naviance college essay prompts

Naviance: How to Write a College Essay

In this course, you will learn about the two different types of college essays. You will also learn about what you should and shouldn’t have in a college essay. By the end, you should know how to write a college essay.

Course curriculum

5.1 welcome.

How to write a college essay?

What are we doing today?

Kahoot time!

5.4 Types of Essays

What are the types of college essays?

5.5 Things to Include in the Essay

What should be included?

5.6 3 Common Mistakes in College Essays

Don't make the following mistakes!

5.7 Sensitive or Provocative Topics

Topics to avoid

5.8 Lack of Structure

Keep your essay structured

5.9 Lack of Personal Traits

Show your personality

5.10 Activity: Work on this Example

What do you notice about the author in this essay?

5.11 Here's What We Noticed

What we saw in the essay

5.12 Examples of Personal Traits

5.13 activity: update your college portfolio.

Portfolio update

5.14 How to Link CommonApp to Naviance

Linking CommonApp essay to Naviance

5.15 Any Questions?

Feel free to ask questions

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• Applications

First-year Applicants

TCNJ students are academically gifted, demonstrate strong initiative, and have diverse talents. TCNJ’s admissions staff examine every component of a student’s application, but none more carefully than the high school transcript. The record of course selection, grades, GPA, class rank, and the strength of the curriculum provide the most accurate predictor of a student’s chance for success in college.

• TCNJ takes a holistic approach to the review of our applicants, considering student abilities and involvement beyond academics. All other criteria used in the evaluation process are in the “Requirements” section below.
• While there are no minimum transcript requirements, recently admitted students were typically in the top 30% of their high school class.  TCNJ recognizes that class rank is not utilized by all high schools, but sharing an average GPA for admitted students is challenging.  TCNJ does not recalculate GPAs but reviews the student’s GPA within the specific context of their high school.  
• Historically, admitted students have averaged 1265 on the Math and Reading sections of the SAT and a 28 on the ACT. TCNJ has a  test-optional policy for first-year applicants through 2025-26. While standardized test scores will not be required, applicants interested in sharing their scores are still encouraged.
• Because we receive over 12,000 applications, students are encouraged to apply as early as possible once the application becomes available. Historically, TCNJ begins notifying students on or around the middle of December. All students are notified of their official admission decision no later than April 1st.  

TCNJ uses the Common Application for first-year applicants. You can submit your application starting on August 1st.

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Other Applications

» Non-Traditional Application » The Coalition Application

Requirements

Application fee: $75.

There are two methods of making your non-refundable payment:

• Submit payment through the Common Application or Coalition Application.
• Mail check/money order by selecting “Fee Waiver” on the Common Application or Coalition Application and mailing payment to The Office of Admissions, First-year Applicant.

TCNJ will waive a student’s application fee if they submit a paper copy of one of the following:

• College Board Fee Waiver
• NACAC Fee Waiver
• TCNJ Out-of-State Fee Waiver
• National Merit Semifinalist/National Achievement Fee Waiver
• Common Application Fee Waiver (verified by school counselor)
• Coalition Application Fee Waiver (verified by school counselor)
• A formal letter from a student’s school counselor (must contain specific reasons why the counselor believes a waiver is necessary for this student)

Academic Major

Students can declare an official TCNJ program of study on their application if they are leaning toward a particular major. They can also apply “Undeclared” in several of our seven academic schools or to the college as a whole .

High School Transcripts

An official high school transcript must be sent directly to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions from the high school office (otherwise, they will not be considered official). The transcript can be submitted through Naviance or mailed to TCNJ’s Office of Admissions, Attn: First-year Applicant. The Common Application secondary school report does not need to be submitted. If you attended high school and/or college outside of the United States, your transcript must be evaluated by a United States agency that provides foreign credentials evaluations before being sent to TCNJ.

Official Test Scores

TCNJ has a test-optional policy for students applying as first-year students through 2025-2026. While standardized test scores will not be required, applicants interested in sharing their scores are still encouraged. 

• Scores must be sent from the official testing agency or printed on an official school transcript.
• TCNJ will superscore multiple test dates from both the SAT and ACT, respectively.
• TCNJ does not use the Writing sections of the SAT or ACT. SAT II Subject Tests are NOT required.
• TCNJ requires standardized test scores for our Accelerated Seven-Year Medical School opportunities . 
• Nursing applicants are strongly encouraged to submit standardized test scores. In the fall of 2025, nursing applicants will be required to submit an SAT or ACT score.
• Our Codes: SAT CEEB: 002519 | ACT Code: 002614

Recommendations

TCNJ strongly encourages first-year applicants to submit 2-3 letters of recommendation. One must be from a teacher. The other letters can come from other teachers, school counselors, coaches, employers, or extracurricular advisors. It is not necessary to use The Common Application Teacher Evaluation form if a recommendation is being mailed to TCNJ.

The Common Application or the Coalition Application essay is the official essay used in the evaluation process.  TCNJ also requires a secondary writing prompt designed to explore your interest in The College in more detail.

