A Breakdown of All the College App Jargon Getting Thrown Around Every Fall
Be in the know so you can get the right foot in the door. Here is some jargon you should know about before you start diving into the college application process! Please note everything is in alphabetical order.
CEEB Code
This is an identification number for a specific location and/organization (think colleges or scholarship corporations). They were created by the College Board (CEEB simply stands for College Entrance Examination Board, i.e. the College Board) to prevent confusion and ensure things like test scores, transcripts, and applications go to the right places. When you send your AP scores or SAT scores, it is best to use the CEEB code the college has to make sure you're sending your scores to the exact location (and it saves money, since sending scores costs money, which can be wasted if you send your scores to the wrong places).
Coalition Application
This is a college admission application that allows an applicant to send one application to all colleges a student chooses to apply. Coalition App aims to help underrepresented students with little financial resources to apply to colleges. It's hard to decide which application you should use (as you'll start to learn, there is more than one "universal application"). My only advice is to consult with your school counselor.
Common Application
Like the Coalition App, the Common App is a college admission application where one application can be sent out to multiple colleges, with supplemental materials sent out to specific colleges. This is an application more prominent in college admissions processes, and my school allows you to connect your Naviance account to your Common Application account. Many colleges (think private schools, and some public schools) use the Common App, and so this app has by far the largest catalog of colleges (aka bragging rights). This makes applying for colleges a lot easier.
Deferred Admission
This is applies only to early admission decisions. Sometimes, if a college feels like they're unsure at the time of the decision whether or not they want to admit you, they put your application on the figurative "later" pile and look over your decision again in January and/or February, when regular decision applications come through. With deferred admission, there is a chance, and it is better than a straight-up denial. It's important to stay positive during this stressful college admissions season.
Early Action
Also shortened (and frequently called) "EA", this is a college admission plan that essentially means turning in an application earlier to a college for the guarantee that you get a decision back earlier than if you were apply later. November 1st is the deadline for most EA schools, but some schools have deadlines earlier, and some have them later. There are different types of EA. Most are non-binding, which means that if you get in the college, you don't have to commit to go there, and you can apply to other schools that do non-binding EA as well. A select few colleges do a thing called restrictive EA, which essentially has the same guidelines as EA, but you can't apply to other schools until you get a decision back. Colleges opt for this so as to lessen the flow of applications that come in later in the college app season, and students like this option because they get a decision faster. I personally think it's a win-win deal! Expect a decision from the college as early as December 15th and as late as February 1st.
Early Decision
Also shortened (and frequently called) "ED", this is like EA, but is slightly different because this is binding, which means if you get in, you have to go to that school. Colleges opt for this so they can have a certain pool of committed students before they consider applicants in January through February. Like EA, the deadline for most ED is November 1st. Expect a decision from the college by December 15th.
Holistic Admissions
This is a term favored by many selective schools (think private universities and the prestigious Ivy League schools) when discussing their admissions process. In theory, holistic admissions means that college admissions officials will consider ALL aspects of an application before making a decision, so again, in theory, everything in your application should have equal weight.
Legacy Applicant
Also shortened to just a "legacy", this is an applicant who has close family members as alumni of the institution they're applying to. For example, if your mom or dad went to Harvard, and you apply to Harvard, you're considered a legacy applicant. The catch is that legacy applicants have an edge over non-legacy applicants, especially if the legacy's relatives donated A LOT of money. Is it unfair? I don't want to get into that, but yes, you can certainly argue that it's unfair, and a lot of people will agree with you.
Need-Blind Admission
This is a term that colleges like to use to basically say, "we won't look at your financial needs or your household income when making decision about whether or not you're accepted into our school."
Open Admission
Some colleges and most community colleges practice this. Basically, this is a first-come, first-serve type of ordeal. Any student is welcome, and the college will only reject applicants once their seats are filled up.
Priority Date or Deadline
This is a term colleges like to use when they might have rolling admissions or something similar (more on that later). While rolling admissions don't have deadlines, colleges would like certain applicants to turn things in by a certain time, so a priority deadline is put in place. If a college has a very selective program or an honors college, you'll see priority deadlines pop up, because those programs want to look at applicants all at once.
