Pre-College Buddy
May 20 – July 31 • 22 hours/week default

Summer should feel ambitious, practical, and sustainable.

One workspace for programming, circuits, math refresh, SSGI Green Belt only, business + econ, communication, and wellness — with curated resources and supportive reminders.

Vanderbilt ECEBusiness + Econ minorsPortfolio-ready projectsGreen Belt only

Anchor outcomes

  • Finish SSGI Green Belt by about Week 4-5
  • Ship one portfolio-ready coding project by Week 8-9
  • Complete 4-6 hardware mini-labs
  • Update resume, LinkedIn, and portfolio by end of summer
  • Main GitHub repo for summer portfolio project
  • ECE practice snippets repo
  • Lab notebook for hardware builds
  • Math readiness checklist
  • DMAIC mini-project summary
  • Freshman resume PDF
  • Elevator pitch draft

Seven tracks

Each track has a default time, goals, starter tasks, and resources.

Track A7 hrs/week

Programming Foundations & Projects

Push from early intermediate to solid intermediate using modular Python, Git/GitHub, APIs, and one portfolio-ready project.

Sample progress: 22%
CS50PPython docsGitHub Skills
Starter tasks
  • Finish Python functions/modules refresh
  • Complete one ECE-themed Python script
  • Start portfolio-ready project repo
  • Document README + screenshots
Track B4 hrs/week

EE Fundamentals & Hardware

Build comfort with Ohm's Law, Kirchhoff's Laws, Arduino workflows, sensors, and one showcase circuit.

Sample progress: 14%
Arduino DocsFalstadLTspice
Starter tasks
  • Blink + button lab
  • Simple sensor read
  • Circuit sim in Falstad or LTspice
  • Draft capstone shortlist
Track C4 hrs/week

Math & Physics Refreshers

Rebuild confidence in algebra, trig, precalc, conceptual calculus, mechanics/energy, and a gentle intro to phasors.

Sample progress: 18%
Khan AcademyMIT OpenCourseWarePaul's Online Math Notes
Starter tasks
  • Functions + trig review
  • Derivative intuition session
  • Mechanics concept set
  • Complex numbers + phasor intro
Track D3 hrs/week

SSGI Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Green Belt only. DMAIC basics, beginner statistics, and a small personal process-improvement project. No Black Belt content.

Sample progress: 12%
SSGI Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
Starter tasks
  • Enroll in SSGI Green Belt
  • Define + Measure basics
  • Analyze/Improve review
  • Draft DMAIC mini-project
Track E2 hrs/week

Business, Economics & Career Exploration

Microeconomics, business basics, role research, and career reflection mapped to ECE leadership paths.

Sample progress: 10%
Khan Academy EconomicsCFI Resources
Starter tasks
  • Microeconomics basics
  • ROI/NPV concept notes
  • Research 5 target roles
  • Write one reflection entry
Track F1 hrs/week

Communication & Personal Branding

Resume, LinkedIn, elevator pitch, and 60-second technical explanation practice.

Sample progress: 8%
LinkedIn Marketing BlogLinkedIn Learning Personal BrandingCoursera Personal BrandingClass Central Elevator PitchHarvard Catalyst Elevator Pitches
Starter tasks
  • Update freshman resume
  • Draft elevator pitch
  • Refine LinkedIn summary
  • 60-second technical explanation
Track G1 hrs/week

Wellness & Motivation

Mood check-ins, recovery time, sustainable consistency, and weekly reflection.

Sample progress: 28%
Reflection prompts
Starter tasks
  • Weekly mood check
  • Schedule off-time
  • Note one win + one tweak
  • Review workload balance

Weekly planner

Structured tasks: title, topic, duration, and completion. Saved per user once you sign in. 22.0h planned • 0.0h done

11 am - 2 pm

Monday

Tasks
2h
1h
12 pm - 4 pm

Tuesday

Tasks
2h
1h
1h
12 pm - 4 pm

Wednesday

Tasks
2h
1h
1h
12 pm - 4 pm

Thursday

Tasks
2h
1h
1h
12 pm - 4 pm

Friday

Tasks
1h
1h
1h
1h
12 pm - 3 pm

Saturday

Tasks
1h
1h
1h

Resources by topic

Jump here from any weekly task tile to land directly on the resources for that subject.

EE / Hardware

EE / Hardware

Circuits, Arduino, simulation, and hardware fundamentals.

Math & Physics

Math & Physics

Algebra through calculus, mechanics, and phasor intuition.

