MyMDC Pathway

Inspiration

When students evaluate career choices, they often feel lost trying to understand the full academic and professional journey required to reach them. We wanted to create something meaningful that brings clarity to every step. This led us to build MyMDC Pathway, an AI-driven platform that lays out complete educational pathways starting with the right MDC program and including transfer plans, articulation agreements, internships, and any required exams or certifications. By providing clear options and personalized routes, we help students turn long-term ambitions into organized, guided plans.

What it does

Problem Statement: Many students struggle to understand the full academic and professional pathway needed to reach their desired careers. Most people simply lack exposure to a clear, systematic approach to career planning, one that shows how programs, transfer routes, certification exams, and advanced study options fit together. Without this clarity, students often feel unsure about their next steps, leading to confusion and delays in career choices made without complete information.

Elevator Pitch: MyMDC Pathway is a personalized, AI powered educational planner that helps students map their complete journey from Miami Dade College to their dream career by integrating degrees, certifications, transfers, and professional milestones into one clear and interactive roadmap.

Solution: MyMDC Pathway addresses the problem through four key features:

Career to Educational Pathway: Students input a desired career such as Architect or Mechanical Engineer, and the system instantly generates a complete academic pathway.
Integrated Transfer Planning: Displays recommended bachelor's and graduate programs along with articulation agreements and partner universities, and links for more in-depth transfer information.
Professional Requirements:Highlights crucial milestones including certification exams, licenses, and internships, such as the FE and PE exams for engineering students, along with links for additional exam information.

Primary beneficiaries: MDC students trying to understand their academic pathway.

Secondary beneficiaries: Academic advisors helping students plan their careers.

How we built it

We designed and built MyMDC Pathway using the following tools and technologies: Cursor, Next.js (Node, Tailwind, React, Next), Google Gemini API and Canvas, GitHub, and Discord/WhatsApp for communication.

Challenges We Ran Into

Understanding and implementing the Gemini API: Integrating the API required additional research, testing, and troubleshooting to ensure it worked correctly with our system.
Ensuring correct links for educational pathways: We had to carefully verify that each degree pathway used accurate and functional links, which added extra validation steps during development.
Differentiating majors with multiple variations: Some programs had several similar versions, making it challenging to correctly categorize and display them within the pathway generator.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

Improved accuracy of pathway links: We significantly enhanced the reliability of the links used across all educational pathways, ensuring students are directed to the correct program pages without broken or incorrect redirects.
Increased precision in the pathway flow chart: We refined the structure and logic of the educational pathway flow charts, making them more accurate, consistent, and reflective of real academic progression.
Effectively meeting time constraints: Despite the fast-paced nature of the hackathon, we managed our time efficiently and delivered a functional prototype within the required timeframe.

What We Learned

Being more linear with our time: We realized that working in a clear, linear sequence was far more effective given the tight time constraints of a hackathon. This helped us stay organized and avoid the bottlenecks we experienced in previous events.
Stronger team collaboration: Working together on both software development and documentation proved highly efficient. Clear communication, shared responsibilities, and version-controlled workflows helped us move faster and stay aligned.
Prioritizing a single user flow: We learned that focusing on one core user flow first, then expanding step by step, is far more effective than trying to build multiple flows at once. This approach kept development streamlined and prevented unnecessary complexity during the hackathon.

What’s next for MyMDC Pathway

Add new visualization options, including different graph and chart styles, to help students better understand degree progressions and pathway structures.
Implement a comparison feature that allows students to view multiple educational pathways side by side and evaluate which route best fits their goals.
Further iteration and optimization of the functional prototype.

Discord: christianorozcofl / ggela123