@RedSox Naviance can be misleading, because all the athletic/legacy/hook/development admits may pull DOWN the average admitted GPA/test scores, and those variables do not show up on scattergrams. To get in on sheer brains at a particulate school, without having a hook, scores may have to be way up there.
At Exeter, my best estimate at very highly competitive schools is that about 50% of the admits were hooked, and the remaining 50% were at the very pinnacle of GPA/scores/ECs. So the average GPA/test score didn’t really tell the story.
One other thing to consider (according to our school’s CCs) is that the Naviance data is dated and that even what meant an acceptance 2-3 years ago may not be in the “green” area now. Also we were warned that many of those little green dots come from hooked applicants… some of them are quite obvious (since they are lower than the average), but many in the upper ranges can also be in that category.
I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but what exactly constitutes a hook? Is a crazy talent or insane amounts of money or is it just anything that makes an applicant stand out?
DS was a recruited athlete for BS but not College - he would be great D3 athlete but the colleges with the programs and size he wants are all D1 schools. He does not have a college hook. I never thought about the Naviance data being skewed so that is a great point. Thanks all.
We’ve had some really surprising results so far, many quite different from what the Naviance chart would have predicted. Just got a waitlist notification from what should have been a safety, and a very generous merit award from what seemed like a match/reach (yay!). It just shows that the Naviance data is helpful, but not definitive by any means.
Supplying this info just as a data point for future BS applicants on my child’s results from last year, in case it might be helpful to anyone. It can be a bit of a crap shoot, however, and yield protection can come into play when getting waitlisted at safeties for example. One of the main point’s being that the college counseling office at my kids’ school did a very accurate job in terms of gaming chances for my child last year, which proved to be a better predictor than naviance data which is skewed by students getting in for a hook of some kind or a short-term change in a school’s popularity. My child did apply to more schools than suggested (8-10 were suggested). We did receive a small amount of push back on the number of applications but not much.
@doschicos
Your last is similar in breakdown to my daughter’s. She also had an additional category, “academic safety, financial reach” with two schools in that bucket. Both ended up giving her more merit than expected, making them workable. Another that should have been both an academic and financial safety turned out to award less in grant aid than the NPC estimated.
Most of her match schools come in tomorrow…bites nails
You got to love the merit aid, @neatoburrito! My child’s best merit aid came unexpectedly from one of the matches.
Have some wine or chocolate. It tastes better than fingernails.
The other advice I’d give to families for the future is that if the Common Data Set for a given school states they consider the level of the applicant’s interest, make sure your child does demonstrate interest!
Hey @doschicos, can you explain what demonstrated interest means? Apologies for my naivety but I have a sophomore. My son’s school doesn’t give us access to Naviance and college counseling until the end of this year. Why am I already nervous about this? Insane.
Demonstrated interest includes things like campus tours, info sessions, interviews, anything where the student makes contact with the school and/or admissions. Some schools track those contact events, usually smaller schools.
@leafyseadragon - It’s more common at LACs as opposed to huge state schools or Ivies but basically it means showing the colleges that you are truly interested in them, not just using it as a backup school or safety. It’s a way for them to improve yield management. In my own opinion, with the continued ramp up in the number of applications students submit, and therefore colleges receive, I think it has become even more important. It’s a way for the college to get some kind of feel for whether they actually have a chance of getting a student to matriculate if accepted. Campus visits and tours, stopping by the table at the college fair, making sure you attend that info session when the college rep comes to visit your BS campus, asking for an interview, writing a thank you note for an interview, emailing your admissions rep if you have a legitimate question, even set up an account on their website and searching the college’s website are all ways to demonstrate interest. You can check C& in the college’s Common Data Set to see what weight the college gives to demonstrated interest. Even if the college doesn’t factor it in, a lot of these things are still a good idea as it doesn’t hurt if the admissions rep knows the applicant.
So we are done. D2 admitted to 1 safety, 1 match and one reach. Waisted at 1 reach, denied at 1 high reach. She is disappointed about the high reach which was her ED school, but I think will be able to move on. Still debating whether to stay on the wait list.
I have seen BS students get off waitlists at the tippy top schools so it can’t hurt to try. Just keep expectations low.
Congrats on being done @sudsie with what sounds like great results.
I am going to probably do a longer, detailed accounting of 7D1’s college process in the summer, as a coda to my “One Family’s Story” thread, but wanted to update.
With one decision pending tomorrow, 7D1 is 6 for 8 in college apps to date. The 2 rejections so far are from Far Reach schools in EA round. Among the admits is the Engineering school of a fairly selective University (the one that sends the “FAT” envelope). Regardless of what “Ivy Day” yields, she is very happy with her choices…one of which include significant merit aid at a Top 10 program.
@SevenDad - Now you’ve got me trying to figure out which school is “the one that sends the “FAT” envelope”. Congrats on being so close to the finish line w/D1 and with results that make her happy. I’m sure your family approached the process with the same level-headednes and thoughtfulness that you’ve applied to the BS process.
Sounds like your D’s college counselor did a good job of gauging her chances, as well. Reading many threads this past week over on the college section of CC where many kids were either misguided or failed to hear the proper guidance.
Our result tally: After a strong start at safety-matches (5/5), the results for the reaches were kind of bleak (1 spring acceptance, 6 rejections). Nonetheless, the spring admit is to a school that suits kid’s desires, with a top 5 program in the academic area (one of those situations where DC applied directly into the program as part of the freshman app), in a part of the country that is new to all of us, but vibrant and exciting. Definitely couldn’t have predicted it would work out this way, but all in all, DC is well positioned to keep pursuing the path, and will have a good community and exciting place to be for the next 4 years!
Thanks for checking in PelicanDad…I’ve heard about the “spring/deferred admit” option, and wonder how common it is. Sounds like you’re all done…and it must be a relief. Hoping the SevenFamily can bring this all to a close by Wed (heck, maybe even tomorrow at 5:01!).
Congrats on being so close to the finish line w/D1 and with results that make her happy. I’m sure your family approached the process with the same level-headednes and thoughtfulness that you’ve applied to the BS process.