An Entire Thread on Naviance and Prep Schools

RedSoxFan18
Fri, 19 Feb 2016 21:03:20 +0000

The CC has a very different view into Naviance than we do as parents. They have access to the full set of demographic data.

I liked Naviance as it gave me window into the process. I’m sure no one will be shocked by my statement that teenage boys away at boarding school don’t always do a good job of communicating with their parents. Naviance let me see which schools he was targeting, it let me see the CC’s assessment of his changes at that school, and let me have access to the scattergrams. Some of the scattergrams results were really enlightening. One that stood out was the best students at DS1s school simply did not get into Claremont McKenna except as ED. Essentially Claremont McKenna decided to many students were using it as a safety school and they were protecting their yield.

If there was anything Naviance showed me it was how muck college admissions felt like a lottery. You look at the scattergram and there are lots of kids below and to the left of your child that were admitted and there were some above and to the right that were denied. That is why I called the scattergrams torture devices. When your child struggles with the process you look at the scattergrams and wonder what the heck is going on. In the end it all worked out for my kid but it was brutal.