Like any field, US BS/MS/Ph.D. application procedures have their own language. At first, it sounds daunting, but it gets easier after getting more familiarized. Read the glossary below at first glance, then re-read it again whenever you come across an abbreviation and need to understand the concept again. This glossary, timeline, and our other free guides should give you enough to get started on your own. But remember that ‘the devil is in the details’ (origin of the idiom, we found this interesting).

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How to use:

The glossary is arranged alphabetically. Some concepts need further reading. Most of the time, Wikipedia does an excellent job describing the details. We do not want to reinvent the wheel for the most common information. External links are added when needed.

Understanding the lingo, timelines, and approach should be enough to get you started on the applications on your own. We cover advanced-level strategies in our Self-prep, Personalized Mentoring, and On-demand Mentoring programs.

Note: This is an evolving document like the ever-changing admission process. New details will be added as needed. If you have suggestions for improving this page, please drop us an email.

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American College Testing (ACT):A standardized college admission test covering English, Mathematics, Reading, and Scientific Reasoning core subjects with an optional Writing test. Composite and individual core subject scores range from 1 to 36. Optional Writing score ranges from 2 to 12. Offered 7-times a year (5-times in non-US/Canada countries). Costs $60 (+$25 for Writing) (+$108 for non-US). Applicants can take either ACT or SAT. Similar to SAT in terms of popularity (1.3 million taking ACT vs. 1.5 million taking SAT in 2021), cost, and acceptance by all US college AO. Most colleges have declared ‘standardized test optional’ for the next few years. However, we strongly recommend taking the ACT or SAT if you are aiming for top colleges.

Admission Tests: See Standardized Tests below.

Affirmative Action (AA): A US government law designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants at the very least based on race, creed, color, and national origin. Other anti-disclination criteria have been added over the years. Universities and colleges actively emphasize diversity in their student body and actively. The diversification agenda is based on at the minimum of the AA but typically extends far beyond that to include students from various socio-economic backgrounds, gender identity, work experiences, etc.  

Admissions Officer / Office (AO):We will use this term interchangeably to define either the whole academic office at a university or an individual person(s) who eventually reads and would advocate for your application. AO performs tasks ranging from promoting their program to prospective applicants to finalizing the student body.

Advanced Placement (AP):College ‘equivalent’ courses with examinations offered by College Board to high-school students through their respective high-school.

Class Rank: is a relative comparison of where you stand academically in comparison with your classmates. For college applicants, this is usually represented as a weighted GPA that accounts for grades and the difficulty of the courses taken.

College Application Contents: College applications are submitted through either Common Application (CommonApp) or Coalition Application (Coalition App) platforms. CommonApp portal is used by about 900 member colleges whereas Coalition App is used by150 member colleges. Most colleges use both making Coalition App a subset of CommonApp. Colleges declare no preference which of the two system applicants choose. Coalition App claims to be better for disadvantaged applicants; however, we recommend both platforms equally. Each application essentially asks for name, sex, date of birth, citizenship, US social security number, ethnicity(optional), application fee (or waiver code), parents’ personal information, grades, interruption in education, course taken, awards, future plans, and career interests, standardized test scores, AP/IB tests, extracurricular activities, personal essay, and the contact information of the counselor and individuals who will be providing letters of recommendation. In addition to submitting the mandatory information requested above, most colleges ask for a few more unique pieces of information. Generally, these are additional essays.

College Counselor: A designated high school employee who guides prospective students through the college admissions process and has overseen your academic progress. If your high school does not have a counselor, you may list the school principal or other school staff.

College, University, or Program/School list (CUPS List): It’s the list of target colleges, universities, or programs where you would like to apply. The list is built through various considerations such as ranking, size, public/private, cost of attending, weather, geography, your academic scores, etc.

CUPS: An acronym for college, university, or programs/schools. Generally, BS candidates apply to college, MS to universities, and Ph.D. to a program. For example, BS candidates apply to Harvard College whereas MS/Ph.D. apply to Harvard University or specific programs such as Data Sciences or Engineering School.

Deferred: Your college application is called deferred when the result of your application for early rounds is undecided and the college rolls over it to the regular decision round.

Demonstrated Interest: Beyond the academic performance and extracurricular activities, demonstrated interest logically emphasizes the applicant’s deep interest in attending a particular CUP.

Dual Enrollment (DE): While in high school taking courses in a local college or community college

Early Action (EA): For particular CUPs, you can send an application by an earlier deadline and receive a decision early. The decision is non-binding and candidates can still continue with the rest of the applications. Contrast this with the early decision (ED).