Resume (Not Required)

In addition to filling out the activities list on The Common Application or The Coalition Application, applicants are encouraged to submit an Activity Resume to detail involvement in clubs and organizations, employment, internships, volunteering, education, etc.

Additional Program Requirements for Art, Graphic Design, and Music

• Art includes visual arts specializing in fine art, visual arts specializing in photography/video, and art education.
• Graphic Design
• Music includes music, music performance, and music education.

Additional Program Requirements for Education, EOF, and the Three-year Bachelor’s Degree

• Education includes four-year and five-year teacher preparation programs.
• Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF)
• Three-Year Bachelor’s Degree

Additional Program Requirements for Dual Degrees

• Physical Therapy
• Speech-Language Pathology

Admissions Interview (Not Provided)

TCNJ does not provide an Admissions Interview as part of the application process.

Mailing Address

All paper documentation should be mailed to:

The College of New Jersey The Office of Undergraduate Admission, Attn: First-year Applicant Trenton Hall, Room 228 PO Box 7718 Ewing, NJ 08628

* Whenever possible, it is in the best interest of the applicant to mail everything in one package.

Scholarships and Aid

Scholarships and awards.

The College of New Jersey offers scholarships and awards to incoming first-year students based on academic performance, leadership, and a number of other factors. These awards are renewable for all four years of study at TCNJ.

• In-State Scholarship Program
• Out-of-State Award Program
• Lions Pride Need Award
• RaiseMe – College Scholarships
• Bonner Community Scholarship

Financial Aid

The only form you need to apply for state and/or federal aid is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You must list “The College of New Jersey” as a recipient and write TCNJ’s school code number (002642) on your FAFSA. You must also provide your Social Security Number on your application to be considered for state and federal aid.

Deadlines and Notifications

While TCNJ makes every effort to notify students regarding their admission decision as early as possible, some applications will undergo multiple reviews before making a final decision. No matter how early the student applies, the general admission decision will be mailed no later than April 1st .

Early Decision I

• Application Deadline:  November 1
• Supporting Documents Deadline:  November 15
• Notification of Decision:  December 1

Students accepted through the Early Decision programs MUST attend The College of New Jersey. Early Decision students will be given the same consideration for scholarships and need-based financial aid as those applying for General Admission. Early Decision is unavailable to students applying to TCNJ’s seven-year medical, optometry, or physical therapy programs, as they have unique application timelines.

General Admission

• Application Deadline: *In light of FAFSA delays, extended through March 1
• Supporting Documents Deadline: March 15
• Notification of Decision:  No later than April 1  (for students applying by the original February 1 deadline)

Spring Admission

• Supporting Documents Deadline:  November 15

Other Deadlines

Applications for the  seven-year medical and optometry programs   are accepted only for fall admission and are due November 1st.  Early Decision is unavailable to students applying to TCNJ’s seven-year medical or optometry programs, as they have their own application timelines. 

Applications for the  seven-year physical therapy program  are accepted only for the fall admission and are due December 1st.  Early Decision is not available to students applying to TCNJ’s physical therapy program, as it has its own unique application timeline. 

Music  auditions must be completed by November 19th (Early Decision) or March 15th (General Admission). Spring first-year applicants must complete their audition by November 19th.

Visual Art  applicants must submit their portfolio for departmental review by November 1st (Early Decision I) or February 15th (General Admission). Spring first-year applicants must submit their portfolios by November 1st.  Portfolio submission is optional for Art Education applicants.

TCNJ is honored to evaluate the applications of our military veterans. All eligible military Service members are highly encouraged to receive approval from an Educational Service Officer (ES0) or counselor within the Military Service prior to enrolling at The College of New Jersey.

Please review TCNJ’s Veterans website for more information about the various funding sources available for veterans who attend TCNJ.

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How To Use Naviance As A College Search Tool

Written by Jan Combs on February 18th, 2016

• researching colleges ,

How To Use Naviance As A College Search Tool: Part 1

One of the most useful features of Naviance is the College module , which allows students to find schools that match their college preferences from a remarkable database of over 4,000 colleges. In the “SuperMatch” College Search link, students can develop their search parameters, including criteria important to them, such as size and geographic location of the college, major, student makeup, selectivity, and activities and programs offered on campus. Students can decide with their parents which qualities they may want in a college, and Naviance then generates a list of schools tailored specifically to their wants and needs in a college. The more criteria that a student specifies, the more tailored the college list Naviance will produce. Students can modify their parameters as many times as they want, so play around and see what types of lists you get based on different parameters!

• The Student Perspective and Responses to Listener Questions
• Researching Colleges and Listener Questions
• College Admissions by the Numbers: Learn How to Put Together a College List Based on Your Numbers

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Navigating Naviance

• Post author By Top Tier Admissions
• Post date September 20, 2018
• 2 Comments on Navigating Naviance

You’ve researched colleges, visited campuses, and fallen in love with your dream school. Now comes the anxiety – “What are my chances?” you ask yourself. If your high school uses Naviance, the popular college admissions software, you’re one of millions of students (and their parents) in the U.S. and at independent schools worldwide, who seek to decode Naviance’s admissions scattergrams for the answer to that question.

