What's the difference between a major and a career and the difference between a university and a college?

Question

Hi,
I'm from Chile and I'd like to know the difference between a career and a major. You see, here, you say you'll go to university to study a career.

Also, what is the difference between a college and a university?

Answer 1

A career is a job for which you have extensive training and you plan on pursuing for your entire professional life. For example a job would be working at a shoe store in the mall but a career would be working as a nurse in a hospital.

A major is the subject you are concentrating your studies on in college/university, and often the subject of your degree. Such as political science, biology, nursing, mathematics, women's studies. So in the States you say you are going to college to study [biololgy] (or majoring in [biology]) and you plan on pursuing a career in medicine.

Generally, the only difference between a college and university is in the variety of degrees and the availability of higher degrees. At a college, you are usually more limited in areas of study and there are no graduate programs (masters or doctorate). At a university, there is a wider variety of areas of study and there are graduate programs available. This is just the typical difference and not all universities and colleges fall into this, but most do.

Answer 2

A major is what you are studying and learning about; for example, if I major in mathematics I am going to learn all about math. I can then use the degree I get from my major to work as an engineer, teacher, accountant, etc., and this job would be my career. There is no difference between a college and a university; they are essentially two different words that mean the same thing. I know that in the Spanish language colegio means high school (but sounds a lot like college) and universidad means university or college, so I can see where the confusion can come from. I hope this clears it up!

Answer 3

A major is what you study -- for example, your major may be Communications, and with a degree in that, you may go on to have a career in Public Relations or Public Speaking... or anything else. Basically, a major is a course of study, and a career refers to the actual job path you get in the workplace.

The difference between a college and a university, I believe, pertains to the size. A University is made up of several "colleges." I go to the University of Rhode Island, which has a College of Arts and Sciences, College of Pharmacy, a College of Engineering, and so on. In my hometown, there is a school called Bridgewater State College. It is just "one" college.

Hope this clears up some of your questions.

Answer 4

A "major" is a field of specialized study that will lead to a particular degree. For example, a biology "major" would earn a degree in biology.

A career is a life path that a completed degree will point toward. A biology major/degree might point a student towards medical school and a "career" in medicine or in medical research.

The difference betwen a college and a University is harder to quantify. In most cases, colleges offer bachelors' degrees (BA, BS) whereas a University will offer postgraduate fields of study leading to Masters' degrees or PhD's.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Usually a college can only grant bachelor degree such as a BA or BS.

A University in addition to granting undergraduate degrees may also grant graduate degrees such as an MA MS or Ph.D.

Now that you understand the differences I can confuse you a little. Sometimes in a university they have division or subdivisions that are frequently called colleges, These colleges do not always fall into the college definition above.

You asked a good question .