That point about the yield is a really good one. I looked back at some schools that one might think of as typically serving as “safeties” for BS students, and some of them admit pretty much everyone who applied (i.e., they just don’t care about their yield) and others were still quite selective, denying admission both above and below the average.
I agree you can spot the colleges that care about yield on Naviance. Then again, that would put them into the category of a college which must be visited, and to which you need to “demonstrate interest.”
I don’t know if I’d call it “just don’t care about their yield.” Some of the schools are notably selective. It’s more that they can make a rational guess as to where they stand in the pecking order. They may accept 12, for an average gain of 2-3 students. They don’t expect to get 12 students, but they also know that they have a good chance to catch some wonderful students.
Ok, fair point, @Periwinkle. I guess maybe that wasn’t the best way of referring to it. But I’m looking at a couple of schools that accepted literally almost every single student who applied, even if the student had near-perfect test scores and a GPA a full point higher than the average. I would venture to guess that these schools knew full well that they were very unlikely to have those students matriculate. It’s a pretty dramatic comparison to some other schools that I would “rank” as being similar, but who largely reject those near-perfect GPA/score kids, presumably because they know they’re not going to matriculate. The former group of schools has made a decision that even if accepting those kids drives their yield numbers down, they don’t mind because there’s at least some chance that one or two might accept. The latter group of schools seems to weigh those factors differently, and conclude that since those kids are very unlikely to attend, they may as well reject and protect their yield. Neither approach is right or wrong, just interesting to see the difference.
Just got my DD (current HS senior) squared away with her college decision and realized that the school had created an account for DS (current 9th grader) and posted his 1st semester grades and PSAT scores. Ugh … waaaaay too early! We weren’t given access to it until 10th grade for DD. Sigh.
On a humorous note, when DD had her first meeting with her college counselor in the spring of 11th grade, the CC opened Naviance and remarked that I had logged into my parent version 112 times already. DD was embarrassed but the CC told her she was glad to see that I was using the site. Um, yeah, you could say I had been familiarizing myself with Naviance ;))
D’s school does not participate in the Naviance Parent Questionnaire but her GC asked parents to answer some open-ended questions to help her write recommendations.
D used Naviance only when required to do so. She didn’t take a very active role in college selection at all. We have serious need of FinAid so it actually worked better for me to analyze CDS financial data, present colleges to D, and work from there. Of course we started by building a list of selection criteria together, then I basically did the work of a college consultant.
I found the scattergrams very helpful. I felt I got an instant snapshot of chances in a very broad sense. Our acceptance data went back more than 10 years! Maybe because it’s a very small school. I don’t think D applied to any schools where she was under the bar. At some she appears to be a shoo in, others she is borderline and acceptance will probably depend on a lot more than stats.
After looking at a scattergram I made sure to check the list showing acceptances by year since college admissions seems to be getting more competitive all the time and D’s school’s stats go back over a decade. And, indeed, there were a fair number of cases where the scattergram and the overall % accepted didn’t look too bad, but when I looked at the list I’d find, for instance, there had been no admits in the last 4 or 5 years.
Definitely some colleges like the students at D’s school and a few seem to dislike. With a small sample some of that could be random. I loved the “overlap” feature showing if a student applied to X College, they also applied to Y College. Traveling down those roads helped me fill out D’s college list.
“created an account for DS (current 9th grader) and posted his 1st semester grades and PSAT scores.”
@GnocchiB Is it standard practice at your kids’ school to have 9th graders take the PSAT? That seems early!
I know one or two schools that have the kids take PSAT in 9th grade. For anyone who repeats 9th or 10th grade then the 10th grade score counts for NMSQ.
@doschicos, yes, the (private) school has 9th graders take the PSAT. We joke that it’s the PP-PSAT for 9th graders.
Yes, schools are the customers; you must be given access through your high school.
my daughter took the psat 8/9 this past december and she’s in 8th grade…it’s crazy. Bottom line (like i’ve posted before) is that the College Board is a business and it’s bleeding market share to the ACT; therefore, they are cutting deals with states to feature their tests as the official state testing vehicle—trying to create additional revenue streams and re-market themselves to keep relevant.
I’m sure you are right, @CroissantMiser, but what an unfortunate trend. To me, one of the benefits of private school was to avoid a lot of the standardized testing that comes along with public school these days. I also don’t think students need to feel the impending stress of the college process earlier than necessary.
I think it’s counterproductive to start the PSAT before sophomore year. There’s a difference in maturity. Before a certain point of maturity, I think it makes kids too nervous about the future. I hear from friends of middle schoolers worried about college admissions. There’s no need for that. It’s counterproductive and downright silly, because there are more than enough fine colleges to take them all.
I am following reports on the first iteration of Common Core. I think children in schools with solid instruction in writing and a content-rich curriculum (real history, geography, science, English, etc.) will do very well on the exam, without the aggravating test prep.
totally agree…the entire system is out of control…i’m closely watching the test-optional trend as well. The general population may applaud this “ideal;” however, a closer look reveals these institutions are using this as a way to make themselves more selective, by increasing admissions (see GW) which allows more rejections which results in more selectivity and higher rankings/desirability. In GW’s case, they admitted 45% last year which was a huge jump from typical low to mid 30% rate b/c of huge budget shortfalls and some declining enrollment…“coincidentally” they decide to go test optional this year and their applications rose 28% which will enable them to start to to move that 45% acceptance rate down…it’s a complete and total business and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.