Not familiar with admissions scattergrams? With a few keystrokes, you can pull up a wealth of information on the admissions outcomes of previous classes of students from a high school. The software plots SAT or ACT scores on the x-axis and high school GPA on the y-axis, specific to applicants to a particular college or university. Each student who applied to the college is represented by a color-coded symbol on the scattergram: green means accepted (either early or regular), red means denied admission (early or regular), and purple is purgatory (the waitlist). As a prospective applicant, you are represented by a blue symbol – right at the intersection of your GPA and your SAT or ACT.

So, will Naviance tell you if you’ll get in? The answer depends on lots of factors, so let’s decode with a few examples.

NAVIANCE: STUDENT 1, UC DAVIS

Student 1 attends a large, suburban public high school in California that utilizes a weighted 4.0 GPA and she’s trying to assess the likelihood of admission to UC Davis. Her high school has historically sent many applicants to UC Davis and, students whose SATs are greater than 1400 and weighted GPA is greater than a 3.80 have a pretty high likelihood of admission (but a few do land in purgatory).

Should this student apply to UC Davis? She should certainly have it on her list as the odds of admission are very good.

NAVIANCE: STUDENT 2, DUKE

Student 2 attends a medium-sized public high school on Long Island that uses a 100pt grading scale and he wants to apply to Duke in the early decision round. Does it make sense for him to apply early to Duke?

This one gets more complicated. He’s close – at least as measured by GPA and SAT – but zooming into the scattergram, you can see that all the students admitted to Duke from his high school slightly outperformed him in terms of GPA and SAT scores. Remember that Naviance does not factor in scores from subject tests or AP exams, and so there’s no way to gauge the impact of the student’s full testing record on the admissions outcome in this scattergram. In this case, Naviance will not help quell the anxiety of whether he’ll be admitted. But, if Duke is indeed this student’s top choice, then an early application to Duke is certainly not an unrealistic one, based solely on consideration of GPA and SAT.

NAVIANCE: STUDENT 3, PRINCETON

Student 3 attends a top boarding school on the East Coast. Her school grades on a 6-point scale and draws high-achieving students from around the country and around the world. The high school is very successful in terms of college admissions and many students get into the very top colleges. As she looks at her school’s scattergram for Princeton, she wonders about her chances of admission, since she sees several students admitted whose GPA and ACT scores are lower than hers.

In this instance, this student is unlikely to be competitive at a school like Princeton unless she has an admissions hook.  It’s a fairly safe bet that the students admitted to Princeton from this boarding school whose GPAs and ACTs were lower than hers may have been recruited athletes, legacy applicants, development prospects, members of underrepresented minority groups, or students with a unique talent or perspective.

Naviance scattergrams can be useful tools in building a college list – if used thoughtfully and in consideration of all the factors that go into the admissions process.

• Scattergrams do NOT list SAT subject tests (not always required but still VERY helpful at all top colleges) or AP tests.
• A higher unweighted GPA doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be more competitive at top schools if your curriculum lacks rigor.
• Scattergrams for colleges and universities that are less selective will provide you with a greater degree of confidence in your admissions outcome.
• Scattergrams for the most highly selective colleges and universities will tell you if you are a reasonable applicant, but should not be seen as the final word. These schools also consider essays, extracurricular activities, recommendations, etc. – so grades and scores alone are not determinative. Additionally, students with hooks who apply to top colleges and universities will often have better outcomes than unhooked ones, even if their grades and scores are lower.

NAVIANCE: THE BOTTOM LINE

In addition to Naviance scattergrams, we encourage students to review ‘class profiles’ for their target colleges. These profiles, compiled by the colleges, provide key statistical information on past cohorts of admitted students and help you see if your scores and GPA fall in range of their average scores or GPAs (most often colleges will list the ‘middle 50% range’). And remember if you aren’t a hooked applicant, you’ll likely need to be ABOVE the posted middle 50% range for test scores and GPA.

Though predictive in nature, Naviance scattergrams are not fool proof but are a useful tool in helping to determine admissions odds. We use them all the time at  Application Boot Camp  and in our Private Counseling Program . As always, in the admissions process, DATA SPEAKS – so now, it’s your time to listen.

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• Tags College Admissions , Insider Tips , Ivy League

2 replies on “Navigating Naviance”

How do to you get to the scattergram? I’ve scoured Naviance, but nothing.

Sounds like you’ll need to connect with your guidance office at your school. Good luck!

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For Families Who Want to Lessen College Admission Stress

What Is Naviance and How Does It Help With College Planning?

September 29, 2022 by CPM

Is your college-bound high school student in a Naviance school? Initially, I didn’t even know how to answer that question. I had never even heard of Naviance before it was used by my high school (Class of 2022) son. 

What Is Naviance?

Naviance is a secure, web-based college research tool. This college and career readiness platform allows families to analyze current college application trends in order to plan and organize college searches.  Since Naviance is used in many high school counseling offices, it is helpful for parents to know about it. According to the company, 40 percent of U.S.  high school students use Naviance in partnership with school guidance departments.

