What do Americans mean by "College"?

Question

High School? University? Technical school?

Answer 1

Usually we mean University, but it can also mean just about any schooling after high school.

Answer 2

In the US the term "College" means a degree granting post-secondary institution. It does not mean a "high school" as the term is used in some other English speaking countries.

It is more equivalent to "King's College" than to "Eton College." There is only one high school in the US that I know of that calls itself college and that is "Girard College" in Philadelphia which was founded as a orphan asylum in the 1700s.

Many very famous and highly respected schools in the USA still call themselves "college" rather than university - for instance, Dartmouth College which is one of the highly prestigious Ivy League schools, or Boston College or Providence College, which are highly respected Catholic institutions which could be called universities.

In recent years many colleges in the USA have changed their names to 'university' to remove this ambiguity for foreign applicants.

Answer 3

"College" refers to post-secondary education. When we say someone has a college education, or a college degree, we mean that they finished university, but in other contexts, when someone says they are in college they may be referring to a community college (a two-year institution which usually offers some basic university courses and some technical courses), or a technical or "career" college, which may offer short courses in subjects such as medical assistant training or computer repair.

Answer 4

It usually corresponds to a university in other countries, in a few instances it can mean a technical school at the postsecondary level.

Answer 5

Its what we call our post-secondary schooling. Which is any schooling past highschool. Some "Colleges" are Universities and some can be Techincal schools.

Answer 6

Party-While-You-Edumicate