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COLLEGE & POST-HIGH-SCHOOL GUIDE: Glossary
get this GUIDE in PDF format (get Adobe Reader)

ACT: This college entrance test has four sub-tests in English, mathematics, reading, and sciences reasoning. Most colleges in lieu of the SAT accept the ACT. Some students take both to see which test they score higher on. Optimum score is 36.

AP: The abbreviation for Advanced Placement courses or tests, which offer the student an opportunity to gain college credit or to be excused from routine freshman courses. The AP tests are administered through the CEEB in the spring, rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 3 a passing score. The college decides whether or not it will grant credit or advanced placement for AP work done in high school.

Associate Degree: A two-year college degree (often completed at a community college).

Bachelor’s Degree: A four-year degree

Candidate’s Reply Date: May 1 is the date by which accepted applicants must notify colleges if they will be attending.

CEEB: Abbreviation for College Entrance Examination Board which creates and supervises the administration of the SATs, the Achievement Tests, AP exams, and CLEP exams.

Class Rank: How a student’s academic performance, as determined by the grade point average, compares to other members of his/her graduating class.

CLEP: Abbreviation for College Level Examination Program, a testing program similar to the AP program, that some colleges use to grant credit or advance placement.

Common Application: A form devised and accepted by approximately 100 private institutions to make things easier for students by utilizing the same application form for each of the participating colleges.

Community College: Two-year colleges, usually funded by local and state funds, which provide vocational training programs as well as college transfer programs.

Curriculum: A set of courses offered by an educational institution.

Deferred Entrance: An accepted student delays entering college, in order to
study abroad, travel, or work.

Early Action: An admission plan whereby a student can submit an application in November and receive a decision by mid-December. The student is usually not limited to only one Early Action application nor is he/she required to enroll if accepted. An Early Action candidate who has not been accepted may be considered with the regular-decision applicant pool. Students accepted under Early Action are not required to notify the college of their enrollment intentions until May 1.

Early Decision: A program whereby a student can apply to a first-choice college early in the fall of the senior year and receive a decision by mid-December. Upon making an Early Decision application, the student agrees to enroll if accepted and, depending on the college, to make no other applications until receiving that decision or to withdraw other applications immediately if admitted. Students not admitted under Early Decision may be reconsidered with the regular-decision applicants. If you are not accepted under Early Decision, application to other colleges can still be made in time to meet deadlines; however, students do need to have already applied to the UC in November.

Educational Opportunity Program (EOP): A special admissions program which offers counseling, tutoring, and educational assistance for low-income and educationally disadvantaged students. The program is available at all public institutions in California. The candidate must make special application to it.

ETS: Educational Testing Service. This is the organization, based in Princeton, New Jersey, that the College Board uses to write, administer, and score its tests. A regional office is located just across the bay in Emeryville.

FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the basic form that must be filed to apply for any financial aid. If you want to be considered for any financial aid, file it. Check with the colleges to which you are applying to see what other, if any, information forms they require.

GPA: Grade Point Average

GPA Verification Form: A form to be obtained by student, completed and signed by a counselor, and mailed by student to the California Student Aid Commission for all students applying for Cal Grants.

High School Code: Used by ETS to identify each school. See inside cover of this booklet.

Humanities: Courses concerned with thought and human relations, philosophy, literature, classical languages, and the fine arts.

Impacted Program or Major: An overcrowded program, major, or campus where there are many more applications than available spaces.

Ivy League/Little Ivies: Although the term “Ivy League” is often used to designate any eastern college with a strong reputation and a highly competitive situation, strictly speaking, the Ivy League colleges are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale. The so-called “Little Ivies” are Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams.

Liberal Arts: “Liberal Arts” usually refers to courses in English, social studies and foreign language. The liberal arts college offers a four-year course of study, leading to the B.S. or B.A. degree. Such a course of study usually does not prepare for a specific occupation, though it is often a prerequisite of graduate study.

NMSQT: National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The PSAT taken in the junior year is the preliminary screening device for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation that administers a number of college scholarship programs.

PROFILE: The financial aid form used by selected private colleges and scholarship programs. Check with the colleges and scholarship programs to which you are applying to see what other, if any information forms they require.

PSAT: Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (combined with the NMSQT, see above) — a test of administered to high school sophomores and juniors. It serves as practice for the SAT and the SAT II writing test, giving students an indication of how they might perform. The PSAT also qualifies students for the National Merit Scholarships.

Rolling Admissions: A system of admission decision notification whereby a college informs the applicant of his/her status within a short time (usually two to four weeks) after the application is complete.

SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test which consists of two major components: SAT I: Reasoning Tests, divided into verbal and mathematics, three hours long total. SAT II: Subject Tests (formerly called Achievement Tests) which focus on specific subject matter, one hour each.

Scholarship: A form of financial assistance that does not require repayment or employment and which is usually offered to students who show potential for distinction, or who possess certain characteristics important to the scholarship provider (such as religious beliefs, hobbies, ethnicity, etc.)

Weighted GPA: Some schools give additional points for honors or Advanced Placement courses when determining the Grade Point Average. For example, an “A” is weighted as 5 points rather than 4, and a “B”, 4 points rather than 3 in computing the student’s GPA. Some UC campuses allow a maximum of eight semesters of honors/AP courses in the GPA calculation.

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