Naviance Simplifies College Search, Career Exploration for USC Students

A new software program called Naviance was introduced to Upper St. Clair High School students that will assist in the college search and application process. 

Naviance will not only to allow USC students, teachers and guidance counselors go paperless in the college application process, but it will also streamline admissions, enable students and parents to conduct career and college searches, and foster communication between parents, students and the school district.

Parents of junior and sophomore students received codes and passwords for Naviance, which can be accessed through the high school counseling department website. Students have editing privileges while parent passwords allow only for monitoring both student and school submissions, encouraging students to “be in the driver’s seat,” according to Dr. Bill Rullo, director of school counseling services at the high school. 

Teachers will also have access to student resumes and schedules for the purpose of writing recommendation letters, which they will then be able to complete online. However, Dr. Rullo reminds students that they should request letters in person before emailing their teachers through Naviance.

“Naviance will make life easier for students, parents and staff.  It expedites the entire process,” Dr. Rullo said.

Students are first encouraged to take Naviance’s career exploration and personality type inventory, which is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The results of this inventory will produce a list of careers—from a database of 1,100—that align with each student’s personality type, interests and goals. Students can then find out additional information for specific careers of interest, from necessary education to average salaries to “day in the life” videos of real people serving in that career. 

Naviance also provides students with a list of educational requirements for each career, and a list of colleges that would meet these needs. 

Students can do separate college-searches as well, not directly linked to careers for students who are undecided. Naviance has detailed information on over 11,000 colleges and universities. 

“The program is streamlined and brings information right to the students,” Dr. Rullo said. “It provides more than enough information for students to begin thinking about college choices, majors, and careers.”

Naviance’s resume builder easily transforms information entered by students into a professional resume for both job and college applications. 

USC students will now complete their graduation requirements through Naviance as well, including the personality inventory, cluster finder, and exploration and exit surveys.  With these graduation project requirements going paperless, the project will prove to be less intrusive to the school day.

“Students should find Naviance useful in a variety of contexts,” Dr. Rullo said, from identifying potential majors and careers, to researching colleges, to the entire college application process itself.

“Naviance is state of the art in the school counseling industry,” Dr. Rullo said. “We’re really pleased with it.”

He encourages students to spend time this summer becoming familiar with the program and all it has to offer. 

“College decisions and career prospects in high school are constantly changing,” Dr. Rullo said. “This is an ongoing process.” 

Naviance, it seems, will help to streamline this process and be rewarding for parents, students and school staff alike.