3 ms·

Universities are called 'universities' where I come from. In fact, I think only Americans call it college.

• DigitalSea 14y ago
  Oh wow, I did not know that.
• mxms 14y ago
  In America there are colleges, and there are universities. We usually refer to community colleges and state colleges as, well college. Then the Ivy League and prestigious universities, are, well referred to as universities. But they are pretty much used interchangeably. Don't stress the difference.
  • gregcohn 14y ago
    Yes, but "college" is still the generic form, as in, "Did you go to college?". In America, one would never answer that question, "No, I went to university."
• codemonkeymike 14y ago
  Colleges don't have PHD programs while Universities do, in America at least.
• argonaut 14y ago
  There's a lot of misconceptions here. In America, "university" and "college" are just about interchangeable. Yes, "university" does tend to imply a larger school and a school with a PhD program, with college implying the opposite, but this is not a rule and there are hundreds of exceptions. The only type of school that is exclusively called a "college" is the community college (small, local schools that only tend to serve a single city or county/province). But community colleges are widely agreed to be a big step below your typical college/university. "College" is sometimes used to refer to the undergraduate portion of a university. For example, there is Harvard University. But within Harvard University, undergraduates are actually members of "Harvard College," in exactly the sense that law students would be members of "Harvard Law School."