<p>Okay, fellow parents of 2013 applicants...am definitely in need of a little moral support here. After feeling great about this weekend--first video prescreen uploaded! tidy little spreadsheet made of when each application is due and who's writing the recommendation! early action and Common App information sorted out! hurray!--I met a bit of a roadblock when one of my S's recommenders asked me to be sure he updated his Naviance account at school. Lo and behold, out of his 15 schools (I know, I know, it's too many) there were SEVEN that can't be listed on Naviance. Several of them are Common App schools, and this doesn't make sense to me, as our college counselors have told us that they have to send CA recommendations via Naviance. Nevertheless, there it is. Confusion.</p>
<p>And for the schools that ARE on Naviance, it's still confusing--S had to list them not as regular decision, early action, etc., but as "other," because he needs his application materials to be sent in early for several "regular decision" schools in order to be able to schedule auditions. Happy as I am that he's doing what he loves and going for it, it's obvious that theater applications don't really fit with The System.</p>
<p>Just made yet another spreadsheet (and I HATE spreadsheets) listing everything by recommender. Thank goodness I work at the school and my colleagues will put up with e-mails and verbal explanations about what is due when and to whom. And as always, deepest admiration to those who have navigated all of this before and gratitude for everyone's advice and support! If you haven't tackled this Naviance thing yet, good luck, and if you know of any secrets or tricks that we haven't figured out, send 'em along!</p>
<p>When you say they can’t be listed on Naviance, are you saying that all of the necessary materials (transcripts, recommendation letters) cannot be sent electronically? I am also confused about a few things for Naviance - sorry, Times3, but I am going to monitor your progress to see how your experience with it goes! LOL! I will feel your pain, tho. </p>
<p>What worries me is the fact that in Naviance, all of S’s schools say they are on the common app, and materials can be sent electronically. But if you look at the website for these schools for the BFA acting program, they have separate applications! It says specifically that students applying to the BFA acting program may not use the comm. app., altho the school does accept comm. app. Now that is fine with us, but our guidance counselor (lovely woman, not too great a counselor) does everything by the numbers and will probably be waiting to see the comm. apps. submitted for these schools before sending the other materials.</p>
<p>I have already sent her an email giving her a heads up that we will need materials sent to a few schools early, and it will be a lot of emails, I’m sure. Times3 - you are lucky to be right at the school to coordinate all of your son’s apps! And congrats on all the progress you guys have made so far.</p>
<p>Quick reply: S had to list all of his schools on his Naviance account by using a drop-down window. Seven of the schools weren’t “in there.” I didn’t check to see if he could list them by hand–that will be next, I guess? They just weren’t an option. I’ll let you know what I find out!</p>
<p>Which schools have separate applications for the BFA–i.e., won’t let you use Common App for BFA even if they use it for “normal” admissions? Now I’m convinced I must’ve overlooked stuff, 'cause I’m pretty sure our boys are applying to at least some of the same schools… </p>
<p>Okay, we’ll make a pact to keep updates posted here! My head’s really gonna 'splode. <em>_</em></p>
<p>Ah, see, I had only ever seen the “special” app for Hartt–does U. Hartford use the common app? Purchase isn’t on the list… I will double check the Hartt one though. I did notice that they need 2 artistic recommendations. And I never had a chance to talk to the college counselor, but S is meeting with him tomorrow, so we hope to figure out at least some of it!</p>
<p>Well, we are glad you have not abandoned us 2013’s, glassharmonica. Just knowing you have survived it all, is good news! I gotta tell you that every time I see your name I think of the time someone referred to you as “glass menagerie”, and I crack up!</p>
<p>Times3 - We did find both Purchase and Hartt in Naviance (now I know what you are talking about - you mean were it says “colleges I’m thinking about”). They are in there as SUNY Purchase and Hartt School. Hartt School is listed as part of U of Hartford, but no info comes up for it, so I don’t know if it really should be down as just U of Hartford.</p>
<p>Also, I guess S told the guidance counselor today that he is doing Ed at BU. Here we go again . . . Only difference between his and my daughter’s experience is that S did spend 5 weeks at BU so he does have enough to make a decision on.</p>
<p>Today was the first day of school - really rough for my students. Can only get better!</p>
<p>All this talk of Naviance is making me feel so old! When my D applied, it was all paper apps that got mailed through the good old snailmail method of delivery. :)</p>