Extracurriculars (EC): The activities that you do beyond the typical academic curricula that highlight your underlying character and personal qualities. There are no right or wrong EC. Irrespective of your circumstances, you are expected to make the best of the lifetime opportunities you came across. The possibilities are endless.

Early Decision (ED): Almost always apply to college admissions. Contrary to EA, ED is a binding decision. ED deadlines are different for each college. If accepted for the ED application, you must attend the college (& withdraw applications from colleges.

Essays: are unique to the USBS/MS/Ph.D. application process. It can be just one essay (called a personal statement) or a series of essays requested by specific CUPS. Through essays, AO is looking to know your personal character like motivation, determination, humility, compassion, grit, focus, and all other qualities that your GPA and standardized test scores cannot convey. Your recommenders are going to tell their own impression of you. Essay(s) is the only opportunity to tell AO who you are and what makes you special in your own words. This is the first (although virtual)interaction of you with the AO. Make the first impression count. Well-crafted essays are like an exceptionally powerful ‘Elder Wand’ in your hands. Below are a few pointers to writing effective essays:

• Be you: Pick a topic, event, or theme from your own life. That makes your essay authentic, interesting, unique, and consistent. Try to stay away from cliché topics, like Covid-19, just because everyone else is doing it unless it has moved you in some way that has not for millions of others. Harvard College has admitted applicants who were homeless to the ones who lived at White House, and everyone in-between, everyone having unique stories to tell in essays. Don’t try to guess what AO will like. Just be you. Picking a unique topic should become easier as specialization increases to MS and to Ph.D. applications.
• ‍Be captivating: AO reads thousands of application essays in the span of 1-3 months. After a few hundred reads, most start sounding alike. Harvard College got 57,435 applications in 2021 for 1,968 admissions. Do a favor to the AO by making a strong opening for your essay and then keeping the momentum going.
• ‍Reveal key adjectives about yourself: AO is reading the essays to learn something about you that they cannot learn from the rest of the application (like GPA, test scores, LoR, etc.). Help them add a few adjectives to you. After reading your essay, AO should be able to say “this candidate has determination/grit/humility/compassion, etc. Your essay has failed, if the AO is still struggling to find a good adjective to describe you.
• ‍Show, don’t tell: You need to have the sessions
• ‍Write well:
• ‍Start early and revise, revise, revise:

‍Expected Family Contribution (EFC):This is the amount your family will be expected to pay after financial aid.

Financial Aid (FinAid): FinAid partly or fully covers the cost of attending the BS, MS, or Ph.D. programs. FinAid is available from federal and state governments, private foundations, and CUPs. Success in getting FinAid from these sources depends on merit, financial needs, or other similar criteria. It’s awarded as scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. Ph.D. admissions are almost always completely funded including coverage for tuition, health insurance, and cost of living. BS and MS admissions are more competitive to obtain FinAid. (Wikipedia overview)

Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): the law protects students’ privacy when it comes to education records.

International Baccalaureate (IB):are courses similar to the AP courses and are highly valued by AO (More reading)

Info Session: Organized byuniversities these sessions are conducted by an AO and current students topresent information and answer questions about academics, student life,admissions, and financial aid. Fortunately, today these can be attended online.Ju google ‘info session + university name’

Standardized Tests – Also known as Admission Tests or Entrance Exams. A key purpose of these tests is to measure the performance of every test-taker worldwide under uniform criteria irrespective of differences in educational facilities available. This helps CUPs evaluate applicants uniformly. The tests include SAT or ACT for BS, GRE for MS/Ph.D., and TOEFL/IELTS English Proficiency tests for all international applicants. The tests can be taken multiple times if you think you can do better. SAT Subject Tests or optional SAT Essays are no longer offered from January 2021 mostly because most applicants are taking AP/IB tests. Some schools allow self-reporting (for free!) whereas other schools require official test scores from the testing agencies. Many CUPs, including Harvard college until 2026, have promised to allow students to apply for admission without requiring SAT or ACT scores. However, we strongly recommend taking the tests if you can. The test scores used to be the important benchmark in deciding safety, match, and reach CUPs to apply. With the current test-optional state, we imagine that it would be challenging to make these assessments. While it’s not the most important deciding factor in admissions, CUPs have used the test scores to make decisions on awarding scholarships and deciding class composition.

Transcript – It’s the official document showing your accumulative grades from the past academic institutions you have attended. Be sure to know the procedures involved.

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