"College" and "university" in American English usage

[Schnitte]

I have a rough understanding about the concept of undergraduate and graduate studies in the English-speaking world (a distinction which is currently being introduced to the European continent), and I also know that a "college" in British (especially Oxbridge) usage is something totally different from a "college" in the U.S. What I'm interested in is the usage of terms.

AFAIK, a "college" in the U.S. is typically understood as a school which grants undergraduate, but not graduate (master's) or professional (such as legal or medical) degrees. It can be both an institution on its own or the undergraduate division of a larger school.

What is a "university"? Is it a school (or division of a larger institution) granting graduate degrees, or is it a broader term which also encompasses colleges? What about professional, i.e. law and medical schools - would an Americal refer to them as "universities", or simply as "law school" and "medical school" respectively?

When an American talks about his or her younger days, beginning with "Back then, when I was in college...", is he/she referring strictly to the years of undergraduate study, or can this usage also encompass further years of study?

As a related question: Are the terms "graduate study" and "postgraduate study" synonymous? I tend to say yes, thinking that both refer to studies which require a previous undergraduate degree for admission, but I'm not sure.

[Raguleader]

From what I've seen at Texas A&M University, a University is a learning institution that is large enough to contain several smaller colleges in it. Each college in this case would cover a narrower range of topics, ie the College of Science or the College of Liberal Arts.

A smaller stand-alone institution that covers a full range of topics would be called a College. I'm not sure if these Colleges typically grant Graduate or Post-Graduate/Doctorate degrees.

A "Medical School" or "Law School" I think is typically a college that is part of a larger University. Not everyone who goes to Harvard University is there for law school, but you run into many lawyers who came from the Harvard Law School. Ditto for, say, Baylor University and their medical school.

Post-Graduate and Graduate are not the same thing. Basically, a Graduate degree is the degree that you have to be a college graduate (ie: You have a Bachelor's Degree) in order to persue. Often also known as Master's Degrees. A Post-Graduate degree requires someone who has past the Graduate level of learning, and I think is generally equivalent to a Doctorate of some sort (PhD, MD, etc.)

That said, my experience in the academic arena is largely limited to Texas A&M University, a couple of community colleges, and my current school (a dedicated language school which grants Associate's Degrees, which are considered to be a level below a Bachelor's undergraduate degree), so I don't really know how things are done elsewhere.

[Pasta]

I also know that a "college" in British (especially Oxbridge) usage is something totally different from a "college" in the U.S.Correct.

AFAIK, a "college" in the U.S. is typically understood as a school which grants undergraduate, but not graduate (master's) or professional (such as legal or medical) degrees.Not exactly. You are correct insofar as "I went to college" means I did undergraduate studies. However, an institution called <Something> College may indeed have graduate programs. It's often just a matter of the history of the institution.

But regardless of the actual name or size or degree programs of an institution, you would always say, "I went to college at <Name>," when referring to undergraduate studies. (Example: "Have you visited Harvard University? My friend went to college there.") You'd never say, "I went to university." For advanced degrees, you'd usually say "graduate school" or simply "grad school". ("My friend went to grad school there in the 80s.")

What is a "university"?
It's just a name that some institutions of learning have chosen. There are sometimes administrative subdivisions of a university, but these usually have no relevant observable consequences. (Contrast Oxbridge.) The entirety of a school is the university. So, Harvard University (to continue that example) has students pursuing undergraduate and graduate (Master and Ph.D.) degrees. It's all the university. For something like California Institute of Technology, you might say, "I work at the institute," but you'd sound a bit posh. You'd probably instead just say, "I work at the university."

What about professional, i.e. law and medical schools - would an Americal refer to them as "universities", or simply as "law school" and "medical school" respectively?"Law school" and "medical school" would plug in where "grad school" appears above. Most universities with a law or medical school like to keep the naming separate, so you might get, "Back when I was at Harvard Law...."

When an American talks about his or her younger days, beginning with "Back then, when I was in college...", is he/she referring strictly to the years of undergraduate study, or can this usage also encompass further years of study?Only undergraduate study. Otherwise they'd say, "Back then, when I was in grad school..."

As a related question: Are the terms "graduate study" and "postgraduate study" synonymous?Yes.

[Billdo]

In the US, the rules for whether an institution is called a college or a university are really soft and loose. Generally, a college is an institution focusing on undergraduate (bachelor's degree) education, while a university includes a substantial component of graduate (master's and doctoral degree) programs, but exceptions abound. Further, there are plenty of schools which use neither college nor university in their name, but clearly qualify as such (e.g. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. Military Academy).

