Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Why do some schools attach 'University' to the end of their name i.e. Harvard University and some put 'College' at the end of their name i.e. Boston College.

Is there any technical difference between the two. For some reason, 'University' on a schools name sounds more prestigious then just plain 'College'. What do you think?

By Me1 (Me1) on Thursday, November 06, 2003 - 11:22 pm: Edit

A university has a graduate school, while a college is just undergrad., right?

By Shennie (Shennie) on Friday, November 07, 2003 - 02:52 pm: Edit

Basically, a university is a collection of 2 or more colleges or schools. So a University may have a College of Letters and Science, an Engineering School and a Music Conservatory. Each of these schools or colleges could be seperate, but they all together form a university. Most universities offer graduate degrees, but not all. A college, on the other hand, only has one speciality. Most are liberal arts and sciences colleges. But there are also engineering colleges, business colleges, etc. Most colleges do not offer graduate degrees but some do.

By B18c1cx (B18c1cx) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 02:18 pm: Edit

What about Colgate University? It only has an undergraduate program in liberal arts & sciences. Shennie, what you said is generally true, but there are some random exceptions. I think a lot of schools are calling themselves "Universities" becuase it makes your institution sound bigger than it actually is.

By Ricanitalian69 (Ricanitalian69) on Sunday, November 09, 2003 - 05:17 pm: Edit

The following is an excerpt of the difference between a college and a university:

College or University - what is the difference?
In a global context, the words "college" and "university" can inspire confusion. Different countries use the same words to name different things. What is usually called a "college" in Europe is really more like the two-year institution called a "Community College" in the U.S.

In the United States, when you ask someone what differentiates the two, the first response is likely to be "not much."

How they're basically the same:

While many factors affect the quality of an institution, the same type of Baccalaureate or Bachelor's degrees can be conferred by both colleges and universities.
Admission requirements differ according only to selectivity-Highly ranked colleges are often more selective than universities.
Both colleges and universities can be either privately or publicly operated.
The phrase "going to college" is used to mean attending any university or college in the U.S.

How they generally differ:

Colleges tend to be smaller, with smaller class sizes and students receiving more personal attention from faculty.
Universities offer Masters and Doctorate degrees-requiring completion of the Bachelors degree first.
Universities tend to be larger, with faculty time and attention divided between research and teaching.
Some large Universities will have divisions named "The College of Liberal Arts" or the "College of Engineering."

So it pretty much differs between the % of faculty as well as how much research is conducted by the university (or from a college wishing to turn to a university). Hope this helps!

http://www.carleton.edu/intl/looking/difference.html