Try Before You Apply

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  Example of virtual experience - MDN

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  Example of virtual experience - MSMF

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  Example of virtual experience - MHPR

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  Explore Page

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  Home Page

The Problem

A key challenge at universities is that students struggle to connect with each other in meaningful ways. While campuses offer plenty of opportunities—clubs, teams, events—many students don’t know where to start, feel overwhelmed, or aren’t sure what suits them. As a result, these opportunities often lead to surface-level interactions, and students miss out on the deeper sense of connection, purpose, and belonging that comes from being part of something they’re passionate about.

The Solution

From our own experience, we found that the most meaningful connections came through shared interests, particularly in student teams. But a common barrier is not knowing what a team actually does or whether it’s the right fit. During COVID, team discovery moved online. While limited, this shift revealed a new opportunity: low-pressure, virtual experiences that give students a feel for a team’s culture before committing.

Try Before You Apply is our proposed solution—a central platform where students can explore university teams and what they offer. Each team includes an interactive virtual experience, giving students a hands-on preview of what it’s like to be involved. It’s simple, engaging, and helps both students and teams find better matches.

How We Built It

With no prior experience in web development, we started by setting up React using a basic tutorial. Since we were learning React as we built, we chose to avoid CSS frameworks and instead used vanilla CSS for styling. We also relied on effective ChatGPT prompt engineering to help format and structure the website efficiently.

Challenges

As none of us had web development experience, we chose React for its strong documentation and community support. Setting up a database proved challenging, so for our MVP, we kept things simple by storing team data directly in the app, allowing us to focus on the core experience without backend complexity.

Built With

• css
• react