Admissions Terms
A college where, based on the average GPA and test scores of accepted students, you have a high likelihood of being admitted.
Safety School
Sometimes referred to as a college application essay, these essays give admissions officers insights into your character, personality and motivation.
Personal Statement
Offer specialized training in a particular industry or career. Possible programs of study include culinary arts, firefighting, dental hygiene and medical-records technology. Usually offer certificates or associate degrees.
Vocational-Technical and Career College
Academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges.
Associate Degree
A student who enrolls in a college after having attended another college.
Transfer Student
The percentage of applicants a college accepts for admission.
Acceptance Rate
Standardized application forms accepted by many colleges.
Common Application
An independent school that sets its own policies and goals, and is privately funded. Relies mainly on tuition, fees, and private sources of funding. Private donations can sometimes provide generous financial aid packages for students.
Private University
An academic degree earned for an undergraduate course of study that nominally requires four years of full time study.
Bachelor Degree
A policy of accepting any high school graduate, no matter what his or her grades are, until all spaces in the incoming class are filled. Almost all two-year community colleges have this policy.
Open Admissions
A student’s option to defer an offer of admission for up to two years.
Deferred Admissions
Items you include with your college application to provide more information about your talents, experiences and goals.
Supplemental Materials
College offers a broad base of courses in the liberal arts and sciences; such as, literature, history, languages, mathematics, physical sciences, and life sciences.
Liberal Arts College
A college or university student who has not yet received a bachelor's or similar degree.
Undergraduate Student
Hour-long, content-based college admission tests that allow you to showcase achievement in specific subject areas: English, history, math, science and languages. Some colleges use to place students into the appropriate courses as well as in admission decisions.
SAT Subject Test
The percentage of students who return to a college for their sophomore year. An indicator of student satisfaction.
Retention Rate
Tests designed to measure students’ skills and help colleges evaluate how ready students are for college-level work. Examples are the ACT and the College Board’s SAT.
Admissions Test
Business offering variety of degree programs, usually preparing student to a specific career. Have a number of constituents outside of students and faculty; namely shareholders.
For-Profit College
The highest level of academic degree. Qualifies the holder to teach at the university level in the specific field of his or her degree, or to work in a specific profession.
Doctorate Degree
An admission policy of considering each application as soon as all required information (such as high school records and test scores) has been received, rather than setting an application deadline and reviewing applications in a batch.
Rolling Admissions
Submitting your college application before the regular deadline. Get admission decisions from colleges earlier than usual. Plans are not binding, which means that you do not have to enroll in a college if you are accepted.
Early Action
The percentage of accepted students who go on to enroll at that college.
Yield
Institution offering a learning environment designed first and foremost to serve students' interests. They spend the money you give them on educating you. It is led by a staff under the direction of a Board of Trustees.
Non-Profit College
The first level of graduate study. Usually must already hold an undergraduate degree (a bachelor's degree). It typically requires a year and one-half to two years of full-time study.
Master's Degree
An agreement between two-year and four-year colleges that makes it easier to transfer credits between them. It spells out which courses count for degree credit and the grades you need to earn to get credit.
Articulation Agreement