[Illuminatiprimus]

College in the UK refers to the 16-19 phase of education, usually people taking A-levels or equivalents. Everyone refers to undergrad/post grad learning environments as university.

[GorillaMan]

College in the UK refers to the 16-19 phase of education, usually people taking A-levels or equivalents. Everyone refers to undergrad/post grad learning environments as university.
It's nothing like that simple. That's just one form of college. There's the colleges of Oxbridge and of the University of London. There's degree-awarding specialist colleges such as various music conservatoires. There's colleges of further education which primarily or solely provide post-18 courses. The word is also increasingly used in (pointless) school names, such as '...Business and Enterprise College' or '...Sports Specialist College', although everyone still refers to them as schools in all other contexts.

[Illuminatiprimus]

It's nothing like that simple. That's just one form of college. There's the colleges of Oxbridge and of the University of London. There's degree-awarding specialist colleges such as various music conservatoires. There's colleges of further education which primarily or solely provide post-18 courses. The word is also increasingly used in (pointless) school names, such as '...Business and Enterprise College' or '...Sports Specialist College', although everyone still refers to them as schools in all other contexts. All true - but I've never met someone who referred to college when they were talking about university, nor use the world when they were referring to school. City Technology Colleges are even officially called colleges but they're considered schools and I'm pretty certain that's what someone going there would describe it as, name notwithstanding.

[Schnitte]

Thanks for these replies, guys, in the fight against my ignorance.

From what I've seen at Texas A&M University, a University is a learning institution that is large enough to contain several smaller colleges in it. Each college in this case would cover a narrower range of topics, ie the College of Science or the College of Liberal Arts.


That's interesting, because I think that in most of the world, the word used instead of "college" in this meaning would be faculty. In the U.S., OTOH, this seems to mean the entirety of all the active professors.

[GorillaMan]

All true - but I've never met someone who referred to college when they were talking about university, nor use the world when they were referring to school.
True, it depends whether we're talking about its usage in titles or the lower case 'college' in general. I do like to insist on correctness about that fact that most undergrad/postgrad institutions are referred to as 'university', but not all (I've had people tell me in the past that it's impossible for places without that word in their title to award degrees in their own right :rolleyes: )

[Hello Again]

That's interesting, because I think that in most of the world, the word used instead of "college" in this meaning would be faculty. In the U.S., OTOH, this seems to mean the entirety of all the active professors.
It's fine point, but it actually refers to the institution, or the administrative division, rather than the people who operate that institution. You would say "the faculty" if you were talking about the instruction staff. As in "The faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences are upset about the new curriculum" ... "the faculty at Dartmouth College are generally liberal" etc.

You wouldn't say, for instance, "The College of Arts & Sciences is angry about the curriculum" but you might say "The College of Arts & Sciences is building a new building for the Math department." The latter doesn't mean the professors are building it themselves!

"The College" is a singlular, non-collective noun, in other words. :)
-Graduate of The College of William & Mary, one of the exception schools because it grants PhDs & has a Law school.

[Telemark]

Only undergraduate study. Otherwise they'd say, "Back then, when I was in grad school..."
While this would be the most easily understood I'd say it doesn't really hold up the older you get. Most of my friends would say "Back when I was in college..." or even "Back when I was in school..." to indicate either undergraduate or graduate studies. It's all pretty flexible.

[Pasta]

While this would be the most easily understood I'd say it doesn't really hold up the older you get. Most of my friends would say "Back when I was in college..." or even "Back when I was in school..." to indicate either undergraduate or graduate studies. It's all pretty flexible.
Could you elaborate on your friends' situations, or do you have too many examples? So far in my life in academia, I've never heard anyone of any age refer to their graduate studies as "college". Not saying you haven't -- just wondering if it is a usage that depends on location, age, discipline, or just having weird friends.

[FatBaldGuy]

The word "college" can have multiple meanings, depending on context.

A college can be a standalone institution, such as "XYZ Community College". In this context, it refers to a school which primarily offers undergraduate degrees, and may be primarily a 2-year or 4-year school.

In a large university, there are subdivisions known as colleges. For example, ABC State University might include the College of Fine Arts, the College of Mathematics, etc.

And, as has been mentioned above, college is a generic term referring to any undergraduate level of education.

[Acsenray]

What is a "university"? Is it a school (or division of a larger institution) granting graduate degrees, or is it a broader term which also encompasses colleges?

