About Plan with Genie

The story

In the fall of 2024, I started 9th grade at Stevenson. Within the first few weeks, I was handed a course catalog the size of a small novel — hundreds of classes, prerequisite chains, weighted and unweighted GPAs, graduation credit minimums — and asked to plan out four years of my life.

It was a lot.

What rescued us — me and my mom, working through it at the kitchen table — was a single Google Sheet. It started as a place to list the classes I was considering, and it kept growing. Columns for each semester. Color-coding by department. A formula that worked out my GPA. Notes on which courses had honors versions and which ones I'd need to talk to a counselor about. Within a few months, that sheet wasn't a worksheet anymore. It was the tool we used to make every academic decision in our family.

Two years later, two things had changed. My classes had given me the confidence to actually build things, and the idea of turning that Google Sheet into real software started to excite me. Our dinner conversations had also shifted, almost without us noticing, from school-day check-ins to what the latest AI models could do. The technology was moving fast enough that I wanted to stop reading about it and build something with it.

The problem to solve was already in front of me. The Google Sheet was useful, but it was ours — built for one student, fragile, impossible to share without someone breaking a formula. So I rebuilt it as software. A real database. A real account system. Prerequisite validation, GPA math, graduation tracking, and a way for parents and counselors to be part of the planning instead of CC'd on a screenshot.

I built Plan with Genie with agentic AI as my engineering partner — not as a gimmick, but as the only way a high school student could ship something this size. The judgment about what to build, and how a planning tool should feel for the family using it, came from being on the other side of it for two years. I'll keep building it through the rest of high school and beyond — the families using it shouldn't have to wonder if it'll still be here when their student is a senior.

What it actually is

The Google Sheet, but built for the whole family — and built to actually work.

Where a spreadsheet breaks the moment a parent edits the wrong cell, Plan with Genie gives every member of the family the right view: students plan, parents follow along. Prerequisites are checked automatically. GPA updates in real time. Graduation requirements stop being a thing you hope you got right.

For students

• Map four years of courses with prerequisites, credits, and graduation requirements checked as you go.
• Watch your weighted and unweighted GPA update in real time as your plan evolves and grades come in.
• Try out alternate plans without losing the one you've been working on.

For parents

• See your student's plan whenever you want, without asking for a screenshot.
• Get the full GPA and credit picture without having to learn the catalog yourself.
• Your family's data stays private. I don't sell it, and student records are protected. Read the privacy policy →

What's next

Plan with Genie is live for Stevenson families today, with more Illinois high schools coming as demand grows. If your school isn't supported yet, request your school — I add schools based on where demand shows up.

On the near-term roadmap:

• Transcript import for completed coursework — summer 2026
• Counselor review toolsso a counselor can comment on a student's plan in-app
• AI-assisted course suggestionstuned to each student's interests and pace
• Career-path alignment, so the four-year plan ladders into what comes after

Important note

Plan with Genie is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any school or school district. Course catalog data is sourced from publicly available information. Plan with Genie is not a substitute for professional academic counseling.