Naviance Login

High schools that use this tool will provide Naviance student login information for students. As juniors (or earlier for some high schools), students will use it to begin the college search process. Senior year students continue to use Naviance as a college application tool. 

Parents can also get an account that is linked to their student’s account. If you are a parent of a student (in grades 10 – 12) in a Naviance school, ask your child to register you/link you to his or her account. 

For Parents

It is good for parents to have that connection in order to receive updates from counseling offices and to be able to contact their teen’s guidance counselor. Every family is different so I recommend having a conversation with your teen regarding what else they want you to do with their Naviance account.

Questions to consider asking your teen include the following:

• Are you comfortable with me viewing and monitoring their activity? 
• Do you want me to suggest colleges and careers by adding them to your student list? 
• Can I view your assessment results?

Naviance provides a variety of college planning and career assessment tools. Personality assessments, resume tools, detailed college profiles, a student/college matching function, scholarship information and Scattergrams are just some of the resources.

Scattergrams

The Scattergrams tool uses historical acceptance data to help students be aware of their acceptance odds for various colleges. The data is entered by the student’s high school guidance office to show how many students from their high school applied, were admitted, waitlisted, or denied at a particular college in the past few years. 

Data points include grade point averages and standardized test (SAT and ACT) scores. This helps students narrow down their reach, target and safety/likelier schools on their college lists .

Scattergrams can be a useful measurement tool BUT it is not exact and should not definitely prevent students from applying to their desired colleges. Remember, many colleges are now test-optional and are taking a holistic approach to applicants.

SuperMatch is another helpful college tool. Students select various criteria to determine if potential colleges would be a great fit. Location, cost, school size, religious affiliation, academic programs, athletics, admissions competitiveness and racial diversity are some of the criteria that can be placed into “Must Have” or “Nice to Have” categories.

Results can then be customized. Students are able to pin schools that they want to compare and “favorite” ones that they want to add to their “Colleges That I’m Thinking About” list.

More About Naviance

Naviance also interfaces with the Common Application which I will write about later this week. Once students have linked both accounts, Naviance can send transcripts, recommendation letters and other supporting documents to the Common App. (For instance, students will add their teacher requests for letters of recommendation only on Naviance.) 

Students track their college admissions decisions through Naviance. When admission decisions are received from colleges, students will notify their counseling office through their accounts.

The results of every single college (not just the college that students decided to attend) need to be updated. In addition to college results, all scholarship information that students were offered for all schools (not just the college that they will be attending) needs to be included in their Naviance accounts. 

To summarize, Naviance is a valuable tool that streamlines the college research process. If your teen’s high school offers Naviance, become familiar with the system and encourage your teen to fully use it. (I wish that they had something like this for every student!)

If you found this post helpful, please share it. Thanks!

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Application guide for first-year students

Get tips and best practices to give yourself the best chance at success.

What is Common App?

Each year, more than 1 million students apply to more than 1,000 Common App member colleges worldwide through our online college application platform. Learn more about applying through our first-year application by following our step-by-step guide below.

Gather materials

The information you’ll need to complete your applications

Filling out your application takes time.

And if you have to keep interrupting your progress to find information, like a certificate for a continuing education course or the address of your last internship, it can take even longer. Get a head start by collecting this information before you begin.

In the Education section you will enter your high school grades and current courses. Some colleges also need you to self report your high school transcript. You can check out your Courses & Grades section to learn more.

You can share your interests and who you are outside of the classroom in the activities section. You can share information about things like work, hobbies, clubs, and community engagement. And don't forget, family responsibilities can be important to share as well. This is the place to show colleges what makes you unique!

You may self-report scores for any standardized tests in the Testing section. Every college has different testing requirements. Some colleges will always need your test scores. Other colleges may be flexible or have a test optional policy. Be sure to check the Testing policy of the colleges on your list.

Many colleges collect this information in the Family section for demographic purposes. We will ask for your parents occupation, employment status, and education level. If applicable, we will also ask which college(s) they attended and how many degrees they have earned.

The Activities section isn't the only place to show your passion and where you excel! You will also have the chance to share any academic honors or achievements from high school.

Create an account

Get started at any time

Creating a Common App account is easy and should only take a few minutes.

You can create a Common App account even if you don’t plan on applying for another few months or another few years. You can answer questions in the Common App tab and build a college list at any time.

• If you haven’t yet attended college, select “first-year student”
• If you have college credits from dual enrollment high school courses, you should still select “first-year student” 
• If you have already attended 1 or more colleges after graduating high school, select “transfer student”. We also have a separate transfer student guide to help you out. 
• You check regularly
• Does not use inappropriate language 
• You will have access to after you graduate from high school 
• We will need some basic information about you like your name, home address, phone number, and date of birth.
• Be sure to use your legal name as it appears on official school documents and standardized tests. This will make sure colleges can match documents to the correct person.
• At the end, you will adjust your communication preferences and accept the Common App privacy policy.
• Select "create account" and you’re done!

Account rollover

Common App accounts can roll over from year to year!

With account rollover , you can start exploring Common App and save answers to questions in the Common App tab at any time.

