COURSE PAiLOT

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Inspiration

The sheer number of possible college majors, minors, and electives could make the transition from high school to university seem like an insurmountable mountain to climb. If they don't know how their hobbies relate to possible majors and future careers, many students have a hard time making educated selections regarding their academic careers. We created COURSE PAILOT to make this process easier. With the aid of our website, students can confidently plan their academic futures by creating individualized course schedules and receiving major and minor recommendations based on their specific interests.

What it does

COURSE PAiLOT is a website that helps recently graduated high school students plan their college courses and suggests majors and minors based on their preferences. Here’s how it works: Interactive Quiz: Students answer a series of questions about their academic background, interests, career goals, and learning styles. Personalized Recommendations: Using the quiz data, COURSE PAiLOT generates tailored course schedules and recommends majors and minors that align with the student’s aspirations. Up-to-date Program Data: Our web-scraping engine collects current information on courses and degree requirements from reliable sources, ensuring recommendations are accurate and relevant. Profile Dashboard: Users can view and modify their recommended course schedules, take the quiz again, and download their personalized plans for future reference.

How we built it

COURSE PAiLOT was built with a powerful tech stack designed to ensure accuracy, speed, and user engagement: Frontend: Developed with Next.js and TypeScript for a responsive, interactive, and type-safe user interface. Backend: Firebase serves as our secure, scalable backend solution, enabling real-time data management and user authentication. Data Collection: We used Python with BeautifulSoup and Requests to web scrape and pull detailed program and course information from various sources, keeping our data fresh and relevant. Data Processing: Python libraries parse and organize the scraped data, which is then fed into our recommendation engine. Recommendation Engine: The engine leverages user responses from the quiz to generate personalized academic plans, built with TypeScript for seamless integration with the frontend.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was ensuring data accuracy when scraping information from multiple sources. We had to overcome issues with inconsistent formatting, frequent website updates, and occasionally blocked access. By implementing error handling and periodic data checks, we ensured the integrity and reliability of our recommendations. We also wanted to ensure that the user experience was intuitive, even for those unfamiliar with online academic planning. We spent significant time on UX design, making sure every feature was accessible and user-friendly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Dynamic and Personalized Recommendations: Our app doesn't just generate static schedules; it crafts each schedule and recommendation to fit the student's unique profile. Automated Data Collection: Through our sophisticated web scraping setup, we’ve automated the process of gathering and updating course and major data, so users can always rely on the latest information. Scalable Infrastructure: COURSE PAiLOT is built on Firebase, allowing us to scale easily as we grow our user base without compromising speed or security. Seamless User Experience: We’re particularly proud of our UI/UX design, which allows students to navigate their academic options effortlessly.

What we learned

Expanding Compatibility: We plan to integrate with more university data sources to expand our reach beyond Penn State, giving students nationwide access to personalized planning. Enhanced AI Suggestions: Using advanced AI techniques, we aim to refine our recommendation engine to provide even more tailored suggestions, factoring in future job market trends. Mobile App: **To make COURSE PAiLOT even more accessible, we’re planning to launch a mobile app that brings our powerful academic planner right to students’ fingertips. **Community & Peer Reviews: We envision a community feature where students can share their plans, offer feedback, and explore paths taken by their peers.

What's next for COURSE PAiLOT

COURSE PAiLOT empowers students to make informed decisions about their academic futures, taking the guesswork out of course and major selection. By offering a user-centric, data-driven platform that combines cutting-edge web technologies, COURSE PAiLOT is not just an app—it’s a trusted academic advisor, always at your side. Join us as we help students navigate their paths to success!