Sidwell college guidance office

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1
Thanks for all your concerns about us Sidwell families, but we will be ok.

Actually, some of us who are posting are Sidwell parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps high schools with similar types of students could band together and produce a Naviance product together, so the info wouldn't be identifiable.

And the school admins could figure out each others' results? Hmm, good idea, but I'm not sure I see that happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps high schools with similar types of students could band together and produce a Naviance product together, so the info wouldn't be identifiable.

Just went through the college process. Our high school's Naviance system shows several years worth of data, so it's virtually (though not entirely) impossible to figure out who is who. I thought it was the single most important tool in weeding down our kids' college lists and honestly assessing their chances. For one, just by the volume of applications, you can identify the colleges that have close relationships with your high school. That's a pretty important variable. The charts showed us that a few schools that should have been reaches according to the Common Data Set actually weren't, and now our most recent graduate is going to one of those institutions. Like many parents on this site, we have paid an astronomical sum for high school and I think a little transparency on what you're really up against in the college application process is the least you can expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is a top student at an elite prep school, you don't really need Naviance. It's not going to provide any useful information if your kid is trying to get into a top tier school. As others have pointed out, legacy and other hooks will play a major part in individual admission decisions at the Ivies.

First question is whether DC took the most rigorous courses available at the school. If not, lower your expectations a notch. It's also going to be pretty obvious whether your kid's scores and GPA are in the range of the Ivies or not. But remember that they are not determinative (a reason why Naviance is pretty useless for top schools) and plenty of students with perfect SATs and GPAs are rejected every year and most admits do not have perfect numbers. Then ask what the teacher recommendations are going to be. Will they say your child is one of the best students in the class? If not, lower your expectations. And, in the interview, does your kid have a compelling reason to want to go to that particular school? They are all concerned about yield and a good candidate may likely get rejected because the interviewer didn't think the kid would really go to the school. Finally, if your answers are all yes, flip a coin because there is still a lot of randomness among the pool of serious candidates.

I completely agree that Naviance is of only limited utility, but if it's worthless, then why does Sidwell pay for it and use it?

[Anonymous]

For us, it was interesting to see that U Penn rejected/waitlisted almost anybody whoever applied from our school, even a few kids with 2400 SATs.

To me, Naviance is a little like DCUM. Or even like College Confidential. You have to take it with a grain of salt, read between the lines, look for hidden agendas and hidden facts. Once you've been using it a while, it starts to get easier to pull out nuggets of info. It's one more source of info even if, like DCUM, it requires interpretation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps high schools with similar types of students could band together and produce a Naviance product together, so the info wouldn't be identifiable.

Just went through the college process. Our high school's Naviance system shows several years worth of data, so it's virtually (though not entirely) impossible to figure out who is who. I thought it was the single most important tool in weeding down our kids' college lists and honestly assessing their chances. For one, just by the volume of applications, you can identify the colleges that have close relationships with your high school. That's a pretty important variable. The charts showed us that a few schools that should have been reaches according to the Common Data Set actually weren't, and now our most recent graduate is going to one of those institutions. Like many parents on this site, we have paid an astronomical sum for high school and I think a little transparency on what you're really up against in the college application process is the least you can expect.

+1 Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public and private school parent here (not sidwell ). Our private didn't provide access to naviance. It's a numbers thing. There aren't enough data points for many schools so it would be too easy to identify people. Our public school gives access because there are 500 kids applying each year so plenty of data points. Plus in public school we get much less guidance so naviance is critical.

It is not a numbers thing, it is a control thing. Both STA and NCS give families access to Naviance. GDS and Sidwell families pay for Naviance but are not allowed to use it.

Yes, "power to the people" is a real Shibboleth at STA.

At STA, "power to the people" is right up there with "for God and for the State."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public and private school parent here (not sidwell ). Our private didn't provide access to naviance. It's a numbers thing. There aren't enough data points for many schools so it would be too easy to identify people. Our public school gives access because there are 500 kids applying each year so plenty of data points. Plus in public school we get much less guidance so naviance is critical.

It is not a numbers thing, it is a control thing. Both STA and NCS give families access to Naviance. GDS and Sidwell families pay for Naviance but are not allowed to use it.

Yes, "power to the people" is a real Shibboleth at STA.

At STA, "power to the people" is right up there with "for God and for the State."

