Glossary

Since January 21, 2026, results are reported from 1 to 6 in half-point steps. The older 0–120 total also appears on score reports during a two-year transition. A score is valid for two years from the test date.

Results are band scores from 0 to 9, in whole or half bands. IELTS recommends treating a result as valid for two years, and an institution may choose to accept an older one.

Results run from 10 to 160 in steps of five, and a certified score is valid for two years.

Each institution decides which exams it accepts and what score it wants, and two departments inside one university can differ. The three exams above are not interchangeable, so the requirement to read is the one on the course page.

A US application asks the school counselor to send it directly. Schools outside the US often issue it on request from the registrar or the school office.

Independent evaluation companies prepare it, including the members of NACES. Some universities ask for one and some do their own assessment, so the course page decides.

Three or four subjects are taken at higher level and the rest at standard level. The core is theory of knowledge, the extended essay, and creativity, activity, service. Each subject is graded 1 to 7, the core adds up to three points, the maximum total is 45, and 24 points are the minimum for the diploma.

Grades run from A* down to E, with U for unclassified. Cambridge International A Level is the version offered outside the UK and uses the same scale.

The steps run in order: admission to an approved school, then the school’s Form I-20, then the SEVIS fee, then the DS-160 and the interview. The State Department notes that the order of the visa application steps themselves can differ by embassy or consulate.

Its full name is the Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status. A designated school official at a school certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program issues it.

It replaced the Tier 4 (General) student visa. An applicant shows enough money for living costs, held for 28 days in a row, and English at CEFR level B2 for degree-level study. The amounts change each cycle and are published on gov.uk.

Its full name is the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies. The Student visa application cannot go in without it.

Its full name is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The form for a school year opens the previous fall, and the federal deadline falls on June 30 at the end of that school year. Citizenship and immigration conditions apply, and a dependent student reports at least one parent’s information.

It replaced the Expected Family Contribution for the 2024–25 award year. It is not a dollar amount a family is expected to provide, and it can be negative, which indicates higher need.

It covers tuition and required fees, food and housing, books and course materials, transportation and personal costs, and it is the figure aid is calculated against.

Need-based aid cannot exceed this figure. Because cost of attendance differs by college, the same family can have different need at two colleges.

The maximum award is set each year. Lifetime eligibility is capped at the equivalent of 12 semesters.

Undergraduates are paid by the hour, at least monthly. The earnings do not count as income in the next year’s aid calculation. Not every college takes part, and the FAFSA is the only route to being considered.

A Direct Subsidized Loan goes only to undergraduates with financial need, and the federal government covers its interest while the borrower is enrolled at least half time. A Direct Unsubsidized Loan does not require financial need and builds interest from the date of the first disbursement.

It subtracts grants and scholarships from the cost of attendance. Loans are not subtracted, so the figure is closer to the real cost than the published price.

It costs $25 for the first institution and $16 for each additional one. The fee is waived automatically for a US undergraduate whose family adjusted gross income is up to $100,000, who qualified for an SAT fee waiver, or who is an orphan or ward of the court under the age of 24.

The Department of Education prefers this name over “award letter”, because loans are not awards and work-study is the chance to earn rather than a sum given. Two offers compare on net price, not on the published price.

Most grants are need-based and most scholarships are merit-based, though colleges use both words loosely and a single award can combine the two.

No national body publishes a formal definition of the opposite practice, called need-aware or need-sensitive at different colleges, so each college’s own statement is the thing to read.

On the Common App a student requests it inside the application and signs to certify the request, the counselor then confirms eligibility, and the application can be submitted without a fee while that confirmation is pending. NACAC publishes a separate form listing the indicators it accepts.

A match covers four years at one of 55 partner colleges, with no expected family contribution and no student loans. The application deadline is October 1 and matches are announced December 1.

It opens August 1 each year. Each college sets its own deadlines and adds its own questions, so one shared form does not mean one shared set of requirements.

For fall 2027 entry it opened August 1, the filing period runs October 1 to November 30, decisions are released March 1 to 31, and admitted students submit the Statement of Intent to Register by May 1. One application per term is allowed, and duplicates are canceled.

