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During your college search, you may find yourself googling lots of questions including some about the meanings of the acronyms that accompany the college application process. You may have already come across references to cryptic combinations of letters such as DI, ED, EA, REA, and R1. The list goes on and on and on. So to save you some time, I've compiled a list of some of the admissions acronyms and what they mean.

CBO: Community-Based Organization. These are organizations based in (you guessed it) your community! They're often non-profits that seek to support students in their community as they prepare to apply and attend college, but they take lots of different forms.

DI: Demonstrated Interest. Many admissions offices, Tufts included, track your interest in their college. We do this by noting your engagement with us, whether it's in person, through email/phone, or through virtual events! 

EA: Early Action. This is one of several different application rounds that is offered at some universities. It's not offered at Tufts, but it allows you to submit your application early and to hear back about your decision early—unlike Early Decision, Early Action is NOT binding. 

ED: Early Decision. This is an application round offered at many universities that allows you to hear your decision early, though it also means you’re committed to attending that particular school if you're accepted. As a result, you can only apply to one school per Early Decision round. At Tufts, we have two Early Decision rounds while some other schools only offer one. 

FGLI: First-Generation, Low-Income. This acronym is often used to refer to a student's identity as being the first in their family to attend college, as well as being from a low-income family. Did you know that Tufts has a resource center with staff members specifically dedicated to our first-gen, low-income, and undocumented students? It's called the FIRST Resource Center!

RD: Regular Decision. This is the largest and most common round for students to apply to the majority of schools that they may be interested in attending. Students who apply to Tufts in the Regular Decision round will be applying by early January and hearing back about their decision by early April. 

REA: Restrictive Early Action. This is another application round that is like Early Action with the caveat that you can only choose one school to apply Early Action to—it isn't binding like Early Decision, but it does limit your early application options in a similar way. 

R1 (also known as "tier one research university"): Refers to doctoral-granting universities with the highest output of research nationally. Tufts is an R1 institution along with 145 others in the US! This classification system is produced by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

TO: Test-Optional. Tufts, like many other universities, is currently test-optional which means that applicants have the option of submitting their standardized test scores. 

QB: QuestBridge. A non-profit organization connecting high school students from low-income backgrounds to 48 selective institutions with strong commitments to financial aid and resources for low-income students. QuestBridge has its own application, and some students match to colleges through its National College Match (sometimes referred to as just "the Match"). Tufts is a QB partner, and we welcomed 30 students to our Class of 2028 through the Match and admitted more than 120 QB-affiliated students in our Regular Decision and Early Decision rounds!)

And for some bonus Tufts-specific content, I've pulled together a few acronyms you might come across when learning more about the Tufts community.

A&S: School of Arts and Sciences

CEEO: Center for Engineering Education and Outreach

CMHS: Counseling and Mental Health Services

DSDI: Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion, which comprises eight identity-based resource centers: the Africana Center, Asian American Center, FIRST Resource Center, Latinx Center, LGBT Center, Women's Center, Center for STEM Diversity, and the Indigenous Center. 

SEC: Science and Engineering Complex

SMFA: School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts

SOE: School of Engineering

StAAR Center: Student Accessibility and Academic Resources Center

All of our pre-orientation programs: BEAST (Building Engagement and Access for Students at Tufts), CAFE (Conversation Action Faith and Education), CREATE (Cultivate Relationships by Engaging with Arts at Tufts Experiences), FIT (Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts), FOCUS (First-Year Orientation CommUnity Service), GO (Global Orientation), SQUAD (Students' Quest for Unity in the African Diaspora), TWO (Tufts Wilderness Orientation)

Whew! That is a lot of acronyms. And while neither of these lists is exhaustive, I hope they give you some extra insight into the new words and acronyms you'll be adding to your vocabulary as you navigate your college search process and explore the Tufts community.