[action_item]

For further focused/in-depth application resources, check out our College Application Hub.

Award Letter: a list of all the different kinds of money—scholarships, grants, loans, work study—you’ve received to go to a particular college next year. Head here for greater detail and an example award letter.

— — —

Deferred: deferral occurs during the early action / early decision process. Rather than accept or simply reject a student, a school may opt to defer their application to the regular decision period. This means that, if a student is accepted, they are no longer contractually bound to accept the school’s offer as they would have been with early decision. (see Letter of Continued Interest)

— — —

Demonstrated Interest: some schools track different types of engagement from a student (e.g. early application, interaction at college fairs, contacting admission reps, campus tours, etc) in order to gauge how much the prospective student likes the school and thus how likely they seem to enroll if admitted. Here’s a full guide to demonstrated interest. To check if a school tracks DI, you can check its Common Data Set (see below).

— — —

Coalition Application: The Coalition App is an online application for first-year and transfer students to quickly and easily apply to colleges and universities across the United States. Like the Common App, the Coalition App stores your information and application materials in its system to be used on multiple college applications. Currently, there are only 150+ colleges and universities on the Coalition App, because the Coalition only accepts colleges and universities that provide substantial financial support to lower-income and underrepresented students. 

— — —

Common Application: The Common App is a free online application used by 900+ colleges and universities in the United States and 20 foreign countries. The Common App stores your information and application materials in its system to be used on multiple college applications.

— — —

Common Data Set: from their site: “The Common Data Set (CDS) initiative is a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers as represented by the College Board, Peterson’s, and U.S. News & World Report. The combined goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student’s transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.” Here’s a list of links to schools’ common data sets.

— — —

CSS Profile: developed and maintained by the College Board, is a more detailed look at a student’s/family’s finances that some schools (around 400 of them) use to determine financial aid eligibility. It’s like the FAFSA… but longer.

— — —

Early Action (EA): The early action deadline is generally at the beginning of November (most schools are Nov. 1). Students will tend to hear back from early action schools in January or February. An important difference between early action and early decision: early action is non-binding—students don’t have to commit to the college until the May 1 Reply Date, and are free to attend another school. Early action tends to bump a student’s chances some, but generally not as much as early decision can. For variations on EA, please see REA and SCEA.

— — —

Early Decision (ED): Early decision has two versions: ED1 and ED2. The ED1 deadline is also generally at the beginning of November. ED2 is usually January 1 or 15. Both ED1 and ED2 are binding—if a student is accepted, they are obligated to attend that school. This can be problematic for some students, as they won’t know what kind of financial aid they will receive prior to committing to attend. In general, ED1 boosts admissions chances more than ED2, but ED2 can still raise a student’s chances.

— — —

FAFSA: stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Parents/guardians need to help complete this every October in order to qualify for federal aid for the following school year. Many colleges use this to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Here’s our guide to completing the FAFSA, plus common mistakes.

— — —

Financial Aid: this doesn’t refer only to scholarships. Rather, in an award letter from a school, you’ll see all the various federal grants, college scholarships, loans, and work-study programs a school is offering. It can easily be confusing between what a school gives in grants and what it offers in loans, so students should pay close attention.

— — —

Letter of Continued Interest: A letter of continued interest is an email a student sends to an admission office, typically after being deferred or placed on their waitlist. It lets the college know they’re still interested in attending and why. Here’s a guide to writing one.

— — —

National Candidates Reply Date: May 1. The deadline for notifying a college you will accept its admission offer, and making a nonrefundable deposit.

— — —

“Need blind” vs “need aware”: Some schools consider family finances as a factor in their application review (need aware), while others don’t (need blind). As students build their list, it can be helpful to keep this difference in mind.

— — —

Net Price Calculator: should appear on a college’s website, offering a place to enter a few financial variables and estimate what the cost of attendance would roughly be. (Take advantage of these calculators—most students don’t actually pay full tuition price, and for some families, high sticker price private schools can end up being cheaper than moderately priced state schools.)

— — —

Personal Insight Questions (PIQs): These are used by the University of California to contextualize a student’s application. A student must write responses for 4 of  the 8 possible prompts. Please head here for a complete guide to writing for the PIQs.

— — —

PSAT/NMSQT: The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Typically taken junior year. Used to determine eligibility/qualification for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

— — —

Regular Decision (RD): Usually refers to the non-early application deadline. Varies from school to school, but typically in early January

— — —

Restrictive Early Action (REA): Often used interchangeably with SCEA (see SCEA for detail). If applying early, be sure to read the details of a school’s policy, as schools can have slight variations on restrictions. 

— — —

Rolling Admissions: some schools allow students to apply at any time up to a certain date. Students are admitted until the class is filled. For an analysis of pros and cons, you can check out this guide to rolling admissions.

— — —

Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA): This option offers a middle ground between early decision and early action. With SCEA, students can only apply early to one private school (but may apply early to public schools). Schools that offer SCEA frequently do so because they believe that early decision is unfair—early decision does not allow students to compare financial aid packages from different schools before agreeing to attend. SCEA generally offers an increase in admission chances over regular decision. If applying early, be sure to read the details of a school’s policy, as schools can have slight variations on restrictions.

— — —

Scholarships: For an in-depth walkthrough of private vs local vs institutional scholarships, head here.

— — —

“Test-blind”: Test scores won’t be considered by a school in the evaluation process (even if a student submits them). Here’s a list from FairTest of test blind schools.

— — —

“Test-optional”: a school allows students to decide whether to submit test scores, and if a student chooses not to do so, it won’t be counted against them. According to the College Board, about 80% of applicants chose to submit test scores to test-optional colleges.

— — —

Wait List: this occurs during the regular decision process (in contrast with deferral, which can occur as part of the early application process). Essentially, the college is saying they are interested in the student, but doesn’t currently have an open spot. If enough students who were accepted to the school decide to attend elsewhere, a student may be accepted. It’s important to understand that schools won’t let students know if they get in off of the waitlist until after the May 1 Reply Day, which means students will need to have committed to another college, and will likely lose any security deposit if they decide to switch schools. (see Letter of Continued Interest)

— — —

Work study: a college program that allows students to work part-time while attending the school, typically as part of a financial aid package.

— — —