College Vocabulary

ACT: A standardized admissions test for colleges and universities.

AP: Advanced Placement. Courses are offered in high schools through the College Board. Students take AP courses followed by the national test in May to potentially earn college credit or advanced placement. A grade of 3, 4 or 5 potentially rewards the student with college credit.

CEEB: College Entrance Examination Board. The College Board is made up of college and secondary schools. Every high school, college and university has a CEEB Code.  CEEB code: Tallulah Falls School code: 112930

Common Application: An application used by numerous colleges and universities. A student completes one Common Application which may be delivered to any participating Common Application college or university. The Common Application links directly to Naviance.

CSS: College Scholarship Service. The financial aid division of the College Board

DE: Dual Enrollment. Students may take college courses and earn both high school credit and college semester hours credit for the same course. In most cases, DE credits transfer to the college or university the student chooses to attend after graduating from high school.

EA: Early Action (no obligation on the part of the student to enroll if admitted). EA applications generally must be submitted by November 1, depending on the college.

ED: Early Decision (student must commit if admitted) This is a binding agreement. If accepted ED, the student must attend that college and notify all other colleges applied to that he/she will not be attending. A student may only apply to ONE school ED.

ETS: Educational Testing Service. Produces and administers the SAT standardized test for college admission.

FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The main financial aid document requested by colleges from parents. The FAFSA can be submitted as early as October 1 of a student’s senior year in high school. The FAFSA is used by colleges to determine financial aid.

NCAA Clearinghouse: Agency which processes academic qualification forms for athletes.

Rolling Admission: After student submits an application, decisions are usually made five-six weeks after the application is received. No commitment on the part of the student is implied. The student has until May 1st to commit. Not all colleges use rolling admission.

SAT I: A four to five hour standardized exam which tests students’ reasoning ability and proficiency in English, reading, writing, and math.

SAT II: One-hour test covering specific subject areas available from all core academic areas. Up to three one-hour tests may be taken on any testing day.

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language. The TOEFL is used by colleges to determine English-language proficiency of students whose native language is not English.

Waiting List: Highly qualified applicants are placed here because they ranked slightly lower than the admitted students. Colleges are not obligated to admit students from the waitlist, but must explain their policy upon request.