Apply HN: An Automated Undergraduate Advisor and Diploma Management Tool

My first prototype: https://easy-a.net/

We've had 670 users join in the last 3 weeks.

Problem:

If anyone has attended a university you know how challenging it can be navigate getting a degree. There are supposed to be advisors who help you, mentors, fellow students, etc. However, more often than not, you end up missing a class here or there, or take an unnecessarily difficult semester.

I went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champain (UIUC) for a Computer Science degree and we had one undergraduate advisor for over 1200 students. The advisor was great, but he easily worked 12 hours a day, and you had to force yourself in to see him. Even then, he couldn't answer many questions because he simply didn't know everything.

Solution:

My last semester at UIUC our UIUC advisor I was trying to find an interesting way to teach people about FOIA requests[1]. So I decided to make Easy A (https://easy-a.net/)! I FOIA requested the university, and was able to build a website that displayed grade distributions, but also and much more interestingly predict future grades. Then, with users adding a little more information, I was able to predict the estimated workload[2].

The current goal is to partner with the university (as opposed to Koofers or RateMyProfessor), in order to create a more streamline solution to undergraduate advising, teacher feedback, registration, and diploma management.

Importantly, this would benefits to the university because it reduces dropout rate, and improves student throughput. Similarly, students are happier with better grades, an improved registration process, and diploma management.

[1] http://austingwalters.com/dont-be-a-fool-foia-your-school/

[2] http://austingwalters.com/building-easy-beta/