Admissions and Education Companies: What are Naviance, Scoir, BigFuture, Khan Academy?

What are Naviance, Scoir, BigFuture, and Khan Academy

“Back in my day,” I tell my kids, “we got a college application at a fair, maybe two in case we made a mistake, filled it in nicely, mailed it, and waited by the mailbox for acceptance letters.” Many parents of current high school students had my experience.

But it’s been 30 years since I graduated from high school, and something big happened during that time. It’s called The Internet. Maybe you’ve heard of it. And with it, college admissions companies came around too.

There are a lot of admissions companies working with your student and their school to make the process easier. Here’s some of the big players, and we’ve explained some of the marketing-speak. Get to know their names!

What is Naviance?

Naviance is an American college and career-readiness software provider that partners with high schools and other K–12 institutions to provide students with college planning and career assessment tools.

So what is a “readiness software provider”? Naviance is a website that helps you and your parents manage the exploration process surrounding college. You complete various assessment tests, about areas like personality and career ideas, towards the goal of identifying what higher education or post high school graduation plan is best for you. Naviance is specialized and tailored to your school and area. More than 13 million students in 13,000 schools use Naviance tools.

What is Scoir?

Scoir (pronounced “score”) redefines the approach to college search and connects students, parents, counselors, and colleges for an improved admissions process.

First of all, “scoir” is Irish Gaelic for “to exit, retire, or transition from one phase to another.” Scoir is a competitor of Naviance, but in some ways, they’re a little bit cooler as they’re really good at social media. They started out by believing that college admissions is a flawed process. As such, they want to help students find the opportunities they are missing. They, too, offer self-assessments and some cost projection tools for parents.


What is BigFuture?

BigFuture by the College Board is a free comprehensive web resource that improves the college planning process.

First of all, yes, the College Board is THAT College Board. It owns the SAT, AP Testing, CSS Profile, and Big Future, a college roadmap website. It offers tons of great information about schools, careers, and most importantly, scholarships. BigFuture is best known for scholarship, grant, and fellowship listings. Check it out for that information alone (including their Opportunity Scholarship program).

What is Khan Academy?


If you haven’t visited Khan Academy, we want you do it now. Go ahead. We’ll wait here.

Khan Academy is, simply, the best of the Internet. A non-profit organization dedicated solely to helping educate students, it has thousands of short lesson videos on pretty much every subject, as well as SAT prep and AP tests. Both students and parents can find something to learn on Khan Academy. The videos are even fun to watch. Bookmark them and use them often.

Are there other sites you want information about? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter! We will investigate and update this article with more information.

Of course, you can also check out the Smart College Visit college search tool at We’d like to know what you think about it, too.

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