TasselTrak

Inspiration

Members of our team have taken unnecessary classes, and academic advisors have sometimes misled some of us into taking courses that were not required, delaying our graduation. We wanted to create a website that allows universities to provide academic advisors and students with a way to visualize different paths to graduation, adapting to the courses students have already completed and the different ways they can organize their semesters.

What it does

TasselTrak helps college students plan their academic journey by creating clear, personalized degree pathways. It allows students to visualize which courses they need to take each semester until graduation while considering prerequisites and degree requirements. By providing different possible paths to graduation, TasselTrak helps students make informed decisions, avoid unnecessary courses, and stay on track to graduate on time. Universities can also use TasselTrak to organize their degree programs and provide academic advisors with a better way to guide students through their academic journeys.

How we built it

We built TasselTrak using TypeScript, JavaScript, and PostgreSQL with PL/pgSQL for database functionality. Our application organizes degree requirements, course prerequisites, and semester schedules to help students visualize their academic progress. We designed the system to allow universities to define degree pathways while giving students a clearer understanding of the courses they need to graduate.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was accounting for the different ways students can complete their degrees. Courses have prerequisites, and students may enter with different credits or have already completed certain requirements. We also had to consider how to organize this information in a way that is easy to understand and navigate.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a platform that addresses a problem we have personally experienced as college students. We developed a system that helps students visualize their academic pathways and better understand their degree requirements. We are especially proud of turning our own frustrations with academic planning into a solution that could benefit other students.

What we learned

We learned how important it is to design software around real-world problems. We also gained experience working collaboratively, organizing academic data, managing course prerequisites, and connecting frontend and backend functionality. Most importantly, we learned how to turn an idea into a functional project within the limited time of a hackathon.

What's next for TasselTrak

Our goal is to expand TasselTrak into a platform that universities across the country can adopt. We plan to customize the user interface for different universities and integrate their specific degree requirements, course catalogs, and academic policies. In the future, we would like to introduce features such as: University Integration: Allow universities to upload and manage their degree programs and requirements. Personalized Degree Planning: Automatically adjust graduation pathways based on completed courses, transfer credits, and student preferences. Course Availability: Consider which courses are offered each semester when generating degree plans. Schedule Optimization: Recommend different semester schedules based on workload, prerequisites, and expected graduation dates. Academic Progress Tracking: Help students monitor their progress and identify missing graduation requirements. AI-Powered Recommendations: Suggest alternative pathways when students fail, withdraw from, or cannot register for a required course. Ultimately, we envision TasselTrak becoming a tool that makes academic planning easier, reduces unnecessary coursework, and helps more students graduate on time.