Add colleges

Start building your My Colleges list

Once you’ve created your account and explored the colleges that accept the Common App, you're ready to start adding colleges.

The College Search tab is where you will search for and add the colleges you want to apply to. If you have a school in mind you can search by name. If you want to keep exploring, you can use the more filters button. Some filters include:

• State or country
• Distance from a zip code
• Enrollment term
• Application deadline
• Application fees*
• Writing requirements
• Standardized testing policy
• Recommendation requirement

Adding a college is easy! You may add a college using the add button in the search results list. You can also select a college and add them using the "Add to My Colleges" button from their info screen.

Once you've added colleges, you can see them on your Dashboard and in your My Colleges tab. Keep in mind you may only add up to 20 colleges. You may adjust your list of colleges at any time. Once you've submitted, you will not be able to remove those schools from your My Colleges list.

* While some colleges may charge an application fee, others have no fee to apply. And, many will offer fee waivers under certain circumstances, including financial need, veteran status, and more. 

A request to the college to remove the application fee. Using either the Common App fee waiver, which your counselor must confirm, or a college-specific fee waiver, you will not be required to pay the fee to submit your application.

Coed is a term used to describe a college or university that offers the integrated education of male and female students in same environment.

Engage supporters

Collaborate with counselors, teachers, and more

All colleges need things like official school forms. Many colleges will also ask for letters of recommendation.

Counselors, teachers, and recommenders will submit these kinds of forms on your behalf. Here are the types of recommenders you can invite in the Common App.

Counselors share their perspective using the context of the entire graduating class. They also submit the School Report and transcripts.

Parents will only need to submit a form if you apply using a college's early decision deadline. They will fill out part of your early decision agreement.

Teachers give a firsthand account of your intellectual curiosity and creative thought.

Other recommenders are usually non academic recommenders like coaches, employers, and peers. They give insight into your interests and activities outside of the classroom.

Advisors do not submit any forms. They track and check in on your application progress.

Every college gets to choose their own recommendation requirements. You can find more details on each college's "College Information" page.

If you're planning to apply this school year, you can start inviting recommenders. If you don't plan on applying until next school year or later, skip this step for now.

How to invite and assign recommenders: 

From the My Colleges tab select a college and open their "Recommenders and FERPA" section.

If you have not done so already, you will need to complete the  FERPA Release Authorization .

Invite recommenders using the invite button from each section. You may also use the "Invite Recommenders" button at the top.

Select the type of invitation you would like to send. For each invitation you will need information like their name and email address.

After you add a recommender, you can view their info using the Manage Recommenders button.

Note that teachers, parents, and other recommenders will not receive an email invitation until you assign them to a college. To assign these recommenders, go to their section within this screen. Select their name from the dropdown and use the assign button.

If your high school uses Naviance or another partner software, you will not invite your counselor or teachers here. There will be instructional text on this page explaining what to do next. You will still add other recommenders and advisors using the steps above.

In general, each college has their own recommendation requirements. For example, one college may need two teacher recommendations. Some colleges may not want any teacher recommendations. Colleges can also determine what kinds of other recommenders they want. Some may allow for any recommender type, whereas others only allow an employer recommendation.

Understanding requirements

Keep track of each college’s unique application requirements

It's important to stay organized as you work on your applications.

Each college needs you to complete common questions and add counselor. Beyond that their applications vary. Each college can determine their unique requirements for:

• Application Fees
• Personal Essay
• Courses & Grades
• Test Policy
• Writing Supplements
• Recommendations

Here are some places where you can find each college's specific requirements:

Each college's Explore Colleges profile provides lots of information about the college. You can find details on application information, campus culture, scheduling visits, and more.

In the My Colleges or College Search tab, you can learn more using a school's college information page. Here you can see requirements for testing, writing, deadlines, and more.

The  requirements grid is a comprehensive PDF that lists all the colleges that use the Common App and their requirements. You can also find the grid within the application.

We maintain a list of all Common App colleges and  their essay prompts . This resource will help as you begin planning your essays. For more help on planning essays, check out our essay planning worksheet.

You can save answers to Common App tab questions year over year. So you can get started on things like your personal essay or the activities section at any time.

Responses to questions in your My Colleges do not stay year over year. Only get started on things like college-specific questions, writing supplements, or portfolios if you intend to apply this school year. For more info, check out our account rollover FAQ .

Plan essays

Organize and plan for your writing prompts

Sometimes writings essays can feel like the biggest part of your application. With a little bit of planning, organizing, and drafting, we can help you make this task more manageable.

As you work on your applications you can find essays or short answer questions in three sections:

Colleges can either make the personal essay optional or required. In the writing section of your Common App tab, you will see a table that lists each college's requirements.

Many colleges include short answer questions or essay prompts within this section. You can find specific information about each college's individual writing prompts  here .

Some colleges use a separate writing supplement. Not all colleges have a writing supplement. Some colleges only request this supplement based on how you answer other questions. You can find more information about writing supplements on the Dashboard or your My Colleges tab.

