How many rec letters do I need, and how do I add my teachers on Naviance?

Hi Elizabeth!

You need to check each application and see how many rec letters each college will accept. They have very different guidelines at each college. Usually on the Common App you are allowed to submit two academic recommendation letters, and these are preferred from junior year core subject teachers: English, History, Math and Science (maybe world language).

Before your ask family friends, alumni, bosses, coaches, advisors, etc to write a letter on your behalf, make sure the college will welcome an extra letter before you send it and certainly before you ask a kind person to spend two hours writing for you.

As for Naviance, your school counselors will set up a day in the Fall where they walk all seniors through how to set up Naviance for applying to college. You do not want to miss this day, because Naviance is difficult to figure out on your own!

• Use the same email for the Common App that you use for Naviance
• Under My Colleges in Naviance, Match your Common App and Naviance accounts after you have started the Common App and filled out much of the Common App tab (not the Colleges tab in the Common App, but do add your colleges there)
• Add ALL of your colleges in the Naviance “Applying To” list, NOT the “Thinking About” list. Make sure you have these same colleges listed in the Common App.
• Talk to your teachers first, before adding them in Naviance, to make sure it’s ok that they write your letters
• Under “Colleges” in Naviance, click “Letters of Rec” and add your teachers here by clicking “+Add Request”
• Select if you would like that teacher’s letter to go to “All Application” or “Selected Applications”
• Because your school is a Naviance school, do NOT add your teachers on the Common App FERPA page.  That confuses things. But DO assign your teachers to each college within the Common App FERPA pages, AND select where you want the letters to go in Naviance (if this will still be the same at the time of this writing, April 2020–message me if this changes and I will update this.)
• Naviance also shows you how many letters each college Requires and Accepts (and how many you have Requested), on your college list in Naviance, so make sure your college list is CORRECT in Naviance.
• Make sure your college deadlines (and application types) match in BOTH Naviance and the Common App (Early Decision, Early Application, Regular Decision).
• Be sure to thank your teachers and counselors after they write your letters!  Take a thank you card or small gift.

Hope this helps!

Yay, college!

Susanna