what is the difference between College and University in the U.S?

Question

In U.S what is the difference between a college and an university and what makes one unique from the other?

Answer 1

There is no hard and fast rule about how these terms are used in the USA... In some parts of the world "college" means a secondary school or a lower level of university. In the USA the terms "college" and "university" are used somewhat interchangeably. It is not a question of prestige - some university level Colleges (which give BA, BS and MA or MS degrees) such as Middlebury College, Amherst College, Williams College, Harvey Mudd College, etc are at the very highest level of prestige. Those schools are all rather small and traditionally focus on undergraduate education with limited students above the BA/BS level. Their graduates often go on to do PhDs at the most prestigious universities.

The term "university" refers mostly to institutions that have several associated colleges - as Duke University which has an undergraduate liberal arts college, an engineering college, a law college and a medical college, etc.

However, there are even exceptions to this general rule, for instance Dartmouth College is one of the most elite institutions in the USA, one of the eight members of the Ivy League along with Harvard and Yale, and has very distinguished schools of liberal arts, medicine and business. Another example would be Boston College . Dartmouth and BC are elite universities in everything but name and their faculty are often world renowned scholars and researchers.

It's a little confusing, I agree.

Answer 2

In the US people often use the term "college" when they mean university -- but rarely use "university" when they mean college.

In the US, universities are made up of several colleges. Unlike other countries, these colleges usually are divided by disciplines. For example, my undergraduate university had a college of Arts & Sciences, a college for Engineering, another for Business, a Nursing college, a Law School and another college for graduate studies.

Most colleges in the US only offer undergraduate degrees -- and usually only in the arts and sciences. There are exceptions. For example, Boston College is a university. The name Boston University is already taken -- so they kept their old name. Ironically, Boston College isn't in Boston, either.

Answer 3

A college will offer degrees in a few areas like Human Resource Management, Criminal Justice and Communications.

A University will have several colleges under them and offer several degree programs. A University may include a college of health, college of engineering, a college of agriculture, business, science and mathematics. All of those colleges would fall under that university and share the same and perhaps additional accreditation.

Answer 4

So in America College = Uni in England. In England College = High School in America College and Univerisity? The same things. Just a University has more credentials, standards, it's better off and such. Sometimes Americans do "Dual Enrollment," which is attending "Uni" (in America, known as College or University), while in "College" (In America, known as High School). It's just taking a few courses while also going to "College" (Again, in America, known as High School). You leave high school at 16 and go to college, then go to Uni at 18. That's normal for you. We just leave high school a bit later, usually at 17/18/19. Then we go to College/University. University's are usually harder to get into, so we need better academic credentials. Why do we leave so late? Because it's our belief that the more years we are in, the more mature we will become, the more academic/social/work experience we will have, etc. From all my friends from all over the world, almost all of my friends outside of the US are more mature at 15/16 and up in age, than my American friends at 17 and up in age.

Answer 5

If I'm not mistaken, a university is used to describe a place with a very broad range of studies, while a college has smaller, more focused programs.

A college can also refer to a undergraduate division or school at a university, such as "Aardvark College of the Arts at Ferret University", et cetera.

Answer 6

Universities offer graduate degrees. And accordingly there is generally greater emphasis on research and scholarship rather than just teaching.

Answer 7

to put it simply...

by definition, a college only offers a bachelors degree, however universites offer bachelors degrees, masters, PhD's and even professional degrees.

some "colleges" are just called college because that was their name before they became a university.