Case study · Limited desktop beta · academic validation in progress
Waylo
A planning aid for community-college students navigating transfer requirements.
Waylo brings a student’s courses, goals, and sourced requirements into a semester plan that shows what is known and what still needs a counselor or ASSIST check.
01 · Context
Why this needed to exist
Community-college students have to assemble high-stakes transfer plans from catalogs, articulation agreements, counseling notes, changing policies, and incomplete personal information. The system asks students to make consequential decisions without one clear, trustworthy view of the path ahead.
I’m at College of the Canyons with the goal of transferring. Waylo comes from wanting the kind of guidance I need myself: specific to the student, grounded in evidence, honest about what is missing, and understandable enough to support a real decision.
02 · Vision
The product direction
The current beta lets a student confirm academic history, choose a supported transfer goal, and review a semester plan with evidence status and outstanding confirmation questions. The first reliable end-to-end pathway is UC San Diego Data Science.
Creator, product thinker, and builder
Product framing, student journey design, evidence model, trust principles, interface direction, and early system architecture.
Status
Limited desktop beta · academic validation in progress
03 · Workflow
How the system works
Confirm academic history
A student signs in, checks courses and grades, and records the context the planner needs before it offers a schedule.
Choose a supported transfer goal
The beta starts with a narrow, reviewed pathway instead of implying that every campus and major has complete coverage.
Review a semester plan
A deterministic planner shows the next term and remaining requirements alongside evidence and confirmation status.
Prepare for a counselor meeting
Unresolved credit and articulation items stay visible so the student can bring specific questions to a counselor.
04 · System map
Student account
Sign-in and academic-history review
Student record
Courses, grades, goals, and constraints
Reviewed sources
Program requirements and articulation evidence
Planner and validator
A deterministic semester plan with explicit status
Counselor review
Questions and uncertain items kept visible
05 · Decisions
What shaped the product
Start with one reliable pathway
UC San Diego Data Science is the first end-to-end pathway; other coverage stays limited until it is reviewed.
Keep uncertain requirements visible
The plan distinguishes verified information, planning suggestions, and items that need ASSIST or counselor confirmation.
Let rules decide schedule validity
The planner and validator handle schedule validity. AI can explain but cannot silently change a plan or verify a missing academic fact.
06 · Trust
Evidence and student agency
Show the source
Recommendations should link back to the relevant catalog, agreement, or policy.
Name uncertainty
Confidence should fall when the data is incomplete, stale, or institution-specific.
Support the decision
Waylo should help students prepare—not replace counselors or make enrollment decisions for them.
07 · Today
What is real now
A limited desktop beta exists with sign-in, academic-history review, and an evidence-backed semester plan. UC San Diego Data Science is the first reliable end-to-end pathway. Other school and major coverage is intentionally limited; uncertain credit and articulation remain marked for ASSIST or counselor confirmation.
What I learned
- The first useful question is what to take next semester; broader transfer planning can follow.
- A narrow reviewed path is more defensible than broad coverage with hidden gaps.
- Unresolved credit belongs in the plan itself, where a student can act on it.
- The beta still needs academic and student review before its usefulness can be claimed.