Yours truly's posting yesterday, which touched on the (odd-to-me) use of the word "rising" by the law school,* led to a comment by Kevin:
Kevin said...
The term "rising senior" has been common for many years, meaning a student in the summer who will be a senior in the fall.
documents the usage for many decades.
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That comment got a rise out of me, so I went hunting on Google:
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I found this in a Reddit conversation:
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What the hell is a "rising" senior?
From dictionary.com, rising can be defined as “advancing, ascending, or mounting”. Rising seniors are juniors who are advancing in grade level, or moving from 11th to 12th grade. I am not sure why you have so much trouble the use of the word rising in this context.
Because "rising seniors" implies they're seniors and rising, which they're not. The rising is done as a junior so it should be "rising junior".
A senior who died of senioritis, but Columbia threatened him with getting rescinded. So he came back from the dead. A rising senior.
I too find this cringe.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/8kw9ow/what_the_hell_is_a_rising_senior/
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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?
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
@Drew rising in 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. –
@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
@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
@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
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/297112/am-i-a-rising-junior-or-a-rising-sophomore
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"Rising" sophomore (or junior or senior) is a common U.S. expression. It just means he'll be a sophomore when school resumes this fall. There's no self-promotion, it is just used by students during the summer break.
It's common? Where? I'm from the US and I was put off by the statement as well.
I live in DC and that's what every summer intern says, it avoids the "Oh did you just finish sophomore to become a junior in 3 months, or just finish freshman to become a sophomore?" follow-up question.
It's a useful expression when you deal with college students over the summer.
I've certainly heard it and used it many times. When asking "what year are you?" over the summer it's vague to just say "sophomore" or "junior" and long-winded to say "I will be a sophomore in the fall".
Google rising sophomore, "rising senior" etc. Millions of results, common usage, neutral meaning.
I googled "rising senior" and got under a million results. Even more telling, the very first result was title "What is a rising senior?"
It's also worth pointing out that I'm US born and bred, spent 7 years at universities and was unfamiliar with the term. It sounded pretentious to me.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2840769
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Rising definition
--
Increasing in power or influence.
A rising nation.
--
Developing or emerging.
The rising generation.
--
The action of one that rises.
--
An uprising; an insurrection.
--
A slope or hill.
--
That rises; going up, ascending, mounting, advancing, sloping upward, etc.
--
Advancing to adult years; growing; maturing.
The rising generation.
--
Ascendant.
--
Approaching; nearing.
A man rising fifty.
--
Something that rises.
A projection or prominence.
(dial.) A boil, abscess, etc.
--
The act of something that rises.
The risings and fallings of a thermometer.
--
(US, slang, dated) More than; exceeding; upwards of.
A horse rising six years of age.
--
About to begin a certain grade or educational level.
Rising seniors.
--
Ascending, sloping upward, or advancing.
A rising tide.
--
https://www.yourdictionary.com/rising
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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/06/law-school-screw-up.html.
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