Conceptually speaking, in American English, all post-secondary institutions are "colleges" in the generic sense. When it comes to the formal names of specific institutions, the matter is arbitrary -- they might choose to use any of several words in their names: college, university, academy, institute, school -- but in a conceptual sense they are all colleges.

Furthermore, in American English, all educational institutions, regardless of the level, are "schools." This is also different from British English, in which "school" cannot be applied to a post-secondary institution.

What about professional, i.e. law and medical schools - would an Americal refer to them as "universities", or simply as "law school" and "medical school" respectively?

No, a professional school is never a "university" or "college" by itself.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Could you elaborate on your friends' situations, or do you have too many examples? So far in my life in academia, I've never heard anyone of any age refer to their graduate studies as "college". Not saying you haven't -- just wondering if it is a usage that depends on location, age, discipline, or just having weird friends.
It's true that college is primarily used to indicate undergraduate study. But I've heard it used at times to distinguish the years of studying from the years out in the work world.

Grad school is used for most post-collegiate education. Postgraduate studies is mostly an academic term. I can't remember anybody using it in casual conversation. A postdoc, on the other hand, is a common term, meaning additional research time spent after getting one's Ph.D. but before landing a job as a professor or in industry. There's a further confusion in that while professional schools, like law, medicine or business, are technically grad school, almost nobody refers to them as grad school. If you're going on in English or Physics, i.e. the arts, humanities, or sciences, you're in grad school. Otherwise you're in law school or medical school or getting your MBA. (Nobody says business school, which has the connotation of a low-level secretarial instruction.)

The U.S. has this weird confusion of terms because it has a weird history of colleges. Unlike in Europe, in which there were a few schools associated mostly with the capital of a country or region, every sizable town immediately created a college as soon as eight or ten people were available to attend one. "Professors" were often young and barely educated themselves, just a step ahead of their students. By the mid-1850s the U.S. may have had more colleges than the rest of the world combined.

The schools didn't resemble Oxford or Heidelberg, which were where the elite still went to get a real education. There were "normal" schools, or state teacher's colleges; "land grant" schools, which taught the practical sciences of agriculture and mining; theological seminaries, hundreds of them to cater to the ever-splitting protestant sects; liberal arts academies, which purported to give a classical education to young gentlemen (and a few women by the end of the century); and a smattering of medical, dental, nursing, osteopathic, homeopathic, and basically pathetic institutions that turned out horrifyingly unqualified healing practitioners.

Around the turn of the century, the elite universities deliberately tried to elevate themselves from this mass by creating "professional" schools of medicine, business, law, journalism, architecture, and others, that would have true professional disciplines and curricula. Each of these was known as a college. Correspondingly, they created the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the Music College, and so on out of the non-professional side – combining both undergraduate and graduate - to ensure prestige for those professors. The whole conglomeration became the University.

Undergraduate education was no longer as much a end in itself as a preparation for graduate work. You majored in a subject in college and then went on to take a master's or doctorate in that subject in graduate school. This could be taken too far - Ohio University had a School of Radio-Television in its College of Communications - but as a larger and larger percent of the population went on to college, the prestige of a college degree dropped and the need for a graduate degree increased.

There are about 4000 degree-granting institutions in the U.S. today (probably including two-year community colleges or junior universities or technical schools). That total spans an enormous variation of type and quality and size. No one word satisfies that whole range. Both college and university are generalized approximations of what any one individual may have experienced.

Nobody else in the world has this history that I know of, so no wonder it confuses everybody else. It confuses a lot of us, too.

[Captain Amazing]

Furthermore, in American English, all educational institutions, regardless of the level, are "schools." This is also different from British English, in which "school" cannot be applied to a post-secondary institution.

Except for the London School of Economics, for instance (which is, in fact a college at the University of London)

[Tom Tildrum]

...What about professional, i.e. law and medical schools - would an Americal refer to them as "universities", or simply as "law school" and "medical school" respectively?
Professional schools are rarely standalone institutions but are almost always part of a university. Someone attending one of those schools would not typically refer to herself as attending the university, however. Generically, she would say "I am going to law school." To specify a particular place, she would say, "I am going to Harvard Medical School" or "I am attending law school at Michigan" (meaning the University of Michigan).

The examples of standalone professional schools that leap to mind are a medical school and a law school that are both part of the overall public university system in California. Thus the University of California at San Francisco is exclusively a medical school, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (despite having both "college" and "university" in its name) is exclusively a law school.

