Thematic vocabulary

1. Who is who: applicant/prospective student; freshman; sopho­more, junior, senior, undergraduate student; graduate (grad) student; part-time student; transfer student; night student; faculty:¹ teaching assistant, assistant professor, associate professor, (full) professor; coun­selor.²

2. Administration: dean, assistant dean, department chairman; President of the University; academic vice-president; student gov­ernment; board of trustees.

3. Structure: college (college of Arts and Sciences); school (school of Education), evening school; grad school; college of continuing ed­ucation;³ department; career development and job placement office.²

4. Academic calendar: fall, spring term/semester; fall, winter, spring, summer quarter; school/academic year; exam period/days — reading days/period⁴, break/recess; deadline⁵ (fall term break; win­ter recess or winter holidays, summer vacation).

5. Academic programs: course (a one/three-credit course); to take a course, to give a lecture; pass-fail course;⁶ elective, a major/to ma­jor (what's your major?); a minor (second in importance); discussion session; seminars — a more academic class, usually with grad students; a student-teacher.

6. Summer school: a course of lessons, talks, etc., arranged in ad­dition to the year's work in a university, college, or school after the

' The entire teaching staff at an educational institution.

² For detailed information see Appendix.

³ In-service training, updating one's qualification.

⁴ One or more days to read up for an examination.

⁵ The last date for a retake.

⁶ A course where you don't take an examination, but a pass-fail test (зачет).

start of summer holidays (to earn additional credits or to improve

the academic grades).

7. Grades: to get/to give a grade; pass-fail grading (to take gram­mar pass-fail); grades A, B, C, D, E; A-student; to graduate with straight A; a credit, to earn a credit; education record.⁷

8. Tests: quiz; to take/to give an exam; to retake an exam (a re­take); to flunk a course; to flunk smb; to drop out/to withdraw; a pass-fail test; multiple choice test; essay test; SAT, PSAT (prelimi­nary SAT) ACT; GPA.⁸

9. Red Tape: to register (academically and financially); to enroll for admission; to interview; to sign up for a course; to select classes/ courses; to drop a course, to add a course,⁹ a student I.D.,¹⁰ library card; transcript,¹¹ degrees: B.A., M.A., Ph.D.; to confer a degree; to confer tenure, thesis, paper, dissertation.

10. Financing: full-time fees; part-time fees; grants; student finan­
cial aid; to apply for financial aid; to be eligible for financial assistance;
scholarship; academic fees; housing fees; a college work-study job.