Who is the lame poster who keeps bumping up STA, NCS, Landon/SSSAS and Sidwell threads with nonsensical one-liners? At least look up "Shibboleth" so you don't use it incorrectly in the context of a school that actually PROVIDES Naviance to families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps high schools with similar types of students could band together and produce a Naviance product together, so the info wouldn't be identifiable.

Just went through the college process. Our high school's Naviance system shows several years worth of data, so it's virtually (though not entirely) impossible to figure out who is who. I thought it was the single most important tool in weeding down our kids' college lists and honestly assessing their chances. For one, just by the volume of applications, you can identify the colleges that have close relationships with your high school. That's a pretty important variable. The charts showed us that a few schools that should have been reaches according to the Common Data Set actually weren't, and now our most recent graduate is going to one of those institutions. Like many parents on this site, we have paid an astronomical sum for high school and I think a little transparency on what you're really up against in the college application process is the least you can expect.

It is actually incredibly easy to figure out who are the dots on Naviance. Probably why Sidwell withholds the information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a numbers thing, it is a control thing. Both STA and NCS give families access to Naviance. GDS and Sidwell families pay for Naviance but are not allowed to use it.

Yes, "power to the people" is a real Shibboleth at STA.

... At least look up "Shibboleth" so you don't use it incorrectly in the context of a school that actually PROVIDES Naviance to families.

Sounds like correct usage to me: meant ironically, "power to the people" is not actually a watchword at STA. Shouldn't have been capitalized though.

shib·bo·leth
/?SHib?liTH/
Noun
A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a class or group of people.
Synonyms
password - watchword - parole

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a numbers thing, it is a control thing. Both STA and NCS give families access to Naviance. GDS and Sidwell families pay for Naviance but are not allowed to use it.

Yes, "power to the people" is a real Shibboleth at STA.

... At least look up "Shibboleth" so you don't use it incorrectly in the context of a school that actually PROVIDES Naviance to families.

Sounds like correct usage to me: meant ironically, "power to the people" is not actually a watchword at STA. Shouldn't have been capitalized though.

shib·bo·leth
/?SHib?liTH/
Noun
A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a class or group of people.
Synonyms
password - watchword - parole

Since you went to the trouble to cut and paste an online dictionary definition, you should have pasted the 2nd definition, too. The one that means "hollow or meaningless slogan." That was the incorrect usage.

[Anonymous]

The other thing to remember about Naviance is it's only as good as the information given. What I mean is, if your DC is applying to a school that is excellent, but not as many from your school apply to the N will be smaller and the info will be far less reliable. Eg. If DD wants to apply to Yale and only 7 in the past 5 yrs have applied there from your school because your school typically applies to Harvard Naviance may show Harvard as more likely an Yale as more of a reach even if DD is actually better or equally as qualified for Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a numbers thing, it is a control thing. Both STA and NCS give families access to Naviance. GDS and Sidwell families pay for Naviance but are not allowed to use it.

Yes, "power to the people" is a real Shibboleth at STA.

... At least look up "Shibboleth" so you don't use it incorrectly in the context of a school that actually PROVIDES Naviance to families.

Sounds like correct usage to me: meant ironically, "power to the people" is not actually a watchword at STA. Shouldn't have been capitalized though.

shib·bo·leth
/?SHib?liTH/
Noun
A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a class or group of people.
Synonyms
password - watchword - parole

I don't know -- I think kids are pretty empowered in some ways. For example, the school doesn't put limits on the numbers of AP classes students can take. Anyone can sign up to take an AP exam if they want. The school doesn't put a limit on the number of colleges they can apply to. The school gives out a good amount of Independent Studies for athletics. Seniors can do academic independent studies for a full course credit. I think that's a fair amount of academic autonomy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing to remember about Naviance is it's only as good as the information given. What I mean is, if your DC is applying to a school that is excellent, but not as many from your school apply to the N will be smaller and the info will be far less reliable. Eg. If DD wants to apply to Yale and only 7 in the past 5 yrs have applied there from your school because your school typically applies to Harvard Naviance may show Harvard as more likely an Yale as more of a reach even if DD is actually better or equally as qualified for Yale.

Sure, this and other caveats about Naviance are correct, but parents can figure this out for themselves, or the school can provide this guidance along with access. The issue with Sidwell and Naviance is that it reflects the general view of the college counseling staff that parents are idiots who are all foaming at the mouth for their kids to go to HYP. This doesn't foster a strong partnership among students, counselors and parents.

[Anonymous]

wonder if the new head of counseling is reading this . . . .