Prospective literally means "looking forward". It can also refer to an event that is likely or expected to happen in the future. For example, a prospective student is someone who is considering attending a school — typically a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 student who is seriously considering applying to a university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

, or who has already applied and been accepted, but not yet enrolled.

It can also refer to:

• Prospective aspect
  Prospective aspect
  In linguistics, the prospective aspect is a grammatical aspect describing an event that occurs subsequent to a given reference time. One way to view tenses in English and many other languages is as a combination of a reference time in which a situation takes place, and the time of a particular...
  
  , a grammatical aspect
• Prospective cohort study
  Prospective cohort study
  A prospective cohort study is a cohort study that follows over time a group of similar individuals who differ with respect to certain factors under study, to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome...
  
  , a type of medical study
• Prospective Dolly
  Prospective Dolly
  Prospective Dolly is a Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as a three-time winner of two stakes races. Out of the mare Dolly Deb, she was sired by Prosperous, a stakes winner in Japan who was a son of the very influential sire, Mr. Prospector.A sprint race specialist, Prospective Dolly was...
  
  , a Thoroughbred racehorse
• Prospective memory
  Prospective memory
  Prospective memory is a form of memory that involves remembering to perform a planned action or intention at the appropriate time. Prospective memory tasks are highly prevalent in daily life and range from relatively simple tasks to extreme life-or-death situations...
  
  , remembering to perform an intended action
• Prospective parliamentary candidate
  Prospective parliamentary candidate
  Prospective parliamentary candidate is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual...
  
  , a term used in British politics
• Prospective Piloted Transport System
  Prospective Piloted Transport System
  PPTS , unofficially called Rus, is a project being undertaken by the Russian Federal Space Agency to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft...
  
  , a project to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft
• Prospective search
  Prospective search
  Prospective search, or persistent search, is a method of searching on the Internet where the query is given first and the information for the results are then acquired...
  
  , a method of searching on the Internet
• Prospective short circuit current, the highest electric current which can exist in a particular electrical system under short circuit conditions
• Prospective payment system
  Prospective payment system
  A prospective payment system is a means of determining insurance payments based on predetermined prices, commonly from Medicare. Payments are typically based on codes provided on the insurance claim.Examples of these codes include:...
  
  , a payment model used in health care
  Health care
  Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
  
  to control costs