Getting Ready for College

Lesson 8: Last Minute Vocabulary & It's Off To College!

The college application, course selection and campus regulations may seem to be written in a foreign language. In this final lesson, we'll review some of the "lingo", give you some guidelines for the proper time sequence and finally check off all the items you need to acquire!

Vocabulary A-M

COLLEGE VOCABULARY

Academic advisor The staff member who will help your child select their courses, advise them on what requirements need to be met. A guidance counselor for the young adult.

Acceptance The college’s official notification that your child will be permitted to enroll.

Accreditation Signifies that the college meets the requirements of local, state, national, international governing boards. (Offers acceptable courses, suitable timeframes and college-level material. Not a diploma mill.)

ACT American College Test. One of the pre-admission requirements for some American schools.

Admission After your child indicates acceptance, the college will forward a packet of admission materials.

Advanced placement College level courses available during high school; ability to skip a pre-requisite based on prior classes or test results.

Advanced standing Students admitted to colleges who have previously earned credits elsewhere. Note: All collegiate standings are based on number of credits earned, not year of attendance or number of semesters. (Your child may still be considered a freshman after 3 semesters if he only has 9 credits; s/he might enter college for the first time as a sophomore if she has more than 24 credits earned.

Aid package The formal term for all the resources offered to a student: scholarships, loans, grants, work-study, and parent loans.

Alumni Former graduates of the institution.

Application The paperwork and attachments required to apply for acceptance at a college.

Associate’s degree A two year degree.

Applied associate’s degree A two year degree with a specialty in one area of study.

Award letter The college’s offering of scholarships, awards, etc. mailed to your child.

Bookstore The primary source for books, required materials on every campus. Not the only source, however.

Bursar The college office which deals with financial details, such as paying your bill. Not related to financial aid.

Business office Generic name for department which handles a wide variety of student-related paperwork, such as bursar activities, bills, financial aid, scheduling, immunizations, address change

Candidate’s reply date. Pay attention to this date! If you do not respond to a college’s offer of admission or financial aid by the date required, you will lose your admission offer and/or financial aid.

Catalog A school’s listing of all classes, schedule, professors, and other pertinent data.

CEEB College Entrance Examination Board. Offers tests for credit/advanced placement.

Class rank Your child’s standings within the entire graduating class from high school. Some colleges rank their students, but not all. E.g. There are 450 graduates – your son is #20 – 19 people are ranked higher than he is; 430 students are ranked lower

Class schedule Your child’s list of classes, times and locations.

CLEP College Level Exam Program. Offers test for credit/advanced placement.

College calendar The dates, times for academic programs, vacations, office hours, cafeteria, bookstore hours. Pay attention – the college calendar is greatly different from the high school calendar.

College fair A free, open invitation presentation by many colleges, usually at a local high school or college campus. A good opportunity to pick up the college catalog, meet the recruiter, advisors and some students. You can always follow-up with the schools which interest your child. Make a date and attend with your child, preferably in junior year of high school

College tie-in courses Many colleges offer college-level courses during the high school career. If your child is eligible to enroll in these programs, encourage him/her to do so. The benefits are numerous: a chance to work at a college level and see what college courses are all about; a chance to earn valuable college credit (and possibly advanced standing/placement); looks great on your college application; the cost is drastically reduced from the normal college tuition per credit. Many of the basic courses required by most schools are labeled as “college transfer”. This means that most colleges will accept these credits from another college or high school tie-in or advanced placement course/test. Generally, a grade of at least C is required for transfer credit. NOTE: Transfer credits count towards the required number of credits for graduation, but do not impact the GPA.

Commuter A student who travels to school each day and does not live on campus.

Concurrent enrollment The ability to take courses and be a registered student at 2 colleges at once. Many colleges have local/regional/national/international reciprocal agreements. Benefit of gaining credits from variety of schools and ability to take courses not offered at your campus.

Cooperative work-study education A school-based program offering a combination of work and study. Helps with the financial burden of college. Student must be disciplined enough to combine work and school.

Core requirement Specific courses which are needed for graduation and/or major field of study.

