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On an application it’s asking which rising class standing I am.

I’m in college and came in with a full semester (half a year) of credits. Thus after finishing my first semester and at time of application, I will be a sophomore. However, over the summer I will still be a sophomore. Only after finishing the first semester of my second year in college will I be a junior.

Which “rising” am I?

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    What makes you think you are a "rising" anything? You might be considered ahead of certain people your age, in terms of course credits, but that, in itself, does not imply that you are rising in any way. What exactly does the application say, where it uses the term "rising"?
    – Drew
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 15:57
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    @Drew risingin this context means "about to enter" a certain academic year. It refers to the idea that you have completed one year but haven't started the next yet. It's not a term of comparison against classmates in this case.
    – Nonnal
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 16:25
  • @Drew although the word rising has been used in this specific meaning for awhile now in academia, I agree it's not intuitive and it's certainly not the best possible word. I asked a question about this phrase here and through asking the question and doing further research eventually ran across the phrase oncoming which is much more clear than rising and generally preferable in every way in my opinion.
    – Brillig
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:26
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    @Brillig: I wonder where it is used with that specific meaning. I've never heard it used in AmE. But I'm not in academia now - maybe the term has taken hold in the US also.
    – Drew
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:36
  • @Drew I've heard it used but am not a fan. You and I are of much the same mind with this word. I would really appreciate it if you would upvote my question (in the link in the comment above) because a lot of the academia types have been poo-pooing my even daring to ask if there could be a better word - I even got a downvote?
    – Brillig
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:42

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You definitely won't be a junior since you'll still be a sophomore that first semester.

But on the other hand, you won't be technically a rising sophomore. You won't be 'between freshman and sophomore year'. You're still in the middle of your sophomore year.

This is already what you've thought of and why you're asking the question.

The difficulty is being forced into one of these choices by the form.

Since you have to choose, 'rising sophomore' will be less of a lie. You won't be accused of exceeding your qualifications, which is most likely what the results of the questionnaire are being used for.

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    I agree with Mitch. You can think of the application as having added "rising" in order to clarify which class for people who are between years. Since you're not between years, you should just use the class you're in.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 16:08
  • Thanks for the input, but since there is no definite answer it looks like either choice would be reasonable.
    – JobHunter69
    Commented Jan 3, 2016 at 22:55
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    I think you must have misunderstood me. To be clear, in your instance, you should not choose rising junior. You should use rising sophomore.
    – Mitch
    Commented Jan 4, 2016 at 0:36

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