Potential Magazine College and Career Organizer 2020 | Page 64
glossary
ADMISSIONS
Academic Common Market - Allows students to enroll in
out-of-state institutions that offer their degree program and pay the
institution’s in-state tuition rates.
Advanced Placement Exams (AP) - Exams designed to measure
how well AP course content has been mastered; determines college
credit and advanced placement. Scored on a 1-5 scale.
Remedial Course - Class some students must take to build skills
before they are allowed to take regular college courses; typically
non-credit.
Reverse Transfer - Process allowing students to transfer credits
from a 4-year to a 2-year institution.
Rolling Admission - Students are allowed to submit their applica-
tions to a college anytime within a large time frame.
Articulation Agreement - Agreement defining course credit trans-
fer policies between 2-year and 4-year institutions. Selective School - College with a highly competitive admissions
process and a low acceptance rate.
Candidates Reply Date Agreement - Date students are
expected to accept or decline a college’s offer of admission; typically
May 1st. Sophomore Standing - Status granted to incoming freshmen with
enough earned college credit to be considered a sophomore; usually 30
credits or more.
Class Rank - Measure of how a student’s performance compares to
other students in his or her class. STARS Program - Allows public two-year students in Alabama to
obtain a Transfer Agreement for the major of their choice, making it
easier to transfer credits from a community college to a university.
CLEP test - Standardized test that assess college-level knowledge and
allows students to earn college credit.
Conditional Acceptance - Student will be admitted to a college
or university on the condition that the student makes up for a certain
admission requirement he or she does not currently meet.
Deferred Admission - Permission from a college to postpone
enrollment, usually up to a year.
Demonstrated Interest - Display of how interested a student is in
attending a particular college.
Early Action - Student receives an early response to their application,
but does not have to commit to the college until the normal reply date;
nonbinding.
Early Decision - Student receives an early response to their applica-
tion and must commit to the college; binding.
Gap Year - Academic year taken off to work or travel before attend-
ing college.
Transfer Student - Student who has earned college credits at one
school and chooses to go to a different school, bringing over the cred-
its she or he has earned.
Undergraduate - College student working toward an associate or
bachelor’s degree.
Waiting List - List student is placed on if he or she qualifies for
admission, but is at a lower priority than other applicants; may be
admitted to the school if space becomes available.
Weighted GPA - Grade point average calculated using higher point
values for AP and honors
classes.
Work Study - Provides part-time jobs for students with
financial need.
ACT/SAT
Legacy Applicant - College applicant with a relative, usually parent
or grandparent, who graduated from that college. ACT (American College Testing) - Standardized college admis-
sions test used to measure college readiness; scored on a scale of 1-36.
National College Application Week - Annual event encouraging
students to apply to college by offering low-fee or no-cost applications. Composite Score - Average of the four ACT section scores: En-
glish, Reading, Math, and Science.
Open Admission - Noncompetitive college admissions process in
which the only requirement for entrance is a high school diploma or
GED; used by most community colleges. Residual ACT - National ACT offered by colleges to their applicants,
future students, and/or current students.
Placement Test - Academic skill test to determine placement in
college-level English and math courses.
Priority Deadline - Date a student’s application must be received by
in order to be given priority consideration.
SAT - Standardized entrance exam used by most colleges and univer-
sities to make admissions decisions.
Superscore - Process through which colleges average a
student’s highest section scores across all ACT or SAT tests taken.
Registrar - College official who registers and maintains student files.
64 | College Organizer 2020
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