College
Lingo
Lingo
This is the term for your main area of study in college.
What is a major?
This type of visit lets you see a college firsthand and ask questions in person.
What is a campus tour?
Many students make lifelong friends with the people they meet in these first-year living spaces.
What are residence halls or dorms?
True or False: “Fit” is only about academics.
False - it also includes social, emotional, and financial factors.
Elle Woods attended this Ivy League school in Legally Blonde.
What is Harvard?
This phrase refers to the collection of buildings and spaces where a college community lives and learns.
What is the campus?
The best place to find accurate course and major descriptions is this official college document.
What is the academic catalog?
Joining one of these (whether it’s improv, esports, a fraternity/sorority, or ultimate frisbee) is one of the best ways to find your people on campus.
What is a student club or organization?
Students who want close mentorship might look for colleges with this kind of ratio.
What is a low student-to-faculty ratio?
In Pitch Perfect, the Bellas and Treblemakers compete in an a cappella championship at this fictional college.
What is Barden University?
These courses cover a wide range of subjects outside your major to give you a well-rounded education.
What are general education or core requirements?
Name one difference between a large research university and a small liberal arts college.
What is class size, access to professors, or focus on undergraduate teaching/research?
College students often gather here to hang out, eat, or study together - it’s basically the heart of campus life.
What is the student union/campus center/student center?
Name one element of college “fit” that often gets overlooked.
What is location, climate, campus culture, support services, diversity, learning environment?
This Oscar-winning movie follows a math genius working as a janitor at MIT.
What is Good Will Hunting?
This is the term for a course that must be completed before you can take a more advanced one.
What is a prerequisite?
A student who wants to compare graduation rates, testing information, diversity of student body, and cost can use one of the following databases?
What is SCOIR, the College Scorecard, or BigFuture?
This type of college learning combines classroom study with work experience, sometimes in paid positions.
What is a co-op program or experiential learning?
You can learn more about yourself by taking this kind of assessment that matches interests to possible majors.
What is a personality or career inventory/assessment?
In Dear White People, students at the fictional Winchester University explore themes of race & identity at this kind of institution.
What is a predominantly white institution (PWI) or Ivy League College?
This federal law, which also governs college students’ education records, gives applicants control over whether to access their recommendation letters on the Common App.
What is FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)?
These two U.S. colleges specialize in supporting students with learning differences.
Colleges often have unique traditions - like big rivalries, spirit weeks, or midnight events that help build this.
What is campus culture or community?
Instead of asking friends “Where are you applying?”, you can ask this more thoughtful question.
What is “What kind of college experience are you looking for?”
The main character in A Different World attends this fictional historically Black college (HBCU).
What is Hillman College?