Regular Decision
Sometimes shortened to "RD", this is the "traditional" way of turning in college applications. The deadline for most regular decision applications is January 1st (so if you procrastinate, have fun during winter break!). Expect the college to get back to you around March to April.
Rolling Admissions
While not common, some big state schools prefer this method of college admissions. Basically, starting in about mid-September, a college will start looking at applications and get back to students pretty quickly (the University of Pittsburgh will get back to you in at most three weeks). State schools like this because they can get spread out their workload, and students like this because they can apply earlier and get a decision sooner (it feels really nice to know you're getting into college earlier than everyone else). Be mindful that all the good stuff gets picked up sooner, so it's in your best interest to apply early (like, really early; first-day-of-school early).
Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR)
For some schools, they would prefer to have you, the student, self-report your grades so they can give a decision back to you sooner, and if you get in, you would just have to send in your real transcript so they can make sure you weren't lying. So long as you report your grades exactly as how they appear on your transcript, this should be no problem, and makes things a little less stressful.
Transcript
Depending on your high school, your transcript will show different things. But it's pretty much guaranteed that your transcript will show a breakdown of all the classes you took in high school, the grades you got in those classes, and your GPA (grade point average; can be weighted and/or unweighted). If your school ranks, your school rank will be on there.
Undergraduate
People who haven't graduated college yet (includes you, which is why it's called undergraduate admissions).
Waiting List
Verb: to waitlist.
If colleges think you're decent and don't want to outright reject you, they'll put you on the quite long waiting list. If someone who was accepted into the college you're on the waitlist for chooses to not go to that college, then you might be the lucky person to get a formal acceptance to the college! And don't be discouraged by the fact that many people are on the waitlist. You have a very decent shot of getting in!
Writing Supplement
This refers to any additional materials you need to write (usually essays, but could be something really off-the-wall if the college is very off-the-wall) in order to have a completed application be sent to that college. Usually colleges will ask things like, "why come to our school?" Some colleges will be like, "describe a time you went into an Internet wormhole. What did you gain from that experience?"
For more information, refer to the College Board website here.
CEEB Code
This is an identification number for a specific location and/organization (think colleges or scholarship corporations). They were created by the College Board (CEEB simply stands for College Entrance Examination Board, i.e. the College Board) to prevent confusion and ensure things like test scores, transcripts, and applications go to the right places. When you send your AP scores or SAT scores, it is best to use the CEEB code the college has to make sure you're sending your scores to the exact location (and it saves money, since sending scores costs money, which can be wasted if you send your scores to the wrong places).
Coalition Application
This is a college admission application that allows an applicant to send one application to all colleges a student chooses to apply. Coalition App aims to help underrepresented students with little financial resources to apply to colleges. It's hard to decide which application you should use (as you'll start to learn, there is more than one "universal application"). My only advice is to consult with your school counselor.
Common Application
Like the Coalition App, the Common App is a college admission application where one application can be sent out to multiple colleges, with supplemental materials sent out to specific colleges. This is an application more prominent in college admissions processes, and my school allows you to connect your Naviance account to your Common Application account. Many colleges (think private schools, and some public schools) use the Common App, and so this app has by far the largest catalog of colleges (aka bragging rights). This makes applying for colleges a lot easier.
Deferred Admission
This is applies only to early admission decisions. Sometimes, if a college feels like they're unsure at the time of the decision whether or not they want to admit you, they put your application on the figurative "later" pile and look over your decision again in January and/or February, when regular decision applications come through. With deferred admission, there is a chance, and it is better than a straight-up denial. It's important to stay positive during this stressful college admissions season.
Early Action
Also shortened (and frequently called) "EA", this is a college admission plan that essentially means turning in an application earlier to a college for the guarantee that you get a decision back earlier than if you were apply later. November 1st is the deadline for most EA schools, but some schools have deadlines earlier, and some have them later. There are different types of EA. Most are non-binding, which means that if you get in the college, you don't have to commit to go there, and you can apply to other schools that do non-binding EA as well. A select few colleges do a thing called restrictive EA, which essentially has the same guidelines as EA, but you can't apply to other schools until you get a decision back. Colleges opt for this so as to lessen the flow of applications that come in later in the college app season, and students like this option because they get a decision faster. I personally think it's a win-win deal! Expect a decision from the college as early as December 15th and as late as February 1st.
