/Naviance_Student_Handout by Houston Christian High School

Family Connection/Student

HCHS purchased a neat software program called FAMILY CONNECTION that will help you with:

College Research and Planning - College Applications Counselor and Teacher Recommendations Scholarships - Personality Assessment - Career Searches

Go to www.naviance.com Click on “Students & Families” (top right) Type in 77043 as the school’s postal code Click “Send” Click on “Houston Christian High School” Click on “I need to register” Enter your registration code. Email Mrs. Klasen at kklasen@houstonchristianhs.org for help. Click “Register” Put your school email address in the appropriate field Pick a password and enter it in the appropriate field Click “I accept” Click “Complete Registration”

FIRST THING… 1. 2.

Click on the “About Me” tab Under “Interesting Things About Me”, click on “Personality Type” and take the assessment. It takes 30 minutes and you don’t have to do it all at once. When you log in later, your user name is your school email address.

Once you’ve taken the test, start using Family Connection! FAMILY CONNECTION HOME PAGE Messages – check for new messages/emails here. Links – the most popular college-related websites are here: college board & sat, act, national common app, applytexas, hchs counseling, fafsa financial aid , fastweb scholarships, financial aid, ncaa eligibility, naia eligibility, texas a & m, and university of texas

The Five Tabs 1

courses – HCHS doesn’t use this yet.

colleges – Muy Importante.

Skip it.

Colleges I’m Thinking About Add your dream and other college choices here. You can then click on the college and you’ll get all kinds of useful information. You can find out what costs are, what kind of financial aid is available, what majors and degrees they offer. You can even click a button and you’ll be taken to their Apply Online website. “+ add colleges to this list”. Quick Lookup is a pre-populated list of the colleges HCHS students apply to most often. You can search for any college in the “Search By Name” box. Delivery Type – a computer screen indicates “your school” will accept documents online, a stamp indicates mail only, and CA is National Common App. Common App (CA) school - register on the CA website and get a username and password. In Family Connection, an “Important Privacy Notice for Common Application” (or FERPA) will appear. For Common App, fill it out. If you are not applying to a CA school, you can ignore this Privacy Notice. Ms. Pearson will have each student complete a Privacy Notice for use at HCHS. Use Family Connection for EVERY application. Interest – decide between Low, Medium, High, and First Choice Contact – goes directly to “your school” to ask questions WWW – takes you to “your school’s” website Once you have a list of schools, click on the school name. You’ll see information that Naviance collected on that school. You’ll also see the following links: Visit Website – double check Naviance info against “your school’s” actual website Overlaps – any HCHS student who applied to “your school” also applied to these schools Compare Me – see how your GPA and test scores compare to the averages of other HCHS current and former students who have applied to and been accepted by “your school” School Stats – applications, acceptances and those attending “your school” with GPA and test score comparisons Remove from List Ask Questions – of “your school” More Information on “Your School” There are also 5 “boxes” you can choose for more information on “your school”. General Information Admission – qualifications and requirements Financial Aid – general information Majors and Degrees – offered by “your school” with links to other schools offering the same major Student Life – activities, organizations, sports, diversity, etc.

Be sure and check the information found in Family Connection with “your school’s” actual website. Colleges I’m Applying To Select schools from your “interested” list and “Move to Application List”. From there you can: Update your application status Request a transcript (do this ONLY AFTER you have completed and submitted your application) or need a mid-year if “your school” requests it later. Final transcripts are sent automatically after graduation in June. You can see your list of requested transcripts. Note: We don’t send ACT/SAT scores. Request them to be sent to the school when you test or contact ACT/SAT directly. Once you have been accepted to any school, bring Ms. Pearson a copy of your letter or email so we can brag about you! Teacher/Counselor Recommendations Only use Naviance to let your teacher know you will be requesting a recommendation from them and to help you keep track of the reccs you requested. Add/Cancel Requests – select a teacher/counselor to receive an email from you and put something similar to this in the “Personal Note Section”: “I will be bringing you the HCHS Student Response Form and asking you to write a recommendation for me to _________. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me on this. You look pretty today.” Counselor Recommendation Forms - Brag Sheets (2) and Peer Recommendation to Ms. Pearson by the July 29 deadline Teacher Recommendation Form – the HCHS Student Response for Teacher Recc should be completed for each teacher you ask to write a recommendation for you. All forms are located on the HCHS Counseling website and in Family Connection, Home Page, Document Library, Brag Sheets. College Research Super Match – pick your college parameters and rank their importance. Each time you make a parameter change, your list will change. Click on Why? to see how closely your parameters match existing schools. College Match – students at other high schools who chose “your school” also chose … College Compare – choose up to 10 schools and see how your GPA and test scores compare to other HCHS students who were accepted there. College Lookup – look up any college by name College Search – an abridged version of SuperMatch College Resources – find information on colleges, careers, financial aid, testing, athletics, and the military (the most popular links are on the Family Connection Home Page) College Maps – see where HCHS students were accepted and where they will attend as well as the 20 most popular schools among HCHS students

Scholarships Do a national search for scholarship funds through Sallie Mae. Your parents will love this feature. 3

careers - “Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life.” (Harvey MacKay) We can’t all be professional golfers or trust fund babies so your career should be something that will keep your interest and make the best use of your abilities. An adequate paycheck doesn’t hurt either. Explore this tab as you consider what majors and colleges would be best for you. SECOND THING to do… (First thing was Personality Inventory and Assessment) 1. 2.

Click on the “Careers” tab Under “What are My Interests?”, click on “Career Interest Profiler ”and take the assessment. When you are finished, you’ll be given a Holland Code. You’ll need it later.

Explore Careers Favorite Careers and Clusters Explore Careers – search by name, category or Holland Code; related occupations, majors, and career pathways will help to narrow your search Job Description – for your chosen career; you’ll also see tabs for Knowledge and Skills; Tasks and Activities; and Wages by state. If you like that career, add it to your list. If your initial search was too narrow, use Explore Careers and Clusters and Cluster Finder for broader categories. 4

about me – This tab brings information together from other Family Connection tabs. Success Plan Goals – are set individually by you Tasks – have been set by your counselors to keep you on track for your college admission. Interesting Things About Me Favorite Colleges- takes you back to the College Tab Favorite Careers and Clusters - takes you back to the Careers Tab Personality Type – you’ve already done it!? Resume - Skip the Resume section. Use the Resume Ms. Pearson recommends. You can find it on the Family Connection Home Page Document Library or on the Counseling website. Documents and Journals – explore on your own Checklist – has been set by your counselors Official Things Profile – manage certain personal information Account – change your password Test Scores – when you can’t find them!

my planner

– This is a great organization tool if you need it. You need it.

For a slightly more in-depth guide to help navigate through Naviance, check out “Naviance In Depth” on the HCHS Counseling web page at http://www.houstonchristian.org/academics/counseling/index.aspx.