Is there a distinction between a College and a University in the US?

[Aluvus]

To answer the OP's question, no there is not a consistently-accepted, widely-known difference (as this thread demonstrates), and people often use the words basically interchangeably (although they will say "college" much more frequently). Some schools do use the system where the entire school is referred to as a university, and it contains multiple colleges (college of engineering, etc.).

I don't know why we use the terms this way, but we do.

 

[Capt Caveman]

A university has many colleges within it.

or a University may have many schools within it.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Grand Valley State University has the nursing college, Padnos college of engineering, teaching college, liberal arts college, and so on.

 

[dbk]

virginia polytechnic institute and state university

 

[Venix]

your system in Canada sounds like the exact same thing in the U.S.

Most people never really pay attention to the noun they use to describe their advanced schooling, but that distinction is clearly there.

All the bachelor degree granting schools are Universities. They also all show it in their name.
In fact, all the schools in the U.S. show the proper noun in their school name.

Also, many of the large universities call the specific schools within the university a "college". The College of Business is a common one.

Colleges, and many are called "community college", though in essence it's just the name and they are all the same type, are exactly like they are (apparently) in Canada.
They are more advanced vocational schools, and offer a wide variety of classes that typically meet the general education course requirements for 4-year degrees, and almost always transfer. Otherwise, these colleges offer Associates Degrees (2-year), which is basically G.E. courses and a specific vocational focus.

Amherst College
Dartmouth College
Boston College
The College of William and Mary
Swarthmore College

Are you suggesting that the above schools are "advanced vocational schools" that don't offer bachelor degrees?

"College" and "community college" are completely different. I went to a school with "University" in its name, but like everyone else in the entire US, I referred to it as college. People who went to community college would be laughed at if they called it college.

 

[RESmonkey]

and my university didn't have a PhD program and barely offered masters degrees.

u arent in a real univ

 

[speg]

Canadian college = American "community college"

 

[PaperclipGod]

Where does an "Institute of Technology" fit in?

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[Parasitic]

There is also "polytechnic institute" in the US which is the same as "institute of technology" and often means to a university which focuses on science and engineering, but in other places like India xPI is often a lower tiered school compared to xIT.

Although in reality if you went to a more or less reputable school people don't have a problem about how it's called. You'd be an idiot to assume places like Harvey Mudd College blow compared to a state university, or that places like RIT, RPI, Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech (which is actually a "polytechnic institute") aren't real universities.

 

[rockyct]

u arent in a real univ

University is in the name. Maybe it's not really a university, but they are allowed to call it that.

 

[arcenite]

University has a research requirement for its faculty

 

[Capt Caveman]

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I guess you've never heard of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?

 

[huberm]

a university is several colleges. A college focuses on one study (for instance, a college of business is part of Purdue University).

 

[Capt Caveman]

a university is several colleges. A college focuses on one study (for instance, a college of business is part of Purdue University).

Then how does Boston College, Amherst College, Dartmouth College, etc. have numerous programs of studies?

And University of Massachusetts has no colleges but many schools (Management, Engineering, Nursing, etc)?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

In NZ college == high school.

edited for silly error

 

[guyver01]

In India, their "university" is the same as our High School.
They just don't call it high school.. they call it "university"
and "college" is like Junior High

 

[Zebo]

Short answer, no.

You can call a university a college but you can't call a college a university.

College people with less than PhD's can be full professors. Not so for University all full time professors must have PhD..

 

[Born2bwire]

a university is several colleges. A college focuses on one study (for instance, a college of business is part of Purdue University).

This. A college is generally a bachelor's degree conferring institution that focuses on a field of study. A university is a group of colleges and typically has a graduate and research program. So at UIUC, there is a college of engineering, a college of liberal arts, and a graduate college for example.

 

[Pepsei]

as noted before. look at Boston College and The College of William and Mary.

Thomas Jefferson graduated from William and Mary. Hell, there's a large page on wikipedia just on the famous people who graduated from there.

I do not think I can find anyone of such calibers for the University where i graduated from. We will never do any better than GWAR or ... founder of 4chan.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

In India, their "university" is the same as our High School.
They just don't call it high school.. they call it "university"
and "college" is like Junior High

Not quite. There are two national school systems, ICSE and CBSE, and both follow the standard Grades 1-12 structure. However, state systems go something like this:

1st - 5th Grade - Primary School
6th - 10th Grade - Secondary School
11th -12th Grade- Junior College

'Universities' around here typically refers to institutions that design (and teach) a certain program and colleges are affiliated to said universities. For instance, there are over 400 colleges in my state that are affiliated to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, offering courses in engineering, pharmacy, architecture and a couple of others. All the affiliated colleges offer the exact same course, appear for the same final examinations, are graded by the same pool of evaluators and there is no difference between the degrees offered by all the different colleges. The college you go to essentially comes down to rank, location, reputation, facilities and faculty.

 

[Acanthus]

A university has many colleges within it.

this.

the university i attend has a college of business, college of engineering, etc...

 

[Capt Caveman]

this.

the university i attend has a college of business, college of engineering, etc...

And the University I attended had no colleges but schools and also offered graduate programs...

 

[BoberFett]

In NZ college == high school.

edited for silly error

Yes, but only because high school seems like college as most people never make it past 8th grade - sheep shearing being far too seductive a career to pass up for something has droll as schooling.

 

[mav451]

I've heard Canandians refer to college as "uni" so I would presume this is just a cultural difference. Nobody says I'm going to Uni after high school - it just sounds super weird. If you go to MIT/CMU/UIUC - in America, we say "we are going to college". State or private, Ivy or not, we call it college.

 

[mugs]

This thread is full of misinformation that people assume is true because it was true for the school they went to.

Wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#United_States

In American English, the word, in contrast to its many and varied British meanings, usually refers to liberal arts colleges that provide education primarily at the undergraduate level. But it can also refer to schools which offer a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum. The term can either refer to a self-contained institution that has no graduate studies or to the undergraduate school of a full university (i.e., that also has a separate graduate faculty).

In popular usage, the word "college" is the generic term for any post-secondary undergraduate education. Americans go to "college" after high school, regardless of whether the specific institution is formally a college or a university, and the word and its derivatives are the standard terms used to describe the institutions and experiences associated with American post-secondary undergraduate education.

The distinction is, generally, undergraduate vs post-graduate. And Americans never say they "went to university," we go to college regardless of the name of the school.