<p>CC being College Confidential. I know that one. But what are all these acronyms you guys use (HYPSM or something...what does that mean?) And there are tons of others! </p>
<p>Is there a list of common acronyms? I can't understand anything when I read this site!!!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>HYPSM - harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, mit</p>
<p>UCs = University of California (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, etc.)
USC = University of Southern California
UofM/Michigan/UMichigan = University of Michigan (Ann Arbor campus mostly)
Penn/UPenn = University of Pennsylvania (Penn State = Pennsylvania State University)
NYU = New York University</p>
<p>MA Degree = Master's Degree
MSW = Master of Social Work
MBA = Master of Business Administration
MFA = Master of Fine Arts
MPH = Master of Public Health
PhD = Doctor of Philosophy (doctoral degree, highest degree attainable)</p>
<p>SAT/ACT/GRE/LSAT... = standardized tests (I'm sure you already know what those are)
ECs = Extracurricular activities
"hook" = what makes you unique/special
GPA = Grade Point Average (self-explanatory...)
EA/ED = Early Action or Early Decision (when you apply early to colleges before December deadline, some colleges called it Priority Deadlines/Early Response)
EFC = Expected Family Contribution (your financial aid statement from admitted colleges after you submit your FAFSA or CSS Profile)</p>
<p>What other acronyms are you unsure of?</p>
<p>There's a massive list somewhere in the Parents' Forum.</p>
<p>s=son
d=daughter</p>
<p>for some reason parents always use s and d. it bothers me.</p>
<p>HYPSM has different variations. Sometimes it's just HYP, or HYPS (my favorite because you can call them collectively, "hips"), or occasionally a C will be thrown in for Columbia. Also for liberal arts colleges you'll often see AWS (Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore), or AWSP (throwing Pomona into the mix. Midd is Middlebury.</p>
<p>When you see them in clumps like HYPS or AWS, I generally take it to mean schools of that ilk or sharing the same tier, so it can be interpreted to mean a few more schools than that acronym actually references.</p>
<p>NU = Northwestern (not NWU)</p>
<p>Sometimes C also stands for Caltech.
DS DD I think are dear son and dear daughter.
NU is Northwestern</p>
<p>Within forumns there may be some variation. In the MIT forumn, for instance, EC can also be taken to mean an "Educational Counselor" aka the alum who would interview you.</p>
<p>CC can also mean Community College.</p>
<p>Here you go:</p>
<p>wyltgft-would you like to go fencing today?</p>
<p>Hahahaha julius</p>