Thanks, Marbleheader! When I think of your name I visualize a person with a huge marble for a head! It’s funny about these CC handles. I always thought of SDonCC as the Spanish Se</p>
<p>D’s school implemented Naviance last Fall right in the midst of her already-in-progress application time. I found it more of a tracking tool for the school’s purpose because D was already beyond deciding where to apply as a MT major and already knew what applications needed to be submitted and when, so it was more…going back to fill in the information.</p>
<p>What I did like was looking at the scattergrams at the end of the year to see where kids from D’s school had applied and were accepted and with what stats. Some were super surprising.</p>
<p>Naviance is simply another TOOL for the toolbox, but no more important that what one can learn on College Board or on blogs like CC! Don’t stress ; )</p>
<p>Those scattergrams are helpful! Where Naviance becomes a bit more stressful is when you have to use it to upload everything–our school has gone to this method now. Students have to list all of their schools plus deadlines on Naviance, and as a teacher, I have to write my recommendations, save them as PDF files (below a certain file size), copy and paste it onto electronic letterhead, and upload them to Naviance. The system doesn’t let you discriminate (i.e., say for my son’s account, Teacher A sends recommendations to this batch of schools while Teacher B only sends them to a few)–the college counselors have to do all that by hand, which makes things more complicated for all. That’s the source of the stress, alas! We still have seniors who don’t understand that they have to put their schools on Naviance (not just on the Common App itself) in order for the school to process their apps and for teachers to enter our recommendations. And of course for theater kids it’s even more convoluted because they might not be applying ED or EA, but they still have to get their applications in early in order to schedule auditions…I’m sure my colleagues in the college counseling office cringe when they see my name on an incoming e-mail! :/</p>
<p>However, my son’s problem was solved… He was trying to select his schools on Naviance using an iPad, and it didn’t work the same way. As long as it’s all done on a computer (vs. a mobile device), he’s fine. Whew! And just to reiterate, what MrsDrz says is true–Naviance is helpful for seeing if you’re in the ballpark for a certain school, although it doesn’t reveal any of the non-statistical factors, like athletics, legacy status, or…AUDITIONS! :)</p>
<p>Times… Naviance can be a pita… but one thing that I really liked, which you probably don’t know yet, is that you will be able to see when the schools download the app, test scores, LOR’s and supplements. I remember my S uploading his supplements and then the next day it will tell you… " downloaded by school". I really liked being able to cross that off the list…and it was a LONG list.</p>
<p>Naviance is a real pain. Last year we couldn’t pay for the common app for BU until we listed his recommenders and put it in. But then I got a call from the school telling us we shouldn’t have put it on the common app. I had to go in and take them out and then put them in naviance and then put them back in.</p>
<p>A word of caution about the scattergrams–they are marginally meaningful for BFA theater programs. My son was admitted to the “University” but not the theater BFA program at some schools–artificially looking like he was accepted. He was not admitted to some schools though his GPA/test scores were light years beyond the average accepted at that school because he wasn’t admitted to the audition BFA program. </p>
<p>That’s the way it goes with audition programs. The scattergrams are only valuable if the school will not even consider you if your scores are way below their norm (BU and NYU come to mind).</p>
<p>Hey, both 5boys and abtsmom, thanks for both of those helpful observations about Naviance. I will steel myself for complications to come, with the consolation that at least we’ll know when schools have received materials. Re: your BU warning, our college counseling office already has said they’ll have to send my S’s recs “by hand” as Naviance won’t let them fine-tune the recipient list. At any rate, that part is done by the school and not by us (thank goodness)! And abtsmom, your last comment is exactly what I was referring to about the scattergrams–they don’t reflect anything outside of scores and GPA. And it’s based on the GPA that we report, which can be quite different from the way each college recalculated it. However, the scattergrams are actually more useful if you’re looking for a straight-up nonaudition academic safety school. For both my sons, we’ve been able to look at some safety options in terms of past admissions from our school and at least see whether the boys’ stats were in the right range. That’s about the only benefit i can see, though! ;)</p>
<p>^^^ yes, definitely true about scattergrams and BFAs, but for those schools that require an academic acceptance prior to audition one can check out the ball park : 0</p>