Naviance

This page describes the steps of the college process that you will need to complete through Naviance, a web-based tool that will be critical and helpful in your college search and applications.

Naviance is an excellent college research resource for students and parents, and the College Advising Office will submit all transcripts and recommendations electronically via Naviance to help streamline the application process. Students will submit applications primarily through the Common Application; after August 1, seniors will need to link their Common App and Naviance accounts so colleges will receive all application materials together. (See the bottom of this page for details.)

To do:

Register for Naviance 

  • Email Ms. Dawicki if you do not have your registration code; juniors and junior parents will receive information regarding accessing their personal Naviance accounts by the middle of their student’s junior year. (Ninth-graders, tenth-graders, and their parents do not have access to Naviance.)
  • With your registration code in hand, go to Naviance, and bookmark this page before logging in. Note: You must use your Deerfield email address as your username.
  • From the “Colleges I’m Thinking About” page, click on “add colleges to this list” at the top of the page. Scroll or use the lookup tool to search for the college you want to add. If the college is not on the list, use the search function or browse by alpha.
  • Update the list of colleges you’re considering. From the Naviance home page, click the favorite “Colleges I’m Thinking About” to input the names of colleges and universities on your radar. This may change frequently over the course of junior year and the subsequent summer and will not be finalized until senior fall. Add and delete colleges as often as you’d like as you consider your options.
  • To add colleges: Click on “Favorite” once you’ve entered all of the schools you want to add (if you do not do this step, the colleges will not be added to your list!
  • You can also  “favorite” or add a college to your list by clicking the heart icon at the top of the college info page on Naviance.
  • To delete colleges, check the box in front of the college’s name on the “Colleges I’m Thinking About” list, and click “remove” at the top of the page.

Research/review options

Once you sign in, you’ll see the options available to you as tabs at the top right of the Naviance home page. Useful tools include:

  • Home tab:
    • College Advising welcome and general instructions
  • Quick links to:
    • Colleges I’m Thinking About: the live and up-to-date list of colleges you’re considering. Updating this list is the best way to communicate changes in thinking with your college advisor over the summer.
    • Colleges I’m Applying To: your active applications. Schools will be moved here from the “Colleges I’m Thinking About” list during your senior fall.  Only your college advisor can add colleges to this list.
    • Careers and Clusters I’m Thinking About: includes links to personal assessment tools to learn more about your interests and possible career paths.
    • Document Resources (scroll to bottom of the home page): important materials we share with students via email and meetings are stored here.
    • Updates on college visits to Deerfield: this bulletin board of sorts will let you know which colleges’ representatives are coming to campus, and when.
  • College tab:
    • Advanced College Search: allows you to search colleges based on specific criteria (location, size, majors, etc)
    • College Lookup: lets you search specific colleges from a list. Clicking on colleges lets you review college information, see info about Deerfield applicants to the college, link to the college’s web site, and add colleges to your list.
    • Scattergrams: chart four years of Deerfield specific application activity and results at colleges.
    • College Compare: compares your academic statistics vs. an aggregate of Deerfield applicant statistics.
    • Colleges I’m Thinking About: is linked here as well.

Discuss your plans.

As you do your research and make your college plans, be sure to touch base regularly with your college advisor. Your college advisor has access to your Naviance account, so updates to your college list in Naviance can be made and viewed by you and your college advisor. Please note, we do not have access to your Common App college list. Any questions? Ask!

In August or September of your senior year, complete the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) section on the Common Application website. You should waive your right to see your teachers’ letters of reference. You must have confidence the teachers you ask to write on your behalf will be fair and accurate in recommending you in a positive light to colleges. Colleges tend to take the recommendation more seriously when viewing rights have been waived, knowing the recommendation is secure and confidential. Most colleges require that you sign the waiver before you can proceed with your application. Once the FERPA waiver is completed, log into Naviance and go to the Colleges I’m Applying to list in the College tab and enter your Common Application username and password. This information is used only for the purpose of electronic submission of your recommendation forms, other required forms, and your transcripts to colleges.

Frequently Asked Questions

For current students, talk to your faculty advisor.  For new students, ninth-graders should contact Mrs. Koyama, tenth-graders and juniors should contact Ms. Hemphill,  and seniors/PGs should contact the College Advising Office.

Students who want to play a sport in college at the Division I, IA, or II level, must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center by the end of their junior year. For more important information about NCAA academic requirements, please visit Athletic Recruiting.

Naviance is an online college search tool that helps students research potential colleges, keep track of their prospective and active applications, and estimate the likelihood of admission based on the results of previous Deerfield students’ grades and testing profiles as compared to each individual student’s personal academic record. All students are given access to Naviance in the fall of their junior year, and parents are given their own log-in information shortly afterwards.  Naviance is the site through which Deerfield submits the school’s portion of a student’s application materials (transcripts, letters of recommendation), so it’s important that students keep their application information up to date on Naviance.

There is no specific requirement for frequency of meetings, but most seniors meet with their advisor every two or three weeks to discuss their progress. Advisors may request more frequent meetings if a student is falling behind in the process, or around crucial times of the year (such as application deadlines).  Juniors will begin meeting with their advisor in late fall of junior year; they are encouraged to check in with their advisor about once a month.  Students can schedule meetings by visiting the College Advising Office on the second floor of the Boyden Library, emailing their college advisor, or using Outlook to request a meeting.

The College Advising Office sends a message to all sophomores each winter to invite them to schedule a meeting with a college advisor. In the summer before students’ junior year, the College Advising Office will send additional information about what students should be doing to prepare themselves for applying. In the late fall of their junior year, students begin the process in earnest, starting by filling out an information sheet that will help them, in conjunction with their college advisor, begin compiling a list of schools.

Deerfield is highly conscious of the needs of its student-athletes, and offers a wide range of NCAA eligible classes. The College Advising Office and Deerfield coaches are accustomed to assisting students seeking to play sports in college, and they are experienced in guiding students through the recruiting process. They will work with students to be sure they meet the NCAA requirements, and are in the best position possible to be recruited.

Contact College Advising

advising@deerfield.edu
413-774-1479
Fax 413-772-1128

Boyden Library, Second Floor
PO Box 87
Deerfield, MA 01342