Paly Family Connection
Family Connection from Naviance is a web-based service designed especially for students and parents. It is a comprehensive website that you can use to help make decisions about courses, colleges, and careers. Family Connection also provides up-to-date information that’s specific to our school. It also lets the C&CC share information with you about up-coming meetings, news, and events, as well as other web resources for college and career information.
In second semester, before Juniors can schedule individual appointments with college and career advisors after attending C&CC orientation with their US History classes at the beginning of second semester, they will need to login to Family Connection and complete a Naviance web-based survey, Post High School Planning Survey. (Once logged into Naviance Family Connection, Juniors should click the About Me tab and find the Post High School Planning Survey link in the left-hand navigation list).
During first semester, if you add colleges to your Prospective List, you’ll receive reminders when representatives from those colleges visit campus. Students will learn more in the Advisory session in February; we also hope you explore and familiarize yourself with some of the features presented in the tables below.
We hope that you will find this resource helpful. If you have further questions about Family Connection, please contact the C&CC.
Activate Your Account
Your personalized registration code has been distributed to students during Advisory and mailed to parents in September. If users have misplaced login information, please contact Mona Siegel. Use your personalized registration code to login to Naviance and set up your account as a new user. Remember to enter your email address and change your password. When you login with your password you will be able to see all the online features as well as your personal account settings and files (including final and in-progress surveys).
Selected Features to Explore
Although you can either login using your Naviance/Paly Family Connection account password or click the Enter as Guest button, in order to access certain features you must use your password. When you visit as Guest, fewer features will be available.
| Feature | Description | How to Access |
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| Résumé | • Record your high school activities, awards, volunteer experience, etc. • Rearrange your information into multiple printable versions of a résumé that you can use to present to potential employers or colleges in the future. |
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| Explore Interests | A career interest survey about interest in types of work activities. Use the results to explore suggested occupations; examine the education, training, and skills required [and where to obtain them], as well as wages typical for these occupations. |
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| Do What You Are | A personal survey. Use the results to explore suggested college majors and careers based on your preferences and strengths. |
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| College Search | • Set search criteria to yield a list of colleges to explore. Save your search to access/modify later. • Click on the various tabs of the college profile (general, admissions, financial aid, majors and degrees, and student life) to learn more information. • Add colleges you’re interested in to your My Colleges list for future reference. |
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| Maps | Groups of types of colleges by location. Click on a college to view its profile. |
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| Document Library | • CSU and UC (how to calculate GPA, minimum requirements, and special evaluation processes) • Paly specific information (Paly school profile, CSU/UC-approved Paly courses) • Other college-related information (essays, Students’ Rights and Responsibilities in the College Admissions Process, College Tracking chart used to estimate chances of admission) |
From Home, click the Document Library link from the right-hand navigation panel. |
| Scholarship List | College and local organization-sponsored scholarship opportunities updated weekly. Database lists entries by name, deadline, award amount, merit or need-based, and application requirements; click on a column header to sort entries. You can also browse by category to yield a search list relevant to your interests. |
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| Summer Enrichment Opportunities | This database not only lists entries by type (international, college-sponsored, high school-sponsored, & special interest) but also allows you to browse by special interest as well as search by keywords like the name, location, etc. Learn about program dates and costs (if available), any requirements, and the sponsor's website for more information and the application. |
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| SAT & ACT “Method Test Prep” | With SAT Method and ACT Method test preparation, students can:
Students can listen to a professional tutor explain the concepts and questions that they are struggling with, without reading through pages of intimidating text. Students get immediate feedback and a complete explanation for every practice question. And, each student's performance is tracked and strengths and weaknesses are clearly indicated. |
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College Application Statistics
College application statistics for the high school classes of 2006 – 2009 are available on Naviance. To protect student privacy, if fewer than 4 students applied to a college, the statistics are not available.
| Feature | Description | How to Access |
|---|---|---|
| Application History | Summary of Paly application results (admit, deny, enroll) by year. Note that prior to 2008, data represents both Paly and Gunn applicants. |
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| School Statistics | • Historical summary of Paly application outcomes (number admitted, denied, etc.) by application decision plan (i.e. regular and early decision) by college. Note that prior to 2008, data represents both Paly and Gunn applicants. • Historical average GPA and SAT scores for admitted applicants, by college. |
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| Graph | Historical application results (admit, deny, waitlist) are graphed as a scattergram; applicant average GPA appears on the y-axis and applicant average SAT scores on the x-axis.
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| College Compare | Compare your GPA and test scores to the average GPA and test scores of PAUSD admitted students for colleges you are considering. School averages are displayed in green when your numbers are higher and in red when your numbers are lower than those of past admitted students. |
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