JumboPlan

Next, we plan to expand JumboPlan to support more majors and combined-degree programs. We want to integrate real-time course availability, advisor collaboration tools, and personalized recommendations. Our long-term goal is to partner with Tufts administration to make JumboPlan an official academic planning platform.