Certain business schools, although affiliated with universities, have separate names. A student there would say, I am attending Wharton Business School, rather than "I am in business school at the University of Pennsylvania," at least in a professional environment. If the student is talking to someone who wouldn't be expected to know these names, as a matter of clarity she might say, "I'm going to the Darden School, the business school at the University of Virginia."

Bonus confusion: Boston College and Boston University are two totally separate schools. Both are universities (in the sense of awarding graduate degrees).

[Acsenray]

Except for the London School of Economics, for instance (which is, in fact a college at the University of London)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not even an exception, because it uses "School" as part of its formal name, not "school" in a generic sense. A student at the L.S.E. wouldn't say something like "I can't stay out late tonight, because I have to go to school early in the morning," would they?

(Actually, an American would most likely say "I've got class in the morning," but "school" wouldn't be considered remarkable in that sense.)

[Schnitte]

That's a helpful primer to the history of the U.S. education system, [b]Exapno[/i]. Thanks to you and everyone else!

Thus the University of California at San Francisco is exclusively a medical school, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (despite having both "college" and "university" in its name) is exclusively a law school.

There's also a number of constituent colleges in British universities called "University College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College)", which is similiarly confusing (especially since they are just as much affiliated to the university as any other college).

[Telemark]

It's true that college is primarily used to indicate undergraduate study. But I've heard it used at times to distinguish the years of studying from the years out in the work world.
Exactly. College (or school) is separate from the working world. This is especially true if someone got their Masters or additional degree right after undergraduate. It all gets lumped into a single period of their life.

[B_A_Bay]

The term college used to be narrowly defined. Generally a college was specific to a theme. For instance, a college was a business college or a medical college. Thus a business college wouldn't have programs that dealt with medicine or the arts.

In the college were "schools." For instance a medical college might have a "school of nursing," a "school of medicine," and a "school of pharmacy."

A univeristy was an institution that would contain multiple colleges of different "themes" so to speak.

So a university might contain a medical college which would contain a school of nursing. And it would also have a business college, which would contain a school of accounting

That is how it was generally set up. Now the rules have totally changed so that none of that really applies. Some institutions that were set up like that decided to become universities and but didn't want to change their name from college to univeristy and the hole system really just broke down.

Today they are mostly interchangable. But it does lead to confusion, for example
Boston College and Boston Univeristy which are not the same institution.

[GorillaMan]

There's also a number of constituent colleges in British universities called "University College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College)", which is similiarly confusing (especially since they are just as much affiliated to the university as any other college).
To confuse things even further, at least one of those (University College Falmouth) is an independent degree-awarding institution (link (http://media.www.falmouthnavigator.com/media/storage/paper194/news/2004/03/19/News/Falmouth.Gets.Fucd-634861.shtml), primarily provided because of the great headline ;) )

[Acsenray]

There's also a number of constituent colleges in British universities called "University College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College)", which is similiarly confusing (especially since they are just as much affiliated to the university as any other college).

A lot of American universities also have a subdivision going by the name "University College," but it's rare that anyone outside the university would have to deal with them by that name. Very often, the university college handles a specialized area, such as non-degree courses, adult/non-traditional students, foreign students, or non-instruction-related student services.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

In a large university, there are subdivisions known as colleges. For example, ABC State University might include the College of Fine Arts, the College of Mathematics, etc..

Additionally there are a few American universities that have undergraduate colleges modeled after the Oxbridge pattern. Each such college has its own philosophy and course requirements, and the students who do live on campus tend to live in their colleges.

In my experience, when people refer to their college years they mean an institution offering at least bachelor's degrees. Postsecondary vocational schools often use the word 'college' in their names, but their graduates don't usually speak of their time there as their college days.

To add to the confusion there are a number of public high schools that have 'university' or 'college' in their names. I went to University High School in Los Angeles, which got its name because apprentice teachers would come over from UCLA and work as part of their practicuums. There's a HS in Baltimore called Baltimore City College.

And now to throw on the last straw: The second oldest public HS in America, Philadelphia's Central HS, is authorized by the State of Pennsylvania to grant bachelor's degrees to students who finish with cumulative grades (marks) averaging 90/100 or better. Imagine that...getting your bachelor's degree and HS diploma the same day.

[JR Brown]

[...] and a smattering of medical, dental, nursing, osteopathic, homeopathic, and basically pathetic institutions that turned out horrifyingly unqualified healing practitioners.

