FIU CourseBuddy

Inspiration

We wanted to make course planning at FIU easier and more personalized by combining AI with real degree requirements. Students often struggle to balance prerequisites, electives, and credit loads, so we set out to automate that process intelligently.

What it does

FIU CourseBuddy analyzes a student’s completed classes, major, and credit goals to generate an optimized schedule using Gemini AI. It also offers an academic assistant chatbot to answer FIU-specific advising or prerequisite questions instantly.

How we built it

We used React + Vite for the frontend and integrated the Gemini API for AI-driven reasoning. All student and schedule data are stored locally through browser storage, ensuring quick, private, and offline-friendly use.

Challenges we ran into

Parsing and structuring course data in a way the AI could reason about accurately was tricky. We also had to debug multiple version conflicts and routing errors to make sure the app ran seamlessly with Vite.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating a clean, responsive web interface that brings real academic value to FIU students. Getting Gemini to output valid, structured JSON schedules was another key milestone.

What we learned

We learned how to integrate generative AI models safely into a frontend-only environment. We also gained deeper experience with React Router, state management, and handling API results dynamically.

What's next for FIU CourseBuddy

Next, we plan to add account login, cloud sync, and integration with FIU’s actual degree audit system. We also want to include a smarter advising engine that recommends minors, electives, and internships based on interests and GPA.

Built With

• api
• gemini
• javascript
• json
• jsx
• react
• vite