Re: seeing LORs before they are sent to colleges…
I think there is a box the student checks saying he will not see what is submitted on his behalf. FERPA maybe?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek thanks for posting those youtube links! My favorite line was in the one on writing essays when one of the admissions people said that if a student dropped their essay in the hallway at school, people who picked it up should be able recognize it as that student’s voice/perspective (not exact quote but general idea… illustrating how the essay provides a way to “get to know” the student). I may violate my “hands off” policy re: essays to share that image with DS.
@CaucAsianDad Wow, things I never knew. I feel I was a bad parent.
DS19 could play hours by himself doing blocks, etc, from about two. That worried me a bit but then he also played with older brother so I stopped worrying. Neither talked much until about three.
Now DS19 has strong empathy and great sense of humor.
For all the people saying they wish there was more data in Naviance, and how horrible it is that they can’t see data from even just other schools in their district, I’ll gently point out that not all of us have kids in schools that use Naviance to let us get even the amount of information you’re getting as it is…
And I’ll add that even some of us with C in large publics with lots of data don’t really use it to show chances (the scatter grams) because we are targeting affordable schools that tend to have high acceptance rates (and honors programs). NPC is king in our house.
Naviance at D’s school is not that helpful given her list of schools even though it’s a very large high school. Very few kids have applied over the years. Most kids tend to stay in Texas or nearby states. And then, we aren’t really worried about getting in to any of the schools. The important question is whether she will get enough merit aid to make them affordable.
Thanks for all the comments about how to use CA a and Naviance (or knobby aunt’s per voice-to-text =)) ) regarding letters of recommendation. That was very helpful. I now understand a little better. Watched some videos that support what you guys have said. Still a little confusing. I thought you simply loaded the LORs in Naviance and then the kid could pick and choose the schools to send them to. Why do the teachers need to know the schools (assuming a generic rec)?
And, having 3 teacher recommenders sounds like it could make it complicated.
No Naviance here either! I don’t think it would tell us anything we don’t already know about the reach schools he’s considering, but I’d like some data on acceptance rates for kids from his school w/similar stats for the one we are thinking will be his safety. I hope that his GC will be able to provide some feedback about that in the fall (so far, we’ve received virtually no help with college search from the guidance office, but I’m hoping that will change next year).
Notice how often we say “we” in discussions about college admissions? lol I even have my daughter doing it too. She told me the other day that when her friends ask her about schools she’s considering, she responds, “We are considering…” Oops!
In fact, “we” are finishing up with AP testing today with the alternate day AP Spanish Lang. :)) We’re celebrating with crepes on Sunday. 
@2muchquan IIRC, the article someone linked about the changes to the CA said that students had more control sending LOR. I didn’t pay much attention bc dd only has 2.
@dfbdfb sorry to start the whine train regarding Naviance.
It’s just that it could be such an awesome tool if it could do a few more things. As it stands, it is still helpful. Most of the data that you want regarding average test scores and gpa needed to get into schools can be found all over the web and/or print sources. The graphs/scattergrams of accepted/rejected students can be interesting to look at. I like the historical data feature that lets you see how many kids have applied to certain schools, how many got in, avg stats needed to get in, etc.
Please note, that in my experience, even with access to Naviance there are a decent amount of parents that don’t even use it all. Ever. They let their kids and GC figure it all out. I would imagine there are more fanatical users that really find the data helpful and log in frequently. I’ve only used it sporadically. One time my son and I made a list of schools. Then we checked to see where he might be able to get in, what were reaches etc. Then we reviewed it again after he go some test scores back. I think we are done with analysis part of it, now we’ll move onto the application management part of it I guess. The parents meet with the school GC’s in a week to discuss the whole process.
Maybe someone should design an app that lets you get anonymous feedback from other users of Naviance in other parts of the country. Such as I want the scattergram iinfo on XYZ college from Texas. I type in name of college, some random user can upload general stats to me anonymously and then that info is erased like snapchat.
Could be called AppChat.
@itsgettingreal17 I’m even worse! It’s ‘I’ and ‘my’ that I need to drop. ‘We’ would be an improvement!
Boy, that’s a tall order. But good advice.
I wish I had Naviance to ■■■■■ about :). "Cause you know I would :D.
I’m debating whether or not to schedule a meeting with D’s guidance counselor. My impression of her last year was that she was a straight-up ding dong. I doubt things have changed. She had a bolt through her nose that she had gotten cream cheese smeared on because she was eating a bagel right before (and somewhat during) our meeting. I know you’re not supposed to judge people on this, but the less than professional (or competent) appearance was fortified by her looking at D’s proposed schedule and saying “oh you’re one of those smart kids”. Aaaaand I think we’re done here, I remember thinking.
Both Ds were in a much better mood today. D17 is pretty happy with her GPA, and I’m happy that she’s happy. D18 is looking solid and we’re happy she’s worked so hard to get the grades back up. I’m happy when I’m not getting yelled at.
I am thankful for my CC friend here who goes onto her schools Naviance and enters my kids stats and reports back to me, lol! 
@MotherOfDragons Ugh! That is incredibly unprofessional. Eating during a scheduled meeting and her comment about your dd would have left me fuming that I needed to rely on her for anything.
Unfortunately, the CA requires the GC input multiple times: school profile, counselor letter, and transcripts. You need to have her as an advocate. 
Oh bummer :(. Maybe I should make nice, bring some bagels to her office?
Off to Science Olympiad Nationals in Wisconsin. What’s today’s topic of the day? I have to see how many pages I will be behind by evening
@MotherOfDragons
Don’t forget to take some cream cheese.
@MotherOfDragons bummer about lame GC.
My son’s GC is kind of an older hippy-type Boston sports fan fanatic lady. Not really my son’s favorite kind of lady, but at least she has seen a few things in her day. Her list of schools that she thought my son would be interested in was kind of funny, a bunch of catholic schools and some places in the boonies. Um, we are not catholic and hardly go to church, and my son said he wants to be near “some” action, and that doesn’t mean hanging out down in Amish country.
Both of my kids got their mid-term grades and they both need to hit the comeback trail hard for these next 4 weeks.
I’m fairly certain that son17 will miraculously pull his grades up to 90.2 on the very last day on the very last quiz. He loves the stress I guess.
Very busy right now with school, sports, studies,soccer ref, club soccer,etc. We just need to grind thru it for a few more weeks and we can somewhat relax for a bit.