Exapno, I love your post. I especially love this part of it. :D

JRB

[GorillaMan]

Except for the London School of Economics, for instance (which is, in fact a college at the University of London)
And the School of Oriental and African Studies...maybe we should just exempt the University of London from this thread entirely? Then there's the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, also awarding degrees by itself...

[MEBuckner]

So, Harvard University (to continue that example) has students pursuing undergraduate and graduate (Master and Ph.D.) degrees. It's all the university.
Some American universities do preserve a "college=undergraduate" distinction in their formal organization; Harvard University (http://www.harvard.edu/) includes Harvard College (http://www.college.harvard.edu/) as its undergraduate division, along with a Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/) and various professional schools (Harvard Law School (http://www.law.harvard.edu/); Harvard Business School (http://www.hbs.edu/)). Similarly, the University of Chicago includes the College of the University of Chicago (http://www.college.uchicago.edu/) as its undergrad division, along with several graduate divisions (such as Division of the Biological Sciences (http://www.bsd.uchicago.edu/) or the Division of the Humanities (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/)) and professional schools (Pritzker School of Medicine (http://pritzker.bsd.uchicago.edu/), University of Chicago Law School (http://www.law.uchicago.edu/)).

[Pasta]

Some American universities do preserve a "college=undergraduate" distinction in their formal organization; Harvard University (http://www.harvard.edu/) includes Harvard College (http://www.college.harvard.edu/) as its undergraduate division...Agreed, and I acknowledge this in the paragraph you quote, but these distinctions generally don't show up in how people actual refer to the schools. They are merely internal administrative divisions. (No one would say they attended Harvard College. They'd say Harvard University. You wouldn't even put Harvard College on something official like a curriculum vitae.)

[Exapno Mapcase]

Agreed, and I acknowledge this in the paragraph you quote, but these distinctions generally don't show up in how people actual refer to the schools. They are merely internal administrative divisions. (No one would say they attended Harvard College. They'd say Harvard University. You wouldn't even put Harvard College on something official like a curriculum vitae.)
Actually, I always thought that graduates of Harvard College make a point of saying that they went to Harvard College, never Harvard University. They're college men, doncha know.

It's true that the norm for a curriculum vitae would be to cite Harvard University, but a quick check of Google finds thousands of hits that cite Harvard College.

[MEBuckner]

I dunno about those Harvard guys, but you'd have to be awfully high-hat to put something like "1992 -- B.A., The College of the University of Chicago"--you'd just say "1992 -- B.A., University of Chicago". On the diploma, though, it would say that the degree was granted by The College of The University of Chicago. I suppose diplomas are always pretty snooty.

[Siam Sam]

This causes a lot of confusion among my British and Australian friends over here. Apparently, a "college" back in their neck of the woods is what we Americans would call a "high school." Yes, in the US a single university is generally made up of several colleges -- the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences -- the university pulling them all together into a "univers-al" entity. Some entire institutes, such as Saint John's College, are not universities because they tend to focus on a specific area.

It gets complicated in Thailand, which is forever trying to strike a balance between American and British usage. (For instance, some buildings here you walk in at the ground floor and take the elevator or stairs up to the first floor like in the UK; other buildings you walk in at the first floor, which is also the ground floor, like in the US. The best that I can figure is it depends on which country the owner of the construction company went to school in or at least preferred.) At Chulalongkorn University, the top educational institute here, there are both colleges, such as the College of Public Health and the College of Population Studies, AND faculties, such as the Faculty of Economics. To add to the confusion, I happen to know that the College of Population Studies changed it's name at one point from the Faculty of Population Studies, for reasons known only to them.

[Waenara]

IME, "college" and "university" are used differently in Canada than in the US. I live in Alberta, but I'm pretty sure that usage is the same across Canada.

Here, a "college" is higher education after high school, usually consisting of one-year and two-year certificate and diploma programs. Sometimes a college will offer classes covering the first year or two of a four-year undergraduate degree, but a student would have to transfer to a university to finish their degree. Similarly, there are various technical schools that also offer one- and two-year programs of a more technical-skill-oriented nature.

A "university" is also higher education after high school, but it's an institution that offers four-year undergraduate bachelor degrees (Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, etc...). The university I attended (the University of Alberta), didn't really have "sub-colleges" within it - instead, each group of studies was a "faculty" (faculty of engineering, faculty of science, faculty of nursing, etc...). A university may or may not have an associated medical school or law school, and a university may or may not offer graduate degrees (Masters or PhD) or post-graduate studies.