The CSU begins accepting fall applications the preceding October 1, with a priority filing period ending November 30. Many campuses and programs set deadlines beyond that date.

For fall entry, students educated in the United States apply by February 1 and international applicants by December 1, with supporting documents due shortly after.

A non-refundable fee of $50 applies for each campus selected.

A student may apply early decision to only one college, must withdraw all other applications on admission, and pays a deposit before May 1. Other applications may go in alongside it, under other plans.

There is no obligation to enroll, and an admitted student has until May 1 to decide.

The restrictions differ by college, and the student is responsible for finding and following them. An admitted student has until May 1 to confirm.

This is the plan most applications use, and it carries no obligation to enroll before May 1.

Places can fill as the cycle runs, so an application that arrives early meets less competition than the same application in the spring.

They sit inside that college’s own questions, which also set the start term and the admission plan. A supplement can be submitted only after that college’s application has been sent.

It holds up to 10 entries. Each has short character-limited fields for the role, the organization, and what was accomplished, so the writing has to be compressed.

The counselor recommendation is a broad assessment of academic, extracurricular and personal characteristics. A teacher’s write-up is called an evaluation and covers performance in that teacher’s class. The school report gives basic academic information, and the mid-year report updates it partway through the final year.

A college may extend an offer from the waitlist no later than August 1. A student on a waitlist normally holds a place elsewhere in the meantime.

Deferred enrollment is a different thing with a similar name: a student’s own choice to postpone starting college, sometimes for a gap year.

The University of California uses the term test-blind for its own policy, and does not consider SAT or ACT scores in admission decisions. For test-optional, a NACAC report states plainly that institutions define and implement it in a variety of ways, so each college’s own policy statement is the thing to read.

Each college decides whether it superscores, and the method differs between the SAT and the ACT.

The University of California describes it as a human process with no set weight given to any piece of the application.

It counts toward first-year tuition, and colleges cannot require it before May 1.

Binding early decision plans and athletic scholarships are recognized exceptions. NACAC publishes this as ethical guidance, not as a rule colleges must follow.

Its full name is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Almost every UK undergraduate application goes through it, not to the university directly.

Registration opens in the spring, well before the application itself can be submitted in September.

From 2026 entry onward the questions are: why this course or subject; how the applicant’s qualifications and studies have prepared them for it; and what else they have done outside education to prepare, and why those experiences are useful. Each answer has a minimum of 350 characters. One statement goes to all five choices, so the choices have to fit a single piece of writing.

Meeting them does not guarantee an offer. Universities set their own, and they differ widely by subject, by course and by provider.

Not every qualification has a points value, and the points are for admissions only. Many courses state grades instead of points.

They appear on the application and shape the offers a student receives, since most UK offers are made before results exist.

The applicant does not see it, one reference is enough, and the application cannot be submitted before it is in place.

Most UK offers are conditional, usually on exam grades. An unconditional offer means the place is already secured, though there may still be practical steps to arrange.

An insurance choice normally has lower conditions than the firm choice, since its purpose is to hold a place if the grades fall short.

A maximum of four may be medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or veterinary science combined, and usually only one may be at Oxford or Cambridge. The same single personal statement goes to all five.

It allows one more choice at a time, at no extra cost. For 2027 entry it runs February 25 to July 1, 2027.

It opens in early July and closes in mid-October. Applicants without a confirmed place apply for those vacancies, and applications arriving after the June cut-off go into Clearing automatically.

A place is either confirmed or declined at this point. UCAS Adjustment, the old route for applicants who beat their predicted grades, has not been available since 2022 entry, and UCAS names no replacement.

The UCAT is required by most UK medical and dental schools. The LNAT is required by a group of law schools and tests reasoning and writing instead of legal knowledge. The TMUA is a two-paper mathematics reasoning test used for some mathematics, economics and computer science courses. The ESAT is a modular science and mathematics test used for engineering, science and veterinary courses. Each course page states which test, if any, applies.

It depends on nationality, immigration status and three years of residence. Each university assesses it independently, usually around the time an offer is made. A maintenance loan toward living costs requires UK or Irish nationality or settled status plus residence, so an international student without a qualifying status does not have access to one.