Glossary of Terms

BINDING DECISION: This is usually used in reference to Early Decision applicants. It means the student is contractually obligated to attend that school if accepted. See "Early Decision" below.

COMMON APP: Many private colleges require the use of the online Common Application. With the Common App, you enter your basic information and stats into a single application that is sent to all your member colleges. The Common App also centralizes all the pieces of your applications in one place, such as essays, supplemental questions, recommendations, and deadlines.

DEFERRED: If you applied "early" (in the fall), getting deferred means the college is postponing its admissions decision and will review your application with the regular-decision applicants. You'll find out in the spring if you've been accepted or rejected.

EARLY ACTION (EA): Many colleges allow students to apply before the "regular decision" deadline of early winter. Early action acceptances are nonbinding, which means students are not contractually obligated to attend that college. The benefit of applying Early Action is that students receive a response to their application by the end of December, rather than the regular decision deadline in April. Students do not have to commit to the college until the normal reply date in May. More and more students are applying Early Application to receive their early notifications. This means students need to do a lot of work on their applications BEFORE schools starts in the fall of their Senior year.

EARLY DECISION (ED): A student can apply to only one college using the Early Decision process. This decision is binding, as described above. There are two benefits to doing this: 1) They receive the acceptance decision by the end of December; 2) Using this process signals the student's serious interest in this college. Students must sign an agreement stating that they are contractually obligated to attend that college if they are accepted. If accepted, students must rescind any applications they submitted to other colleges prior to decision date.

EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION (EFC): When applying for federal financial aid,The Expected Family Contribution is a measure of your family's financial strength and is calculated according to a formula established by law. Your family's income, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security) are all considered in the formula. Your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by your college to calculate the amount of federal student aid you are eligible to receive.

FAFSA: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form that can be prepared annually by current and prospective college students (undergraduate and graduate) in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.

FERPA WAIVER: FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and is a federal law that was enacted in 1974. It protects the privacy of student education records. All educational institutions that receive federal funding must comply with FERPA. It gives students the right to review confidential letters of recommendation if the student is 18 or older.

When using the Common App to apply to colleges, students will be asked if they want to waive their right to FERPA. Waiving your right lets colleges know that you do not intend to read your recommendations, which helps reassure colleges that the letters are candid and truthful.

FINANCIAL AID: Financial aid helps students and their families pay for college. This financial assistance covers educational expenses including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and transportation. There are several types of financial aid, including grants and scholarships, work study and loans.

"FINANCIALLY SAFE" COLLEGE: This term "financially safe" is used to denote that the family can afford this college's costs.

GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA): A number that shows a student's overall academic performance. It’s computed by assigning a point value to each grade you earn. Many colleges do not use the GPA provided by your high school, but instead calculate their own. Some use only academic classes (eg: don't use grades from PE or art classes), some use only the Sophomore and Junior grades. Each college is different. See also Weighted GPA.

"MATCH" COLLEGE: The term "maybe" is used to denote a college that the student has reasonable chance of getting in. The student closely meets the academic expectations

NAVIANCE: Naviance is online software that provides students with college planning tools. It allows students to take self-assessments, explore careers, research colleges, research scholarships, and much more. Students use it to build a college list, complete their resume, request letters of recommendation, and more. It can be linked to the Common App to facilitate applying to private colleges.

NEED-BLIND ADMISSION: This simply means that an applicant's ability to pay for their education will not be a factor in the admission decision. In other words, a candidate's financial need will not be taken into consideration when deciding to admit, waitlist, or deny an applicant.

NET PRICE: Your net price is a college’s sticker price for tuition and fees minus the grants, and scholarships you receive. The net price you pay for a particular college is specific to you, because it's based on your personal circumstances and the college’s financial aid policies.

NET PRICE CALCULATOR: Net price calculators are available on a college’s or university’s website and allow prospective students to enter information about themselves to find out what students like them paid to attend the institution in the previous year, after taking grants and scholarship aid into account.

NON-BINDING DECISION: This means a student is not contractually obligated to attend that college. Early Action and Regular Decision applications fall under this category.

REGULAR DECISION (RD): Regular decision is the normal process by which students apply by college- published deadlines (usually early winter), with promise of receiving an admissions decision in April of their senior year. The benefit of applying Regular Decision is that the student gets a few more months to finish their application.

ROLLING ADMISSIONS: Rolling admission is a policy used by many colleges to admit freshmen to undergraduate programs. Under rolling admission, candidates are invited to submit their applications to the university anytime within a large window. The advantage to rolling admissions is that students usually won't have to wait until a submission deadline before the college considers their application.

"REACH" COLLEGE: The word "reach" is used do denote that the student might get into that college, but don’t count on it. These are “dream” schools where admission chances are thought to be unlikely based on transcript and test scores. These are also colleges that have low admission rates (less than 20%) and are likely a "reach" for any student.

"SAFETY" COLLEGE: The word "safety" is used to denote that the student will most likely get in because they meet or exceed the academic requirements and admission rates are reasonable.

SCHOLARSHIP: This is a grant or payment made to support a student's education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement. It does not need to be repaid.

WAITLISTED: Colleges can place a student on a "waitlist" which means the student will have to wait to see if a spot opens up for them. As accepted students notify colleges of their decisions to accept or decline enrollment, spots open up for waitlisted students. One possible option is to ask the admissions department about the size of the waitlist pool.

WEIGHTED GPA (GRADE POINT AVERAGE): This is a grade point average that’s calculated using a system that assigns a higher point value to grades in more difficult classes, such as AP (Advanced Placement) classes. For example, some high schools assign the value of 5.0 (instead of the standard 4.0) for an A earned in an AP class. Many colleges do not use the GPA provided by your high school, but instead calculate their own. Some use only academic classes (eg: don't use grades from PE or art classes), some use only the Sophomore and Junior grades. Each college is different, so be sure to check with your colleges to determine how they determine GPA.