Early Decision
Also shortened (and frequently called) "ED", this is like EA, but is slightly different because this is binding, which means if you get in, you have to go to that school. Colleges opt for this so they can have a certain pool of committed students before they consider applicants in January through February. Like EA, the deadline for most ED is November 1st. Expect a decision from the college by December 15th.
Holistic Admissions
This is a term favored by many selective schools (think private universities and the prestigious Ivy League schools) when discussing their admissions process. In theory, holistic admissions means that college admissions officials will consider ALL aspects of an application before making a decision, so again, in theory, everything in your application should have equal weight.
Legacy Applicant
Also shortened to just a "legacy", this is an applicant who has close family members as alumni of the institution they're applying to. For example, if your mom or dad went to Harvard, and you apply to Harvard, you're considered a legacy applicant. The catch is that legacy applicants have an edge over non-legacy applicants, especially if the legacy's relatives donated A LOT of money. Is it unfair? I don't want to get into that, but yes, you can certainly argue that it's unfair, and a lot of people will agree with you.
Need-Blind Admission
This is a term that colleges like to use to basically say, "we won't look at your financial needs or your household income when making decision about whether or not you're accepted into our school."
Open Admission
Some colleges and most community colleges practice this. Basically, this is a first-come, first-serve type of ordeal. Any student is welcome, and the college will only reject applicants once their seats are filled up.
Priority Date or Deadline
This is a term colleges like to use when they might have rolling admissions or something similar (more on that later). While rolling admissions don't have deadlines, colleges would like certain applicants to turn things in by a certain time, so a priority deadline is put in place. If a college has a very selective program or an honors college, you'll see priority deadlines pop up, because those programs want to look at applicants all at once.
Regular Decision
Sometimes shortened to "RD", this is the "traditional" way of turning in college applications. The deadline for most regular decision applications is January 1st (so if you procrastinate, have fun during winter break!). Expect the college to get back to you around March to April.
Rolling Admissions
While not common, some big state schools prefer this method of college admissions. Basically, starting in about mid-September, a college will start looking at applications and get back to students pretty quickly (the University of Pittsburgh will get back to you in at most three weeks). State schools like this because they can get spread out their workload, and students like this because they can apply earlier and get a decision sooner (it feels really nice to know you're getting into college earlier than everyone else). Be mindful that all the good stuff gets picked up sooner, so it's in your best interest to apply early (like, really early; first-day-of-school early).
Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR)
For some schools, they would prefer to have you, the student, self-report your grades so they can give a decision back to you sooner, and if you get in, you would just have to send in your real transcript so they can make sure you weren't lying. So long as you report your grades exactly as how they appear on your transcript, this should be no problem, and makes things a little less stressful.
Transcript
Depending on your high school, your transcript will show different things. But it's pretty much guaranteed that your transcript will show a breakdown of all the classes you took in high school, the grades you got in those classes, and your GPA (grade point average; can be weighted and/or unweighted). If your school ranks, your school rank will be on there.
Undergraduate
People who haven't graduated college yet (includes you, which is why it's called undergraduate admissions).
Waiting List
Verb: to waitlist.
If colleges think you're decent and don't want to outright reject you, they'll put you on the quite long waiting list. If someone who was accepted into the college you're on the waitlist for chooses to not go to that college, then you might be the lucky person to get a formal acceptance to the college! And don't be discouraged by the fact that many people are on the waitlist. You have a very decent shot of getting in!
Writing Supplement
This refers to any additional materials you need to write (usually essays, but could be something really off-the-wall if the college is very off-the-wall) in order to have a completed application be sent to that college. Usually colleges will ask things like, "why come to our school?" Some colleges will be like, "describe a time you went into an Internet wormhole. What did you gain from that experience?"
For more information, refer to the College Board website here.
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