Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

No Naviance, Parchment, or anything else here in a small town in the Pacific NW. Our school helps support xerox and the postal service since school reports/transcripts still go out the old fashioned way!

Does your child’s naviance update SAT scores? It does not show updated scores for my DD’s school naviance.

GCs have to enter SAT scores into Naviance

@3scoutsmom Thanks a lot.

@4kids2graduate Parchment is free. You can sign up anytime.

@NYDad513 Our school does not report test scores on transcript, so we have to enter it manually into Naviance. It is under about me-official things-test scores

No Naviance here.

@Dragonflygarden Parchment is awfully generous with S’s chances. yes. We have a free account, not through the school or anything.

@ballerina16 @AsleepAtTheWheel Yeah, we’ve discussed artificial intelligence and he’ll have four years of programming already under his belt. He’s doing Psych AP this year as well as an advanced CS project (which I think he gets to figure out, meaning he’ll probably not make much progress on it). But he is reluctant to major in computer science (kind of the family trade – he has to be different!). I do hope he sticks with the ā€œethics and rhetoricā€ essay he’s outlined. It hammers home two keys points: 1) how much he values argument 2) how much faith he has in humanity doing the right thing (me, I’m a bit more cynical!). I am slowly coming around to the philosophy major.

@petrichor11 Our school does not use Naviance.

@dragonflygarden Thanks for the info about Parchment being for everyone. I looked on website briefly, but did not easily see the benefits of signing up (I am very cautious about signing up for things online until I learn details). Can you share your experience and if you think it is beneficial to sign up? @ petrichor11 @dragonflygarden your comments about parchment being very ā€œgenerousā€ with chances…do you put in stats and schools and it does a prediction?

Yeah-- you enter the schools you’re considering and it compares your profile and, essentially, ā€œchancesā€ you. Which seems to be about as accurate as the average CC chances forum response.

It’s really not helpful for a kid to be going through a nihilist phase while writing college app essays and personal statements. Just saying.

Sigh.

We don’t have Naviance either.

Oh…@dyiu that ā€œsighā€ speaks volumes…I hope things get better! This time in the life of our children can be wonderful, stressful, crazy, heartbreaking, exciting, bittersweet, tumultuous, and erratic…and along the way we hope love and support is enough to help them through it all! Hang in there…and have a virtual glass of wine as needed!

I know our charter school doesn’t have Naviance, but I don’t think the traditional schools either. As far as the benefits of Parchment, I made an account last year thinking it would allow for communication with schools that my daughter was interested in, but I can’t say that it did that at all. I’m pretty sure all the college mail/e mails were a result of the PSAT and SAT. I wouldn’t bother signing up.

@dyiu13, well, could produce some interesting essays anyway!

Well my S’s college list is shrinking. We are now down to 5 schools - 3 that he really wants to attend (he will likely pick one to ED at) and that are probably matches/high matches, our enormous state University and the research university where I ā€œforcedā€ him to interview last week (mostly as a practice run since he had said he didn’t want to apply since it is too close to home). He dropped two other small LACs with engineering since he thinks both are ā€œmeh.ā€ He is adamant that he would be fine with either attending the state flagship or this other University now. I asked him to assure me that it is not just that he doesn’t want to fill out so many applications. He says not…I really hope not. He will visit the top 3 choices again in September. I want to talk to his GC and see if she agrees that he is likely to get accepted to one of these choices–I don’t know whether I should push harder to add a few more to the list.

@momofzag, our S is only applying to 4 schools at this point. Presuming his visit to Temple this fall goes well, that’s his first choice. He’ll probably need to get the top scholarship to go there; he has the SAT score to get it, but his GPA will have to be weighted favorably. He has all honors and AP classes, so that could work in his favor. We visited Ole Miss over the summer, and he said he’d be happy going there. Presuming he’s NMSF (the cutoff would have to be two points higher than it’s ever been and 4 higher than last year for him not to make it), he’d get tuition +room. Even without that he’s eligible for full tuition. Drexel is certain to be unaffordable unless he somehow makes NMF, which is highly unlikely given his grades. University of New Mexico could offer major money, but it doesn’t look that likely. Some sources say they give automatic tuition+ for NMSF, but I contacted them and was told that is not the case. Bottom line is he should be set well before winter break, since his top choices have rolling admissions.

We are applying to 5 schools as well. Only 1 of those is a reach( financially ) and he’s already received provisional acceptance to one. I personally think if you choose wisely with matches and safeties , and you’re not applying to super selective schools , it’s not necessary to have a long list of potential schools. This whole process is overwhelming for me at times, I can’t imagine being a teenager trying to navigate it.

@mstomper - have you considered Alabama as a NMSF candidate? They guaranteed money for 5 years this year.

University of Houston will make it free for NMSF candidates.