Higher Education Glossary: Important Definitions for Academic Terms Commonly Encountered in the United States

I have received a number of questions regarding words that have confused business school applicants. Accordingly, I decided to create this glossary to provide quick definitions to these commonly encountered words. Please note that this glossary includes terms that one might encounter at the undergraduate and/or the graduate levels.

Entries that begin with a numeral (e.g. 3+2 program) can be found at the end of the list.

Additions are welcome.

Applied Sciences: One of the major divisions of the academic world. Not surprisingly, the Applied Sciences stress the application of the knowledge acquired through the natural sciences. Majors include civil engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. The applied sciences are a major source of MBA students, accounting for 23% of the students at Washington University and some 27% at Duke.

Class: The term "class" can have a number of meanings depending on the context. 1) Class can mean simply one course (e.g. a course in Microeconomics that lasts for one semester and meets three times a week). 2) Class can also mean all of the students who graduate from a school in a given year (e.g. "She is the highest ranked student in the class of 2005").

Cohort: A set of students who take classes together. Other schools use the term "section" for this group of students.

College: The US system often uses the terms college and university interchangeably. In common usage, the term “universityâ€