The Canadian magazine Macleans (http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/rankings/) publishes an issue each year with rankings of Canadian universities. For ease of comparison, they break the universities down into different categories, but they're still all universities. The categories they use are "Primarily Undergraduate" (has relatively few graduate programs), "Comprehensive" (has a range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs), and "Medical Doctoral" (has a broad range of PhD programs and research, and medical schools).

I'm pretty sure that in Canada calling your institute of learning a "college" or "university" is a legal thing, and they can't just decide to use "university" if they don't offer accredited four-year undergraduate degrees.

For example, in Edmonton there is Concordia University College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_University_College_of_Alberta). It used to be called Concordia College, and it only offered one- and two-year programs. In the mid-90s, they changed their name to Concordia University College, because by that point they were allowed by the province to begin granting four-year degrees.

Similarly, Grant MacEwan College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_MacEwan_College) is also in Edmonton, but they changed their name in 2006 to just "MacEwan" (omitting the word "college"), because at that time they became an accredited degree-granting institution.

[constantine]

I don't think the U.S. System is as confusing as many of you are making out. There are at least two separate issues here.

First, when an American talks about where she "went to college," she is talking about the institution where she got her bachelor's degree. Whether the institution she attended is called a "university," an "institute" or a "college," doesn't matter. If I ask someone where they went to college, it would be perfectly natural for her to say "I went to MIT," or "I went to Harvard," or I went to "Amherst."

The term "college" refers to an institution that grants undergraduate, aka bachelor's degrees. There are exceptions, but that is by far and away the general rule. The term "University" refers to an institution that grants graduate and/or professional degrees. In many cases, a college is part of a larger university. so, Harvard College is part of Harvard University, along with Harvard medical school, Harvard law school, etc. that are also part of Harvard University.

Yes, there are exceptions. There are a few institutions that are over a century old, such as Dartmouth, that call themselves colleges even though they also grant graduate degrees.

There is also some confusion because, as noted above, certain undergraduate institutions are divided into multiple colleges. For example, UCSD has multiple colleges. But if you ask someone who got their Bachelors degress from UCSD where they went to college, they are not going to say they went to Ravelle College or Marshall College. They are going to say they went to UCSD.

If someone asks me where I went to college, I say Wesleyan, even though the name of the institution is Wesleyan University (and that's what it says on my diploma).

If you are in an academic graduate program, you say you went to "graduate school." If you were in a professional program, you usually refer to it by type of school. Someone who went to Hastings College of Law would never say they went to "college" at Hastings. They would say that they went to "law school" at Hastings.

[GorillaMan]

If you are in an academic graduate program, you say you went to "graduate school." If you were in a professional program, you usually refer to it by type of school. Someone who went to Hastings College of Law would never say they went to "college" at Hastings. They would say that they went to "law school" at Hastings.
'Law school' is one which, I think, does cross over between American and British usage. How about 'drama school'?

[Billdo]

Here, a "college" is higher education after high school, usually consisting of one-year and two-year certificate and diploma programs. Sometimes a college will offer classes covering the first year or two of a four-year undergraduate degree, but a student would have to transfer to a university to finish their degree. Similarly, there are various technical schools that also offer one- and two-year programs of a more technical-skill-oriented nature.

In the U.S., post-secondary institutions that primarily have similar one to two year programs are usually known as "community colleges" or "junior colleges." They will typically offer an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science (or perhaps some specialized associates degrees) after a two-year (full time equivalent) program. Some programs are the equivalent of the first two years of a bachelor's program, and others are more vocationally specialized. In some states, the community colleges are set up so two-year graduates can fairly seamlessly transition into bachelors programs in the state college/university systems. Otherwise, transfer to another institution can be a bit chaotic.

[tetranz]

This causes a lot of confusion among my British and Australian friends over here. Apparently, a "college" back in their neck of the woods is what we Americans would call a "high school."
True, at least that's what college usually means in New Zealand. But ... not all high schools are called colleges. Some are called high schools and a few are called grammar schools which sounds very old and British but I don't think it means anything much in practice these days.

In NZ the word "varsity" is simply used as an abbreviation of university. Someone will "go to varsity". In the US I think it has something to do with sports. Australians talk about "going to uni".

[MarcusF]

Just to add to the fun, in the UK, the University of Cambridge is made up of a number of "Schools" for teaching/research purposes e.g. School of Arts & Humanities, School of Physical Sciences, etc and each of these is made up of various Faculties, Faculty of English, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, etc. The Colleges are self contained institutions that will have Fellows and students attending many or all of them. :smack: