UTILIZING NAVIANCE

Application fees

Roughly half of the member schools on the app make applying free, but for the others, you’ll need to provide payment upon completion of your application.

Students who are eligible for fee waivers in accordance with the National Association for College Admission Counseling can verify their eligibility in the Common App and the program will be able to apply that designation to other schools as you continue submitting applications. Talk to your counselor to learn more about waiving fees and determining whether or not you might quality.

Keep track of deadlines and complete tasks

Perhaps the most important part of the college application process is knowing your deadlines and planning ahead to meet them. The Common App can offer a lot of help in this department, so the sooner you figure out what your top choice schools are asking for, the better off you’ll be.

Many of the things you will need to upload to different applications are already explored in different articles in College Bound, so you should keep this magazine handy as you work through the various requirements.

Essay prompts

Schools that use the Common App may have different essay requirements, so this is a particularly important aspect of the application to keep track of. You don’t want to wind up doing all of your writing assignments at the last minute.

The personal essay component is discussed at length on page 14, but there are other short, non-essay questions that you might be required to answer. There may also be optional questions. It’s really going to depend on the school so, once again, get on the platform and find out what your top schools are asking for.

Having trouble with the app?

One great feature of the Common App is how many resources it provides for prospective students who are having trouble getting their applications finalized or navigating the platform. The platform is filled with tutorial videos that show you how things should be done, and there is also a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section and a Student Solutions Center where individual questions can be asked and answered.

Before you click ‘submit’

The old adage “measure twice, cut once” is rarely more appropriate than when submitting a college application. Common App will let you preview your finalized application before you make it official, so be sure to review everything carefully.

It also never hurts to have an extra set of eyes, so you might ask an advisor, counselor, teacher, or family member to look over your application with you. Once you’ve got everything ready to go, you can submit your application directly through the Common App.

Congrats! Now comes the hard part: waiting to hear back.

Speaking of handy software tools, Naviance is another valuable online resource. If your school gives you access to a Naviance account, you can use that to support your college application process.

Here’s a quick overview of the main sections of Naviance, and what you can do in each one.

THE NAVIANCE HOME PAGE OFFERS: • Messages from counselors • Links to important websites • The schedule of colleges visiting your high school

“COURSES” OFFERS: • List of your high school courses • The ability to create a list of courses that look interesting • Resources to help develop a four-year plan

“COLLEGES” HELPS STUDENTS: • Search for colleges • Research colleges • Compare student GPA/SAT scores to former students’ and college admission statistics • Create a file of “Schools I’m Thinking About” • Request Teacher Recommendations • Search for scholarships

“CAREERS” HELPS STUDENTS: • Research and explore different jobs • Take surveys that help match abilities and interests to different careers • View more than 3,500 career-related videos

“ABOUT ME” HELPS STUDENTS: • Compile and store previous searches and assessments • Create a resume • View SAT/Subject Test and ACT test scores • View GPA • Explore learning styles

“MY PLANNER” HELPS STUDENTS: • Set goals • Create To Do Lists