Naviance - Page 2

BLUMINI · 10-05-2006, 01:46 PM

I understand your points. It's too bad everyone is so worried about this information, though I am sure there are people who would be concerned...if their child applied and did not get in. I hope that I would not care.

Perhaps the best thing is for schools to amass several years' worth of data before publishing it.

Although my daughter's school is quite small, I barely know anyone in her class because it is not a "local" school - people come from all over. I can't imagine taking the time to try to figure out who was who - but I know, it takes all kinds to make this world go around.

Best wishes - I'm glad my daughter's school has it.

LurkNessMonster · 10-05-2006, 01:54 PM

The problem I have with Naviance is that the data aren't broken down for EA, ED and RD. Unless I'm missing something. D's school has acceptance info online in chart format, not scattergrams. The scattergrams are easier to read and compare, but the chart format from D's school has ED, EA and RD breakdowns.

Momof2sons · 10-05-2006, 02:08 PM

My son's school uses Naviance. Colleges with less than 5 or so applicants are not put into the scattergrams or charts. That seems to protect the kids privacy a bit. They do divide out the charts by EA/ED versus RD

northeastmom · 10-05-2006, 02:11 PM

That technique would eliminate most schools for us anyway (hs is too tiny).

Momof2sons · 10-05-2006, 02:18 PM

There are only 100 students per grade in my son's school and most seem to apply to Ivies top LACS etc, so only a few apply to places like St Lawrence, Stonehill, St Mike's etc so those graphs are not complete. They also collate 3 years of data into the charts/scattergrams and that helps with privacy as well

deb922 · 10-05-2006, 03:06 PM

My D's school uses Naviance. It does break down acceptances by EA, ED and RD. It even has an icon for ED/deferred/accepted/waitlist/denied.

We were told when the software was purchased that it was quite expensive. We also have a small school, Naviance can show some strange acceptances. Also as per MOWC, all scattergrams are over 5 students.

mathmom · 10-05-2006, 03:11 PM

Quote:

A school I know well just got it, and there was something of a problem: with only one year's worth of data, it essentially constituted public dissemination of the GPAs and SATs of any student who was the only kid who applied to or who was accepted at a particular school.

Our school got Naviance last year. They put in two years worth of data which helped with the anonymity problem. Even so, some schools they withheld the scattergrams because there weren't enough datapoints. They still give you the average SAT and GPAs in the college match part of the site, and tell you the number of applications and acceptences to all the schools. The site disappeared for a few weeks in August and when it went back up it was minus the scattergrams. I've been meaning to ask where they went - as a visual person I thought they really gave a good picture fast. It still would be nice to know what sort of hooks, ECs etc the candidates had, but you can't have everything!

mathmom · 10-05-2006, 03:14 PM

When we had the scattergrams you could see who got deferred (blue diamonds) And then you could watch the blue diamonds turn red or green depending on the results. Outright rejects were red or green. Still didn't tell you who applied EA and got in, but better than nothing...

HImom · 10-05-2006, 03:48 PM

Our kids' HS had over 200 graduates/year, so it's tough to know which schools each kid applied to & was accepted. My S & his friends generally didn't discuss this, to avoid extra stress, jealousy, more hurt, etc. I think the data (even with out the EA/ED info) is helpful to us as a family. I wish we had SOME info about 2006, but all we have is the final list of where kids matriculated.

northeastmom · 10-05-2006, 05:03 PM

" but all we have is the final list of where kids matriculated"

Our hs will not publish this either. They only publish a list of acceptances (no stats/no names/not disclosing whether the student chose to attend either).

HImom · 10-05-2006, 05:10 PM

I think it's useful to know the names of the Us the kids in your HS are attending, so you can network with the families & see why they chose the school & how the kid is enjoying it. It gives you some point of reference.

They have the list alphabetically by last name & also by the U the kid is attending. I find it a very useful document & will be contacting folks this spring to as we help our D plan college visits & apps. I have the info for 2004-2006.

northeastmom · 10-05-2006, 05:18 PM

HImom, I agree, but I can't do anything about it. The way it is handled is by word of mouth-ie: "where is your son thinking of going? Oh, so and so went there."

Booklady · 10-05-2006, 05:21 PM

Our daughter's school used to publish a list showing the name of each senior and where they were matriculating. Last spring, citing privacy concerns, they changed this to a simple list of the colleges, with a number next to each one showing how many students were attending.

HImom · 10-05-2006, 05:24 PM

Yeah, we can't control the info the HS will or will not release. I guess networking is even more important when the HS doesn't give out as much info as you might like to help with planning. <sigh> The poor counselor is only one man & has to help all the kids at the HS who want to confer with him--there are >200 students/grade in HS. He also has to write all the counselor recs for each senior. Really wouldn't want his job!

epiphany · 10-05-2006, 10:45 PM

Anyone who believes that student data about GPA's, unofficial rankings, & scores are not well known by most people in a particular small class, is either naive or fooling themselves. Or let's put it this way: this information is particularly known about females, among females, as they make it their business to share & inquire persistently. I don't know about male behavior in this regard. Guys being less into the detail generally, it's possible that a guy's profile can remain somewhat anonymous. However, I'll just say that when my daughters went to coed schools, such information was as easily shared as when they went to a single-sex school. LONG before any Naviance scattergram is published; the scattergram merely publishes what is generally known among students, & often (through students) by parents.

Naviance has been fabulous for our school when it comes to college planning. The admittance history is significantly different (better) than the stats published on the college's admissions webpage for the general application pool. (Rates of admission.) I agree, though, the smaller the sample of applicants from a school, & colleges applied to, the less valuable the info for planning purposes. However, sometimes even the negative info can be quite illuminating retrospectively. That is, it became clearer why none of our most accomplished graduates were getting into a couple of particular LAC's in the Northeast: it was because of the size of those colleges combined with the N'East applicant population, which included many N'eastern feeder schools. (I've seen several N'eastern high school Naviance scattergrams for those very same LAC's: same -- or lower -- stat students gaining admission, & often like 6 or 8 students in one year.) This when our same high profile students with a similar elite private education get into HYP regularly. It explained a lot & also relieved us of the effort of applying to those LAC's: much, much more of a long shot than HYP, for us.