Understanding student data

What information does Merit store about students?

Merit stores data about students such as major, minor, high school (CEEB) code and other information.

The full list includes: First name, middle name, last name, postal code, hometown, state, major, minor, degree, class of year, CEEB (high school) code, gender, parent postal codes, email address, secondary email addresses, & parent email addresses. 


Who can edit student data?
 

• Merit customers (schools) can edit student data on the Students tab in Merit.
• Students can edit data on the My Account section of their account

How does student information get into Merit?

1. By using the student import tool: It is highly recommended to add student data all at once (yearly or quarterly) using Merit's student import tool.

2. By publishing student stories (achievements): When you publish a story using Merit, you are either uploading/adding a list of students (and data about them) with a spreadsheet, or you are building a list of students already in Merit. When uploading/adding a list of students with a spreadsheet, you are potentially adding new information about those students that Merit does not have, and in some cases you may even be adding entirely new students to Merit. 


How does student information change over time?

The information on file for a student can be overwritten and added to over time as you continue to import students and publish stories about those students. Some rules apply, as described below:

Adding to blank fields: Merit will always fill in blank fields when student data is added. So for example, if a student's major is not present for their profile, and it is added via an import or new story, Merit will add that information to the student's profile. A non-blank value will never be overwritten with blanks. 

Overwriting data: If the student has signed into and updated* their page, Merit will never overwrite their data (when you are importing students or publishing stories about those students) with the following exceptions:

Always overwritten: 

• Degrees
• Gender

Always added to, never overwritten: 

• Student email addresses
• Parent emails
• Parent postal codes

Always added to, unless a student has signed into and updated* their page:

• CEEB Codes

*What does "updated" mean? 

A student's page will be designated as updated when they do any of the following actions:

• Connect a LinkedIn account
• Connect a Facebook account
• Add a job to Merit page
• Add an activity to Merit page 
• Edit any information such as changing name, photo, or password