College counseling SCOIRs with new platform
Students use SCOIR instead of Naviance for college applications
January 9, 2020
This year, Archbishop Riordan implemented a new system to assist students in the college application process. Replacing Naviance, SCOIR hopes to provide a more helpful platform for managing college applications.
SCOIR is a research platform, search engine, and application that is meant to standardize college information and applications.
Through this college application, students and counselors can perform many basic actions like manage applications and send transcripts and recommendations to the CommonApp.
The previous program, Naviance, is connected directly to the CommonApp, unlike SCOIR. However, College Counselor Melissa Nagar stated that the transition was primarily because of the user interface. “Primarily, it was the look and feel of it,” she said.
This is hoped to be rectified through SCOIR’s simplistic and standard layout. “We hope that [SCOIR] is easier for the students to navigate.”
The sleek design of SCOIR also transfers to the iOS application. Through the application, students can conveniently sign up for available college meetings and monitor tasks for college applications.
Along with this, SCOIR has new functionalities such as pulling information from college websites and social media to make it easily accessible to students.
“It actually shows you posts from Instagram, Facebook” according to Nagar. “What SCOIR aims to do is provide an interface that is streamlined so students know where to find things for each college.”
However, with the introduction of this new software, there were some challenges. There was an unforeseen issue early on that came with the ease of signing up for college meetings.
“Some students were taking advantage of the system by signing up for all the college visits and missing too much class,” Nagar reported.
Because of this, limits have been set on the total amount of college visits students can attend: a maximum of three for juniors and five for seniors.
Nagar describes the struggle of adapting to a brand new system. “There’s a bit of a learning curve for both the counselors and the students ‘cause it’s new to us and it’s also new to the students.”
She also has to get students to sign up and activate their accounts for SCOIR, since it is not automatic like Naviance was. “The hope is that more students are on it by the time junior year rolls around,” Nagar said.
Michael Vezzali-Pascual ’88, Senior Composition and Literature teacher, expressed his satisfaction with SCOIR. “I think it’s a great help for teacher recommendations, especially for somebody like me ‘cause I usually teach all seniors.”
He believes that the new layout is fresh and more functional compared to Naviance: “I think it’s a lot easier than Naviance to use.”
Overall, Vezzali believes that SCOIR shines because of its simplicity: “It’s a busy time for you guys and it’s also a busy time for recommending teachers, and so they made it really simple, which is exactly what I need. The simpler the better.”
Many seniors say that they enjoy the functionality and design of the new software, but do not view the program as extraordinary. Miles Poon ’20, said, “SCOIR isn’t necessarily super exceptional; it does its job well. …I just want something that isn’t difficult to use.”
Emilio Gorog ’20 said he enjoys the convenience and sleek design. “It’s a one-stop-shop to schedule college visits and organize my college applications.”
SCOIR is primarily in the testing phase this year. The administration plans to utilize all of the options of the website to see its functionality. Overall, SCOIR is hoped to assist students and teachers alike with the collegeapplication process.