Course # Generally 4 digits. First number is level of course (1 is freshman level, 4 senior level), the middle two numbers signify the course and department and the last number usually indicates the number of credit hours. Used by most schools.

Credit by examination See advanced placement, CEEB, CLEP and college tie-in. Some schools offer their own “challenge exams”. Challenge the course; receive the required baseline score and receive either the credit and/or the ability to skip this pre-requisite. Again, credit by exam does not count towards your GPA.

Credit hours The number of hours a class meets per week to earn the credits listed. Usually a class worth 3 credits meets 3 hours per week.

Cum laude/magna cum laude/summa cum laude The honors designations for college graduates. These vary a bit from school to school, but “cum laude” (with honors) is usually about a 3.4 GPA; “magna” (great honors) about 3.6 GPA and “summa” (the highest) is 3.8 GPA.

DANTES(DSST) Dantes Subject Standardized Tests. Originally developed for military personnel, these tests are administered at various locations throughout the U.S. and are acceptable towards college credit from many colleges.

Dean’s list College equivalent of the high school honor roll. Prestigious and may aid in finding additional scholarships/grants; looks great on your resume. Again, requirements vary, but most colleges require a 3.5 GPA (B+ average) to be included on the Dean’s list.

Deferred admission Your child has been accepted to college and defers, or puts off, his/her admission for a semester. This can be based on health, travel, and work issues. It is not always granted and must be requested as soon as possible. Many times, the application must state “deferred admission” to be eligible for this waiver.

Degree requirements This is the school’s list of how many and what type of credits is required for graduation within each discipline, or major. Most colleges require between 110-140 credits for a bachelor degree, 60-65 for an associate degree, with a large percentage of these requirements to be completed within the area of specialization. There are base requirements for most students at most schools – a bit of English, science, history, art/music. There is also a list of acceptable elective (your choice) courses.

Department The chairperson and all instructors and teaching assistants within one subject area. Ex. The English department, the Social Studies department.

Discussion course A college course which requires active participation from the students and instructor. Sometimes noted as “discussion” in the class description.

Division A collection of departments within a specific area of concentration: The Humanities division, the Fine Arts division.

Drop/add The procedure at the beginning of a semester where a student can change their course schedule, by dropping a class they do not wish to take and/or adding a new course. The deadline will determine if any fees are reimbursable and if the course will count in the GPA.

Early admission Beginning college before completing 4 years of high school. Some teens complete all the requirements within 3 years and may apply for early admission. Generally, this is limited to the top students.

Early decision (action) If your child has his/her heart set on one particular school, applying early and asking for early decision is the best way to go. The application is in early and the school either rejects the application or offers admission several months earlier than the normal response period.

Expected family contribution (EFC) The number that is arrived at by the federal financial aid gurus that is what they expect your family to contribute to your child’s education. This does not necessarily mean you must come up with this amount of cold, hard cash – loans, savings bonds etc. may be used to reach this total

Elective A course which is not a core requirement but may be chosen by the student strictly by choice. May or may/not be within your major subject area or division.

b>FAFSA Free Application Federal Student Aid This is the form required by most colleges for any type of financial aid. It includes financial information about the student and parents.

Federal loans See section on finances. Direct loan, Pell grant, PLUS program, Stafford loan, work-study. These are all financial aid programs (some grants, some loans) offered through the federal government in conjunction with the schools and/or local banks. See section on finances.

Fees Additional money required from the school, which is not included in the tuition or room/board figures. E.g. Laboratory fee, registration fee.

Fraternity/sorority Sometimes known as the “Greek system”. A nationwide organization of male/female social groups. Entrance into a frat/sorority is usually through a pledge system which may involve some type of hazing. Most fraternities/sororities have their own housing for members, either on/off campus. Sometimes labeled as a positive influence based on camaraderie; often thought of as one big party house. Not all colleges permit fraternities/sororities. Generally governed by overall campus rules, but have their own base of regulations/requirements. Not for everyone. Great for some.

Full time/part-time Enrollment status is based on the number of credits attempted each semester. Full time designation usually requires 12 or more credits. Most health insurance carriers will drop your child as your dependent if he/she is not carrying 12 or more credits per semester.

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