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

[Leros]

a university is made up of colleges.

The college of business, college of engineering, etc.

 

[TheVrolok]

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

this ^

 

[Capt Caveman]

this ^

/facepalm

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

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.

Sheep joke. Creative.

 

[TheVrolok]

/facepalm

What? It's the truth. Whether you call them "colleges" or "schools," a collection of them constitutes a university.

 

[mugs]

What? It's the truth. Whether you call them "colleges" or "schools," a collection of them constitutes a university.

The OP is asking about institutions that are called colleges as opposed to institutions that are called universities. You are aware that there are institutions of higher learning in the US that are called colleges (not part of universities), right? It sounds like you think that colleges are only subdivisions of universities.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Universities have better football teams. Everyone knows this.

When a college (Boston College) beats a university (University of Miami) it's big news.

 

[TheVrolok]

The OP is asking about institutions that are called colleges as opposed to institutions that are called universities. You are aware that there are institutions of higher learning in the US that are called colleges (not part of universities), right? It sounds like you think that colleges are only subdivisions of universities.

It sounds like you're inferring something that I'm not implying. Of course there are "stand alone" colleges that are not part of a university. However, a university is a collection of schools/colleges.

 

[guyver01]

Universities offer Undergraduate AND PostGraduate programs.

Colleges primarily offer Undergraduate and/or Vocational programs.

 

[mugs]

It sounds like you're inferring something that I'm not implying. Of course there are "stand alone" colleges that are not part of a university. However, a university is a collection of schools/colleges.

That is sometimes true, but if you read more than the thread title you'll see that the OP is asking about the colleges that are distinct institutions, not the "colleges" that are divisions of universities.

 

[oddyager]

By definition they are different but nowadays it's just a "name" and the two are used synonymously. Some named colleges in the US offer post-grad and various schools of learning just like universities do.

 

[jonks]

Short answer, no.

Thus long answer is yes...?

correct.

 

[meltdown75]

your mom goes to college

 

[PlasmaBomb]

I thought it was:
University = Conducts post-doctorate research
Colleges = No research, no graduate studies

Ivy League Colleges including Harvard, Princeton, Yale...

 

[KCfromNC]

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Not sure if you're joking or not, but here's more names from US schools which shows that there's really no distinction :

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rochester-ny/rit-2806
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/troy-ny/rpi-2803
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandr...boken-nj/stevens-institute-of-technology-2639

 

[destrekor]

Ivy League Colleges including Harvard, Princeton, Yale...

their formal names all include "University".

Harvard College is the undergrad portion of Harvard University.

Surprisingly, wiki has a damn good writeup on the distinction between College and University in American English. We completely bastardized the whole system here. Excellent.

But in short, wiki sums it all up excellently: the proper term college in the U.S. is almost always for a school that is either a "junior college" that is focused on 2-year degrees, a vocational approach if you will, or for schools that focus on undergrad studies and have little or no graduate-level faculty/instruction.

The "colleges" within a university, are simply borrowing the name, and have no part in the college/university discussion.
And some institutions in the U.S. have kept the old College name just for the hell of it, which further bastardizes the naming scheme. Others keep the College name to show they focus more on undergrad than anything else. Universities, on the other hand, are almost always research focused and integrate the graduate studies into just about everything.

 

[Locut0s]

Canadian college = American "community college"

Do community colleges in the US offer some degrees?

 

[Locut0s]

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


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.

Interesting, thanks. Canadians usual do say "what university did you go to" etc...