Business & Career

Business & Career

Microeconomics, business basics, and ECE career exploration.

Communication & Branding

Communication & Branding

Resume, LinkedIn, elevator pitch, and explanation reps.

Primary resources

Core, authoritative sources for first-principles learning.

Khan AcademyPrimary free instruction for algebra, trig, precalc, calculus, physics, and microeconomics.Open resource
MIT OpenCourseWareUniversity-level support for calculus, physics, intro programming, and engineering-style problem solving.Open resource
Harvard CS50PStructured Python course for clean coding habits, functions, and practical programming confidence.Open resource
Python DocumentationReference source for standard library, syntax details, and best practices.Open resource
GitHub SkillsLightweight path for commits, branches, and repository hygiene tied to portfolio work.Open resource
Arduino DocsPrimary source for hardware setup, beginner sketches, libraries, and board documentation.Open resource
Falstad Circuit SimulatorFast visual sandbox for conceptual circuit understanding before or alongside breadboarding.Open resource
LTspiceIndustry-relevant simulator for more serious circuit experimentation and waveform intuition.Open resource
SSGI Lean Six Sigma Green Belt CertificationPaid course access/landing page for the official Green Belt curriculum. Aidan can log in here. Green Belt only — no Black Belt content in this app.Open resource
Paul's Online Math NotesBackup explanations and worked examples for algebra and calculus review.Open resource

Support + premium layer

Optional reinforcement only — use after attempting core material first. Includes Course Hero, StudyFetch, and StuDocu.

Course Hero — EngineeringSecondary explanation layer for engineering topics and worked examples.Open resource
Course Hero — MathAlternate explanations and worked examples for math review.Open resource
StudyFetchTurns uploaded notes, PDFs, and slides into flashcards, quizzes, and AI-guided study sessions.Open resource
StuDocu — PhysicsStudent-uploaded study notes, assignments, and exam-style materials.Open resource

Curated YouTube roadmap

Channels mapped to the weekly rhythm. Pattern: 10–20 min video, 45–90 min hands-on, short reflection.

Programming

Harvard CS50Open channel
freeCodeCamp.orgOpen channel
Corey SchaferOpen channel
Tech With TimOpen channel
Traversy MediaOpen channel

Math & Physics

3Blue1BrownOpen channel
Khan AcademyOpen channel
Professor LeonardOpen channel
Organic Chemistry TutorOpen channel
patrickJMTOpen channel
Michel van BiezenOpen channel

Electrical Engineering

All About ElectronicsOpen channel
AfrotechmodsOpen channel
Ben EaterOpen channel
Neso AcademyOpen channel

Arduino / Build

Paul McWhorterOpen channel
Programming Electronics AcademyOpen channel

Day-by-day mapping

MondayProgramming intuition
TuesdayCircuits + hardware
WednesdayMath refresh
ThursdayBuild day
FridayEE wrap-up + comms
SaturdayPolish + reflection

What's next today

Thursday • pulled from your weekly planner. Mark tasks done in the planner to clear them.

  • 2h Programming
    2h • programming
  • 1h EE Fundamentals
    1h • ee
  • 1h SSGI Green Belt
    1h • ee
  • Thursday2h Programming
    2h • 12 pm - 4 pm
  • Thursday1h EE Fundamentals
    1h • 12 pm - 4 pm
  • Thursday1h SSGI Green Belt
    1h • 12 pm - 4 pm
  • Friday1h Programming
    1h • 12 pm - 4 pm
  • Friday1h EE Fundamentals
    1h • 12 pm - 4 pm

Reminders & nudges

In-app nudges always appear in this tab as a banner. If you grant browser notification permission, the same nudges also fire as system notifications. True scheduled push is future work.

In-app nudges: offBrowser support: yesBrowser permission: default • not persisted (sign in to save)
Browser permission hasn't been requested yet. Enable notifications above — if you decline, nudges will still appear in-app.
iPhone / PWA: open in Safari → Share → Add to Home Screen, then launch from the Home Screen and enable notifications inside the app. True push/scheduled notifications still require service worker push (future work).

Focus mode

Start a focus interval tied to one planner task. We'll send an in-app notification when the time is up.

Focus mode is off.

Weekly reflection

What went well? What was hard? What changes next week?

Mood check-in

Quick weekly self-check to keep pace sustainable.

Profile

AidanVanderbilt UniversityElectrical and Computer Engineering • minors: Economics, Business.