Counselor tip

Tools like Google Drive can be very helpful when planning or writing essays. When you’re ready to apply, you can upload the text of your essay(s) using the Google Drive icon in any of Common App’s writing questions.

Use our essay best practices FAQ for more help.

Submit your application

Review and submit your application

Submission is a three-step process: 1) Reviewing your application. 2) Paying the application fee (if applicable). 3) Submitting your application.

Get ready to begin your journey

Walk through the application with us before you apply.

Need help? Contact our Solutions Center.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

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Naviance is a software tool offered through high schools that helps students navigate the college selection and admissions process. The software includes a ton of tools for guidance counselors to use in preparing college applications for their students, and includes a variety of college search and admissions prep tools for students.

This blog post will provide a breakdown of the strengths of Naviance as well as the areas where we recommend leveraging additional resources (including some offered by CollegeVine).

Estimating Your Chances of Admission

One feature that is unique to Naviance is the data it provides on the GPA and SAT scores of students from your high school who applied to a particular college, as well as the outcome of their application (acceptance, rejection, or waitlist). This data is typically reproduced in the format of a scattergram.

Our point of view on using Naviance to estimate your chances of admission is that you can kind of get a general sense of where you stand academically, but it is nowhere near sufficient if you want to actually estimate your chances of admission. Here’s our rationale:

Naviance doesn’t take into account extracurricular activities

The college admissions process is holistic, so test scores and coursework/GPA are just two of the numerous factors considered in the admissions process. At most colleges they represent just 25-30% of how the admissions decision is made according to CollegeVine’s data. This is because at selective colleges (with <40% acceptance rates), there are multiple qualified students for every available slot in the class, so they cannot just differentiate students based on these two factors.

Extracurricular activities and awards, meanwhile represent close to 35% of the admissions decision by themselves , and they are a huge factor in the admissions process. Naviance does not give you any idea of how your extracurricular profile matches up for the colleges that you are applying to, and that instantly makes their results inaccurate.

Your GPA and SAT don’t tell the full admissions story

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographics, and other holistic details. We’ll let you know what your chances are at your dream schools — and how to improve your chances!

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details.

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details. We’ll let you know what your chances are at your dream schools — and how to improve your chances!

Naviance doesn’t take into account your course profile, class rank, or SAT IIs

While academics represent 25-30% of the admissions decision, Naviance doesn’t even accurately reflect your full academic profile. In particular, it does not look at your course profile or class rank, and it does not look at your SAT Subject (SAT II) exam scores.

Universities do not look at GPAs in a vacuum. A 3.8 or 96 GPA in mostly College Prep (CP) courses will be viewed less favorably than a 3.5 or 89 GPA in a mix of AP and Honors courses. This context is largely missing in the data Naviance presents (though if your school has a weighted GPA that may partly reflect this).

Similarly, a 3.8 GPA in a high school with an average GPA of 3.5 and 20% of students above a 3.9 is going to be much less impressive than a 3.8 GPA in a high school with an average GPA of 3.2 and 7% of students above a 3.8 GPA. Whenever it’s available, colleges always take into account your class rank, and even if it’s not directly available, they will try to proxy it by asking about things like the Top 10% cutoff. Naviance’s data does not take into account class rank at all.

The final missing academic factor is the SAT II subject exams. Our data shows that taking up to 3 SAT Subject exams (and scoring well) drives close to 10% of a student’s chances of admission, and once again Naviance does not take this factor into account.

Naviance does not take into account a student’s background or “hook” factors like legacy status

This element is huge – students from different demographic backgrounds are judged on separate tracks by a university. For example, an Asian-American student from an affluent suburban school district in California is going to have very different academic and extracurricular standards for admission than a student from Compton or East Los Angeles. Naviance does not take student background into account, so there’s no way of adjusting for this factor.

Similarly, Naviance also does not tell you anything about whether the student who was accepted had some sort of “hook” to their application such as legacy status or status as a recruited athlete. According to the recent Harvard lawsuit, recruited athletes have an acceptance rate more than 5 times (518.7% higher to be exact) that of general merit candidates. Similarly, legacy students have close to 6 times the acceptance rate of non-legacy applicants once the so-called “Z-List” is taken into account. Naviance tells you nothing about whether the accepted student with a certain GPA and ACT score was a legacy or recruited athlete, and that completely skews the results.

CollegeVine’s algorithm takes all of these factors into account and many more

In contrast, the chancing engine that students in our college applications program have access to takes all of these factors into account and several more. In fact, the algorithm behind our tool uses more than 30 different variables to give you the most complete picture of your chances of admission at any given college and is based on data sourced from the thousands of students that we’ve worked with over the past 5+ years. Naviance uses just 2 variables and only takes into account 50-100 data points from a single high school.

How Helpful are Naviance’s Tools?

Some of the tools in Naviance are used by guidance counselors to do things like send your transcripts to colleges and upload guidance counselor and recommendation letters. These tools are absolutely invaluable in the college admissions process.

Some of Naviance’s other tools however, are more of a good starting point for research. Two in particular that we can highlight are the finances tab on the college lookup and the application milestones tracking.

