Naviance
看中文翻译/For Chinese translation, please click here.
What is Naviance?
Naviance (also called Family Connection) is software used by Tech students and the College Office in the college application process. Some of the college application functionality includes:
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Students register to attend the many information sessions that colleges run at Tech
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Students record their college lists (i.e. the list of colleges they will apply to)
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The College Office uploads student transcripts and other information to the colleges that students are applying to.
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The College Office uses the email function on Naviance to send emails to students (note this is a different email account from PupilPath and their @bths.edu email)
Naviance also helps students and parents research colleges. Naviance has data on many colleges, and also data (anonymous of course) on the acceptance history of Tech students. Functionality includes:
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Students and parents can see how many Tech students have been accepted to each college and how many have chosen to attend
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Students and parents can see the GPA and SAT/ACT scores of Tech students who have been accepted or denied acceptance at these colleges. This information is extremely useful in determining how competitive your student might be when applying to a particular college.
Naviance is most useful to 11th and 12th grade students and their parents. 9th and 10th grade families who would like to start learning about the college process might also be interested in looking around the Naviance website.
Before reading further, we recommend you first read the College Office's excellent presentation on Naviance.
How do students get access to Naviance?
All 10th-12th graders should already have access to Naviance. 9th graders are typically given access at some point during the year. For example, the Class of 2021 received Naviance accounts on Nov. 29, 2017 (9th graders received an email on that date). There is no need to rush to use Naviance in 9th grade, but 9th graders who are interested in using Naviance before accounts are set up can contact Ms. Maysonet-Sigler in the College Office for a login.
10th-12th graders can access Naviance by going to the Naviance website (also available from the school's website: https://www.bths.edu/ -> Student Life -> Student Online Resources).
Each 10th-12th grade student's initial login is set up already -- no need to register. Just enter the following information on the login screen:
e-mail: [enter the student's Tech email address]
password: [enter the student's 9-digit OSIS#]
It might be a good idea to change the password and write it down somewhere.
Can parents get access to Naviance?
Yes, parents can get an account that is linked to their student's account. For parents of the Class of 2020 and 2021, your students received parent access codes in an email on Nov. 29, 2017 -- ask your student to forward you the email if you would like to set up a parent account. But if your student doesn't object, it's probably easiest to use your student's account -- no need to set up a parent account.
For parents of the Class of 2019 (or other parents who are having trouble getting their students to forward them the access codes), if you still want a parent account, please contact Ms. Maysonet-Sigler in the College Office for a login. But if your student is in 9th-11th grade, best to wait until after Dec 31, as the College Office is most busy from September - December helping 12th graders with the college application process.
What can I do on Naviance?
See where Tech students have been accepted to college and how many have attended. From the top right corner of the Home page, click on the Colleges tab and then Home:
Then scroll down to "Research colleges" and click on "Acceptance History"
To get an idea of how previous Tech students have fared with their applications to different colleges, go back to Colleges Home and click on "Scattergrams" and select a college. The graph shows you the GPA and SAT scores of all Tech students who applied to that school in the past. You can filter on the bottom of the graph to see just students who were accepted and compare to your student's scores. (Note that current year data may be incomplete. For example, if you look at 2018 data in May of 2018, it may not yet reflect all students' results. Some Naviance data depends on students to self-report.)
Click on "Overview" at the top of the page to see how your student's scores compare to the range of scores of students who were accepted. You can toggle between comparing your student to 1) other Tech students accepted and 2) all students accepted.
This section of the website also has information on what the school offers academically and what it costs at various income ranges.
Some other good functionality:
Try "College Compare." You can enter a few colleges and see how the average SAT and GPA scores of previously accepted Tech students compare to your student's. Also see the acceptance rate of Tech students to those schools.
From the Colleges Home page, the "Advanced College Search" and "SuperMatch College Search" links allow your student to enter criteria of schools they would be interested in and the tool suggests schools you might want to add to your college list.
PA thoughts: Naviance is a very powerful tool for seeing statistics on colleges and comparing how your student's scores compare to past applicants from Tech. But of course just GPA and standardized test scores are only a very rough indication of what kind of school your student could get accepted to. Starting a conversation with your student's guidance counselor in 11th or even 10th grade can get you a better idea of what colleges your student might want on her list.
Also, consider applying to colleges that Tech students don't commonly apply to. Tech students typically focus their applications on schools in the Northeast, especially those close to New York City. Of course many good and affordable schools are in this area, but it also means that Tech students face competition from the thousands of other good high school students in the New York area (and at Tech). If you're willing and able to look farther from New York for at least a few schools on your student's college list, your student may have a better chance of admission.
There are many things Naviance doesn't tell you, like which schools are strong in which subjects and what the social environment of each school is like. College guidebooks can help with more qualitative information. For example:
The Fiske Guide is a perennial favorite.
The Best 382 Colleges from Princeton Review is also worth reading.
Your student’s guidance counselor may be a helpful source as well. Also, there is no better way to see what a college is like than to go visit yourself; many colleges around the city (NYU, Columbia, the CUNY schools, etc.) offer tours. Look for that on the school’s website and try to go see some with your student early in junior year or even during sophomore year to get a better idea of what kind of schools to apply to.
Finally, 11th and 12th grade students should attend the info sessions that many colleges run at Tech in the fall -- super convenient. The schedule is listed on Naviance (check back in the fall if the list is blank).
And many thanks to the PA donors who make it possible for the PA to fund the school's Naviance usage fees ($18,000 in 2017-18)! Naviance is a critical resource for students and the College Office.