For faculty, departments and advising teams
Advising that starts from the plan the student already made.
Students at your campus build their course plan on CourseTrees, on top of the catalog, the prerequisite map and the program requirements. Pilot departments get an advising layer on the same data. An advisor keeps a roster, each student decides on their own Profile whether that advisor may read their plan, and the advisor reads it live from then on.
Discuss a department pilotHow the roster works
- The student agrees first.
- You add students by email. Each one gets a request on their Profile that names you and your campus. You see a plan only after they allow it, and they can stop at any time.
- What you see.
- The courses they planned, term by term, with their class year and concentration. The courses they marked as taken come along only when the student ticks that box. Grades are never part of it.
- What you keep.
- Notes on each student. A note you mark as shared shows up on that student's Profile, so the two of you read the same thing.
- No student-record upload.
- Nothing comes out of your registrar or student information system. The roster is a list of emails you type, and the plan is the one each student built for themselves. An address that matches no account is kept for 30 days and then deleted.
Coverage varies by university. CourseTrees is a planning aid, not an official degree audit and not a university systems integration: use it beside your institution's own audit and catalog. Any integration would need a separately agreed scope. Final decisions stay with your institution.
Where a map can help
- Faculty
- Show students what comes before your course and where it can lead. Walk through a department map in class or share a course link alongside your syllabus.
- Advising teams
- Open a student’s plan before the meeting. See which prerequisites need checking, what choices remain, and what needs an advisor’s decision, then leave a shared note the student can read afterwards.
- Academic departments
- Review how one program’s course pathways appear to students. Compare the map with official requirements, identify confusing links, and keep a correction log.
Try the tools students use
Start with your university's public catalog and prerequisite maps, then try the planning tools on a sample course path.
Start with one program
A pilot scoped together and supported directly by the founders.
Agree the question. Choose a department, program and catalog year, then name the planning question students find hardest.
Run it with students who opt in. Advisors keep a roster, students accept the request on their Profile, and every advising conversation starts from the plan the student built. Nothing leaves your student records.
Measure what helped. Check answers against the agreed sources, record confusing steps and corrections, and ask students and advisors whether the plan made the meeting better.
We agree deliverables, timing, support, price and acceptance criteria before starting.
Tell us what your students need
Send your campus, department, approximate group size and the advising or curriculum problem you want to work on. We'll use that to scope a conversation.
contact@coursetrees.comCourseTrees is independent and student-built. Meet the team or read our data and sourcing approach.