Naviance’s financial statistics are general averages with limited applicability for individual situations

Following a typical Naviance financial screen in the college lookup tool, we can see that the  figures are missing a ton of context. For starters, there is data that conflates both merit and financial aid which are awarded by colleges for very different reasons. For example, a college might have a relatively low net price for students in the $75-$110k range because they offer lots of scholarships to students with good SAT or ACT scores that just happen to fall in that income range. However, there is nothing that tells you about how much aid you can expect to receive if you don’t have scholarship worthy test scores.

Another issue is that this data only looks at income, while financial aid is calculated based on income, assets, and several other factors such as the parent’s age, other children, and special financial circumstances. Two families making $80,000 per year in household income can have completely different financial aid offers depending on these other factors, so these numbers are often entirely off base for a specific family’s situation.

CollegeVine’s finances tool , in contrast, provides a customized estimate of your specific projected cost of attendance at a particular college. It also offers a ton of tools to assess post-graduate outcomes such as projected debt loads, major-specific starting salaries, and ROI.

Naviance’s milestone tracker only includes items that the high school sends

These are the milestones that the high school (either teachers or guidance counselors) are required to complete, but at each of these schools there are tons of additional requirements such as financial aid forms, interviews, essays/supplements, and more.

In contrast, CollegeVine’s milestone tracker provides a comprehensive view of all of the to-dos and requirements for each and every college. For example, at the University of Chicago our system has 18 distinct application to-dos vs. Naviance’s 5.  

In summary, Naviance is a tool that is very useful for guidance counselors and other school officials. It is also a good starting point for families to begin with in the applications process. But to successfully navigate the admissions process, Naviance’s tools just aren’t deep enough on their own.

Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free. Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

United States Naval Academy (USNA) Essay Prompts and Tips    

September 27, 2023

With an acceptance rate of just 10%, getting into the United States Naval Academy and officially becoming a midshipman in Annapolis is no easy task. After all, how many colleges require a nomination from a member of Congress? Those brave young men and women who choose to navigate a supremely challenging admissions process do so in order to later dedicate a portion of their adult lives to serving their country. This blog will offer admissions-related advice on how to approach the lone, two-part USNA essay.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into the United States Naval Academy? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into the US Naval Academy: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

When applying to an institution like the Naval Academy that rejects more than 9 of every 10 applicants, you need to put maximum effort into every area of the application, including the supplemental essays. Below are the USNA’s required supplemental prompts for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with our advice for composing a winning essay.

US Naval Academy Essay Prompt – Part 1

The USNA only requires one essay, but you need to cover two very distinct topics in one place. We will explore these two distinct questions in two separate sections of this blog. However, we want to stress that both need to be covered in the same limited number of words, as the official directions indicate:

In a well-organized essay, please discuss both of the following:

(1) Describe what led to your initial interest in the naval service and how the Naval Academy will help you achieve your long-range goals, and (CONTINUED LATER IN THE BLOG)… …

It may be helpful to view this portion of the prompt as a higher-stakes version of the typical “Why Us?” college essay. In that category of essay, an applicant is tasked with telling their story of how they decided that ______ University was the perfect school for them. They may write about particular academic programs, courses, professors, research opportunities, internships/co-ops, study abroad programs, and student-run organizations that they will take advantage of once on campus.

Similarly, the USNA wants to see that you have done your homework and are 100% committed to life as a Naval officer. This should be a highly-personal story that demonstrates your maturity, commitment, and readiness to commit to a life in the Navy. Ultimately, joining the Navy is not a decision that anyone should make lightly and the folks in Annapolis will want to see evidence of specific experiences that led you to this conclusion.

For example, perhaps you have:

• Had multiple conversations with a recruiting officer. Share what you learned.
• Participated in NJROTC as an adolescent/young adult.
• Had in-depth discussions with family members or non-family family members who served in the Navy or Armed Forces.

Items you could share related to the long-term goals can include:

• Talk about your intended major at the USNA. Whether you are interested in political science, aerospace engineering, chemistry, or cyber/electronic operations and warfare, explain how your area of study fits into your long-range goals.
• Discuss where you see your career in the Navy taking you. You may also want to touch upon post-Navy aims.

US Naval Academy Essay Prompt – Part 2

(2) Describe a personal experience you have had which you feel has contributed to your own character development and integrity.

To begin, it’s important to think about what type of specific words we can use to identify your particular character development. The following list may help your brainstorming efforts:

• Perspective
• Open-mindedness
• Self-regulation
• Emotional/social intelligence
• Persistence
• Enthusiasm and vigor
• Adaptability

Next, you want to chronicle a singular personal experience that led you to grow in one or more of these character-related areas. Use your life experience to show rather than tell the Naval Academy how you have grown into a person of high integrity. Examples can come from a job, school projects, athletics, NJROTC, or a family experience. In short, the thing to keep in mind here is the Latin quote “Facta, non verba” which translates to “Deeds, not words.”

How important are the essays at the United States Naval Academy?

