<p>I sincerely hope that sophomore PSATs are not indicative of SAT performance. Otherwise D will be lucky to get into community college (all right, that's a CC exaggeration). She has been practicing, and those tests show a marked increase, particularly in Math where she is flirting with a possible 80. I guess we will know for sure after October. When do those PSAT scores come out? Does anyone know?</p>
<p>This is the first time parents at D's HS will be given online access to the school's Naviance data. The head of our Guidance Dept. made it clear that it's only as good as the results that have been reported. In other words, the school only has the data that the students have provided regarding acceptances/deferrals/waitlists/rejections. That information is sent by the colleges to the students, not to the school, so Naviance is only as good as the information the school has received. Additionally, he mentioned that they only include schools to which more than 4 students have applied because they don't want students to be easily identified. But you're right scualum, if only one of the 4 is accepted to a college, then yes, that person is easily identified.</p>
<p>In our case, the GCs are the ones that input the acceptance/rejection data - and I know they don't do it as DS who graduated in 2008 provided the info to them and it is not reflected 6 months later.</p>
<p>Not a good sign...</p>
<p>Earlier this morning I emailed Son's GC to ask if we will have access to Naviance data. </p>
<p>Her response: "I am not familiar with the term "naviance." Can you give me a context for this?"</p>
<p>^^^ Well, at least you got a response and on the same day too!</p>
<p>Yeah, that's a bright spot. :P</p>
<p>I find it surprising. Not only is she the head of the Guidance dept., but her 4th (and last) child just graduated from college. I figured she must have seen it all by now.</p>
<p>interesting to hear the other experiences with Naviance. I think our system is very well kept up to date, we have a small school with a lot of attention. We also have the examples of one kid getting accepted to certain schools. Even some of our more popular schools just have a handful, or a handful per year, so there isn't much anonymity. I had to go to the top 3 most popular schools to see numbers of over 5 apps per year.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, I will be interested in hearing the GC response after you send her a link to the site and maybe to some sample schools with a guest login.</p>
<p>ThreeKids- one other thing for your friend to consider, is the checkbox on the common app and probably other schools forms also, which asks the HS to rate how rigorous the courseload is. See what qualifies at the HS to get the "most demanding" rating, and then the next one down. And then talk to colleges about what they expect to see from their applicants. </p>
<p>Here is the text from the common app:</p>
<p>In comparison with other college preparatory students at your school, the applicant’s course selection is:
O most demanding
O very demanding
O demanding
O average
O below average</p>
<p>Great advice Jackie - when I asked that question two years ago at our school the answer was there was no criteria - each GC answered as they saw fit (eek)...</p>
<p>eek is right scualum! Scary if it isn't consistent within the school, and I'm sure the answer isn't shared with the students in most cases!</p>
<p>DougBetsy, at least someone from guidance actually gets back to you. I think My D's guidance counselor already hates my guts, and has a special span account where all my emails go. ;)</p>
<p>I can't figure out if D's course load is considered most demanding or very demanding or whatever. She took one AP sophomore year, two APs this year and is planning 2 or 3 APs next year. Most of the rest of her classes were honors (except 1st semester 9th grade where only half were honors). Can anyone hazard a guess on what the GC will check off? The school offers an almost unlimited number of APs-it is impossible to take them all, but there are a certain number of students (D is not one of them) who do their best to try. If I had to guess (and I have to guess because the GC doesn't return my calls or emails), I would say very demanding.</p>
<p>3 GC suggests three different scales - assuming that the GC is consistent - and no the answer is not shared with the students. Reminds me that I need to ask the question again before it matters with DD.</p>
<p>Yikes - I hadn't even thought that the standards regarding difficulty of curriculum within a school might vary by GC. I'm pretty sure my D has the most rigorous courseload thing in the bag as she really pushes herself, but I have a son who is not quite as dedicated a student. I guess I'll have to talk to D's GC and find out how that is determined.</p>
<p>On another note, I just printed up labels for D to bring with her to the college fair this weekend so she won't have to keep writing out her name/address/etc. info. When I told her I was doing that, she looked at me like I had two heads, until she realized how much easier that would make things for her. A great tip I picked up on CC.</p>
<p>Gee scualum, you are scaring me.</p>
<p>Heck - I scared myself!!!</p>
<p>jackief: thanks so much, you're a great resource. Do you have older students or is this junior your oldest. You are extremely thorough and knowledgeable if you're a first timer. Much of the information continually changes from year to year, and my youngest is a college junior, two in law school so it hasn't been that long since I've done this. But there have been changes, and as always, it's getting tougher and tougher to get in to top colleges. Even our Florida universities are accepting fewer students, so the safeties aren't so safe. Not sure my three would get in where they did if they had it to do over again now.</p>
<p>Threekids, thanks but no this is my first time through this process, other than myself many moons ago.. but I am one of Those types of people who will really get into a topic, some of my other hobbies and now college prep is one of them. There are tons of valuable experts on this forum, you'll be sopping up the knowledge in no time... </p>
<p>Good luck, we'll all be relaxed 18 months from now! :-)</p>
<p>^^Hah!!^^</p>
<p>Then they move away and are harder to track...</p>
<p>Glad to be here, scualum! Thanks for all your info and tips about visiting various schools. Just having been here for a short time and I'm ALREADY in "overwhelm mode" and we haven't even started the whole process yet! Yikes! :)</p>
<p>I was responding to scualum. :)</p>