Naviance= Nasty.

At least that’s what I thought before I learned how to use it. In fact, I’ve heard a lot of complaining from my senior peers.

“It’s confusing.”

“Why can’t I just do it the old way?”

“I don’t have time for it.”

Now, with practice, I realize Naviance is an incredible tool that will be even better once freshmen, sophomores, and juniors have experience. It’s the seniors that happened to get caught in the crunch of something new.

Among the bad senior weather of applications, transcripts, letters of recommendation, essays, due dates and scholarships, add to it the whirlwind of anxiety and confusion about Naviance.

This year, all of Frederick County student services has adopted a new online process, Naviance, to ease the stress of college applications. Naviance is a college and career readiness platform that helps students and schools determine the best path for students after graduation.

The site equips students with personal development and interest surveys, college application due dates, college admissions counselors’ contact information, Common App, teacher recommendation requests, completed personal SAT/ ACT scores, a planner, and a list of upcoming college representatives who will be visiting the high school.

It is also a helpful tool for undecided students to explore specific universities, majors, and career ideas. It helps users discover their passions and begin to plan.

Not only is using Naviance encouraged, but also it is now required.

In 2014, three Frederick County Public Schools piloted the eDoc Schools program, meaning the role schools play in the college application process were managed through Naviance. This year, all FCPS schools joined the program.

“It’s great because it’s one central system instead of multiple systems,” explains Student Services Chairperson Paula Larson. “Before, Student Services wouldn’t know if a teacher actually wrote the recommendation. All information was in different areas. This is a lot more organized.”

Though Naviance has made the application process more efficient and structured, it is not how students apply to college, but rather how they ask the school to do its part in the application process: writing letters and sending transcripts.

With anything new comes ‘hiccups.’ Linganore did not hold its first Naviance User Information Meeting until September 9th, but many seniors began applying to universities for priority admissions as early as July. Without knowledge about how Naviance works, these students were put at a disadvantage when asking for the school to send transcripts.

Senior Lexi Baughman had difficulty adjusting to the Naviance college process.  “I found it really inconvenient that the school couldn’t send my transcripts until I attended a Naviance meeting. I also wish that the student could edit where they’ve applied to themselves, instead of relying on the counselors to do that,” said Baughman.

Teachers, too, had complications with the new program. 

“I had no trouble logging in and uploading the recommendation. I am still working through the ‘Send Forms’ part. If a student hasn’t completed his part, I can’t do mine,” said English teacher Natalie Rebetsky.

“We have one more component to add to Naviance – course planner.  That will be rolled-out later this year,” shared Janet Shipman, Coordinator of School Counseling and Student Support for FCPS.

As Naviance training and familiarity advances, the application process will become exponentially easier, due to the augmented organizational methods. This year, middle schools were also exposed to Naviance, meaning that future high school students will be accustomed to all parts of Naviance.

To work on your FCPS Naviance profile, click here.