Overall, the USNA lists nine factors as being “very important” to the admissions committee: GPA, class rank, the interview, extracurricular activities, character/personal qualities, the rigor of your secondary school record, the level of demonstrated interest, recommendations, and—most relevant to this blog—the application essays.

Want personalized assistance?

Lastly, if you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your Naval Academy essays, we encourage you to get a quote  today.

• College Essay

Dave Bergman

Dave has over a decade of professional experience that includes work as a teacher, high school administrator, college professor, and independent educational consultant. He is a co-author of the books The Enlightened College Applicant (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how useful is naviance in college search.

Hey guys, my school introduced Naviance to us this year. I'm curious to know about its effectiveness in helping find colleges that suit my preferences. Any thoughts or experiences?

Hey there! Naviance can be quite useful in your college search process as it provides a platform to research schools, analyze college acceptance trends, and understand your chances based on your school’s historical data. Naviance's "scattergrams" can be particularly insightful as they show the GPA and test scores of students from your high school who applied to specific colleges in past years, allowing you to compare yourself to previous applicants from your school.

Keep in mind, however, admissions processes can change over time and relying solely on Naviance isn't advised. I recommend using additional resources like CollegeVine, which offers a chancing engine, a school list builder, and essay guidance, among other things, to get a well-rounded understanding of your college options. It's always a good idea to use multiple resources to cross-reference information and gain a more comprehensive view. Good luck with your college search!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

So Your High School Doesn’t Offer APs—Are AP Exams Still Important For College Admissions?

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Brown University

Advanced Placement courses are offered at thousands of high schools across the U.S.— approximately 35% of public high school graduates in the Class of 2023 took at least one AP exam, and approximately 2.8 million students sat for AP exams in 2023. However, a large number of schools do not offer AP courses. In many cases, this is due to a lack of resources—though strides have been made to increase access to AP courses in underprivileged schools, a gap in access persists along racial and socioeconomic lines. In other cases, schools are ditching the AP curriculum as a result of their educational philosophy. In 2018, elite private schools in the D.C. area such as Sidwell Friends and Georgetown Prep announced their intention to phase out AP classes, citing their desire for a more independent curriculum and a growing frustration with the AP’s orientation toward testing rather than other metrics for success.

Despite these drawbacks, AP courses and exams remain highly regarded by many colleges and universities, as they offer insight into students’ academic acumen and potential to complete college coursework successfully. As a result, many students without access to AP courses are left wondering whether they should still register, study and sit for AP exams.

First and foremost, students should know that colleges and universities evaluate their applications in the context of their school and the opportunities available to them. This means that if students did not have AP classes available to them at their schools, admissions officers will not expect to see AP courses or AP exam scores included in their applications. As such, these students’ applications will not be disadvantaged in any way by not including AP exams.

That being said, there are some scenarios in which a student may still wish to take an AP exam despite not having taken an AP course. These are the top three reasons that students might consider sitting for one or more AP exams:

1. To Earn College Credit

One of the main reasons students take AP exams is to earn college credit. Many colleges and universities grant credit for high AP exam scores (typically for 4s or 5s). By earning credit through AP exams, you may be able to fulfill prerequisites, skip introductory courses, or accelerate your progress toward graduation once you enroll in college. However, this is not the case at every school. In order to determine whether the time and effort you will put into studying and taking an AP exam will be justified, you should research whether the schools you are considering applying to give college credit for high AP exam scores. You can often find this information on admissions or departmental websites, or by contacting admissions representatives at each respective school. You can also check the College Board website to see if the schools on your list accept AP credits, but note that these policies change frequently, so you should still follow up with the schools for verification. If a handful of the schools on your list do accept high scores for credit, it may be a strategic choice to sit for one or more exam.

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Sh gun episode 10 review a powerful finale but not what i was expecting, the trump media stock price djt is about to adjust down by 22 7, 2. to use exam scores in lieu of the sat or act.

As Ivy League and other top schools reinstate their standardized testing requirements, some schools have announced their intention to allow students to submit test scores from AP examinations in place of ACT or SAT scores. Dartmouth allows students applying from schools outside of the U.S. to satisfy their testing requirement by submitting three AP exam scores. Meanwhile, Yale’s new test-flexible policy also allows students applying domestically to submit AP and IB scores in lieu of other standardized tests. If you are applying internationally or if you have reason to believe that you will achieve a stronger score on AP exams than on the SAT or ACT, you can consider sitting for the exams. Note that not all schools have such flexible testing policies, so you will likely still need to sit for the SAT or the ACT.

3. To Demonstrate Your Academic Abilities

It is important to remember that while they are not the only way to demonstrate their academic capabilities, AP exams are an unbiased and quantifiable way to assess students’ preparedness for college coursework. Students who struggled academically earlier in their high school years or who want to highlight their skills in a specific discipline may benefit from the inclusion of AP scores in their applicant profiles.

Finally, while students who do not have access to AP classes should consider their options and make a strategic decision about taking exams on the basis of their applicant profiles and academic goals, students who have taken AP courses absolutely should take AP exams. Failing to sit for the exams will not only foreclose the possibility of earning college credit, but it will also reflect poorly on your application and raise questions with admissions committees.

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