<p>My school uses Naviance, which has college acceptance data in it. However, I don't think it seems very accurate. For one thing, most schools have only a handful of students from my school accepted in my school's lifetime. For example, Harvard has had a total of 6.</p>
<p>Additionally, this is spread out over many years. Obviously, admissions have changed over time to become more competitive. This is really raising red flags, especially since the results look way too easy.</p>
<p>Ex. Harvard average acceptance at 3.7 GPA.</p>
<p>So, can I rely on this data to be accurate? Or should I turn elsewhere? If so, what are good sources?</p>
<p>It clearly depends on your school. it's definitely possible all 6 of those harvard students were recruited athletes or sons of governers, etc, and thus got in. Or maybe they wrote great essays and the adcoms loved them. Naviance is a tool to help gauge your chances of being admitted. If you fall in the range of average gpa and SAT scores then you have a decent shot, but that doesn't mean if you don't fall in the range then it's automatically a reach. Naviance only considers 2 factors of admissions; there are over ten factors in each students application.</p>
<p>The data itself on Naviance is accurate, but you have to consider the context. For example if only two students from your school have ever applied to a particular college and they are both top students, you might think that you have to have that level of grades to get in. Obviously the data is much more useful for a college (such as a large state university) which has received many applications from your school. I would talk to someone in your guidance department. They cant give certain info due to confidentiality, but they might give you some insight that will help.</p>
<p>The data is entered by your school. I can tell you that for my kids' school, there are many obvious problems with the data (inconsistencies, missing years, etc.). You have to take the data with a grain of salt, but it can be useful. It won't tell you something specific, like whether you will get into Harvard, but it will, in general terms, tell you how students with a particular grade/score profile have done over the years.</p>
<p>Well, my GPA and other scores are well above the Naviance averages for all schools from my school, so I'm hopeful. I certainly won't depend on it exclusively, but it should help.</p>
<p>toledo, I'm not actually sure how many years it's over. Might just be 3. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Our info on Naviance is over only the past two years. And each year is broken out. I did the % of admits to see how well it fit with the college's percentages and it was clear we did better than the average applicant for some top schools. However, it was clear that one class might have been in line with a school's overall feeling than others. For example, one year we have five of six applicants accepted, but only two choose to attend. The next year it could be the exact opposite. Or 3 out of 11 and all decided to attend. I think, taken over the context of the whole, is the only way to reasonably assess these numbers. We also don't necessarily list GPA, but only SAT and ACT test scores. But when you add the scattergrams, it starts making a lot more sense (i.e., athletes, maybe legacies, URM, etc). </p>
<p>Personally, I think you can certainly use this range to see where you might fall, but if you are on the bubble (in the 50-75%), none of it really tells you much because it's based on too many subjective things at that point.</p>
<p>Where does the Naviance data come from? I assume it has to be self-reported by the student, right? Colleges don't notify high schools whether a student is accepted or not, correct? If that is the case, I could see a kid lying about whether or not he/she was accepted by a particular college in order to save face.</p>
<p>Actually, I doubt the data is intrinsically wrong. In my school, the counselors put it in.</p>
<p>Wouldn't they know if a student was accepted? Don't most colleges ask for some additional info on attending students, such as final semester grades or confirmation of graduation?</p>
<p>The statistics (ethnicity, cumulative GPA, test scores, etc.) are inputted and tracked by guidance counselors and/or secretaries at your school-- at least that's how my school does it.</p>
<p>Not all of it is accurate. Take this example: It lists Elon University’s athletic teams to be all D1-AA, when infact this is not the case at all. Only the football team is D1-AA; the rest are D1 (Divsion 1). </p>
<p>If that’s wrong, so can anything else. That has nothing to do with context.</p>
<p>At my school, Naviance is mostly accurate for every university except the Ivies and MIT. Admissions at those schools always look kind of random because of legacy and athletics.</p>