# Does one "graduated college" or "graduated from college"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657 "2009-06-13T12:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/1 "2009-06-13T12:39:38Z")
I’ve always used the former, but more and more I hear people saying “graduated college” and lately I’ve even been seeing it in print. Which is the preferred from nowadays? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/2 "2009-06-13T12:59:30Z")
I’ve always thought they were interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/3 "2009-06-13T13:20:45Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’ve always thought they were interchangeable. Ditto. I’ve not seen that either usage is preferred. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/4 "2009-06-13T13:59:35Z")
Anyone who says he “graduated college” would lead me to think that he probably didn’t even go there. This just sounds wrong to me. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/5 "2009-06-13T14:07:09Z")
For my money, the college graduates you, while you graduate from college. [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graduate%5B3%5D) has an interesting usage note which seems to indicate that you can do whatever you want. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/6 "2009-06-13T15:06:56Z")
Trivia: The original usage of the word called for “I was graduated from college” rather than “I graduated from college.” The idea was that graduation was something that the school did to you, instead of something you did. This usage, of course, looks ungrammatical without the “from,” but it’s rarely seen anymore.\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/7 "2009-06-13T16:11:22Z")
“Graduated college” sounds more U.K. and “graduated from college” more U.S. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/8 "2009-06-13T19:21:11Z")
“Graduated college” makes me twitchy, but I do hear it more often than I used to. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/9 "2009-06-13T20:24:54Z")
Don’t you mean “HAS one ‘graduated college’ or ‘graduated from college?’” ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/10 "2009-06-14T00:26:12Z")
The standard usage here is to graduate from university. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/11 "2009-06-14T00:29:31Z")
> [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](#): > > Don’t you mean “HAS one ‘graduated college’ or ‘graduated from college?’” > > ::d&r:: Clearly that is what I intended. In re-wriing my question, I accidently forgot to change the verb. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/12 "2009-06-14T01:41:02Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > “Graduated college” makes me twitchy, but I do hear it more often than I used to. I’m glad I don’t hear it without “from” more often, because that would make me twitchy too. That formation sounds British to me, given they often leave out articles where we’d use them too (“to the hospital” vs “to hospital” etc). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-graduated-college-or-graduated-from-college/499657/13 "2009-06-14T04:58:21Z")
“Graduated college” sounds as wrong to me as “needs washed” (i.e. \*very \*wrong).