# What makes an alumni? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174 "2001-05-03T03:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/1 "2001-05-03T03:26:37Z")
Do you hafta graduate from a school to be considered an alumni or is simply attending at some time in the past count? Just wondering. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/2 "2001-05-03T03:33:24Z")
I think you actually have to graduate. BTW, alumni is plural. You can be an alumnus or an alumna, but you can’t be an alumni. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/3 "2001-05-03T03:36:56Z")
If you become famous or have a lot of money to give away, the graduation requirements are relaxed somewhat. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/4 "2001-05-03T03:39:51Z")
[alumnus](http://www.bartleby.com/61/57/A0235700.html): “A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university.” (_American Heritage Dictionary_) The 1913 _Webster’s_ defines [alumnus](http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=alumnus) as “A pupil; especially, a graduate of a college or other seminary of learning”, so there seems to have been some leeway about whether or not one has actually graduated for some time now. Certainly fundraising departments prefer it that way: “Billionaire entrepreneur gives big bucks to Whassamatta U., which he attended for a year back in the ‘70’s before dropping out to found a Fortune 100 company in his parents’ garage.” ---
**Author:** ![Synergist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Synergist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Synergist)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/5 "2001-05-03T03:42:49Z")
I had always assumed you had to graduate from a university to be considered an alumnus. However, a university I never graduated from has me on it’s alumni mailing list. I was put on the list shortly after a bookkeeping error turned a fee payment I had made for a continuing education class into a donation. So apparently, one time attendance plus a donation made me an alumnus. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/6 "2001-05-03T05:52:55Z")
The UCLA Alumni Association will take you in if you pay them the dues. They don’t care if you’ve ever been to Westwood, CA. People will join the Alumni Association because it is a cheaper way to get full library privileges at the university. ---
**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/7 "2001-05-03T07:20:43Z")
Cool, I was thinking about becoming a Univ of Michigan “alum”. Why? I just love the school even though I’ve never gone to a class there and only saw one football game when I was being recruited to play football. I always liked UCLA, too. Something about those baby blue uni’s and the wierd font they have on their uni’s was cool. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/8 "2001-05-03T07:58:21Z")
I’ll agree that most uses of the word require (or at least imply) graduation. However, the [Caltech Alumni Association](http://www.its.caltech.edu/%7Ealumni/membership.htm) holds eligible for membership anyone who attended the institute for at least one full year and left “in good standing.” You don’t have to graduate to “leave in good standing”, although I’m having trouble pinning down a reference for just how that term is defined at Caltech. Clearly, _most_ of those eligible for membership will have degrees, but not all. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/9 "2001-05-03T13:54:00Z")
As **MEBuckner** pointed out, the definition of an alumnus/alumuna is former student. One does not have to be a graduate in order to be an alum. That being said, each school has it’s own definition of what it considers an alum. Some schools consider anyone who took even one class an alum. Others, like Caltech, have a definition based on length of time attended or number of credits completed. Others base the status on graduation. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > The UCLA Alumni Association will take you in if you pay them the dues. They don’t care if you’ve ever been to Westwood, CA. While I don’t doubt that the UCLA Alumni Association will give anyone a membership, that membership will not make you an alum of UCLA. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Synergist_ > I had always assumed you had to graduate from a university to be considered an alumnus. However, a university I never graduated from has me on it’s alumni mailing list. I was put on the list shortly after a bookkeeping error turned a fee payment I had made for a continuing education class into a donation. So apparently, one time attendance plus a donation made me an alumnus. Anyone can get on the mailing list. Most schools have thousands of non-alumni on their mailing lists. A continuing education class or program will not make you an alum of a university – only academic courses. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by SmackFu_ > If you become famous or have a lot of money to give away, the graduation requirements are relaxed somewhat. Well certainly if you give us lots of money, we’ll put you on our mailing list and give you recognition as a donor, but you will not be an alum. Even people who are given honorary degree are not considered alumni. Sometimes people are made “honorary alumni,” but even these are not counted as true alumni. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/10 "2001-05-03T14:31:52Z")
I got my Masters degree, so now my university considers me an alumna even though I’m still enrolled in the PhD program, so they keep hitting me up from money. I presume the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, because the university sents me that paltry pay check every two weeks–they should know how poor I am. Interesting trivia: The plural of _alumna_ is _alumnae_, so a girl’s school celebrates its alumnae, not its alumni. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/11 "2001-05-03T16:00:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > I got my Masters degree, so now my university considers me an alumna even though I’m still enrolled in the PhD program, so they keep hitting me up from money. I presume the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, because the university sents me that paltry pay check every two weeks–they should know how poor I am. It’s entirely possible that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing; it’s also entirely possible that they do. Alumni participation rates (the percentage of alumni who donate) are **very** important to schools, so they’ll ask everyone for money. > [@](#): > > Interesting trivia: The plural of _alumna_ is _alumnae_, so a girl’s school celebrates its alumnae, not its alumni. You’ve touched on one of those controversial topics, particularly for formerly all-women’s colleges. _Alumni_ has come to be gender-neutral to most people. _Alumnae_ is still used by some schools. Others will use _alumnae/i_ or some variation, which I can’t stand. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/12 "2001-05-03T16:50:16Z")
However the UCLA Alumni Association’s casual membership standards means that their really is no particular benefit associated with joining the Alumni Association that you couldn’t get by joining some other type of social organization that had $45 a year dues. In theory saying your an alum is also supposed to help with business connections and other career-related matters. Not that being an actual graduate of UCLA is a small and exclusive club. I was an undergrad at UCLA and a grad student (Masters) at UC Berkeley. Both alumni associations ask me to join. A couple of weeks ago, I got credit card solicitations from both schools on the same day. In sporting events, I root for UCLA over Cal four out of every five years unless one school is having a particularly bad year and then I bail out and root for the other one. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/13 "2001-05-03T17:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > In sporting events, I root for UCLA over Cal four out of every five years unless one school is having a particularly bad year and then I bail out and root for the other one. How did you arrive at the 4:1 ratio? Length of time doesn’t work since you probably were at UCLA 4-5 years and UC Berkley 2-3 years. Number of courses/credits might be close. Value of the degree? Tuition costs? The fact that UCLA has a better athletic program? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-an-alumni/64174/14 "2001-05-03T17:47:44Z")
It only took one year for me to get my master’s degree. That’s just the way the program was set up. So for four years I root for UCLA and in one year I root for Cal. That usually works out to about how often Cal has a better year than UCLA in athletics.