<p>Hi everybody! I am going to apply to Pomona through RD. I have a question though. What is the main difference between a college and an university?</p>
<p>I was reading old threads that compared Pomona to the Ivy Leagues. Something that kept coming up was "well so-and-so has to decide whether if he/she wants to attend a college or a university".</p>
<p>So what's the difference? I thought it was all the same......</p>
<p>Generally speaking - Universities have a grad school. Colleges tend to be smaller. But, in the US we tend to use them interchangably.</p>
<p>The advantage to a University is that you can take grad level classes in your major if that is appropriate, but Colleges tend to have more intimate classrooms.</p>
<p>These are generalizations, no need to give counter examples.</p>
<p>All undergraduate programs are at “colleges”. Liberal arts colleges (LACs) are institutions dedicated exclusively to undergradate (bacalaureate) education, i.e. the top professors are invested in teaching and mentoring (e.g. research) the undergraduates, whereas at universities, the top professors are often more invested in their graduate and postgraduate students. Universities are more apt to have huge class sizes, with teaching associates conducting the more intimate break-out groups. Many educators believe that elite LACs (e.g. Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, Pomona, etc.) do the best job, with universities being strongest for graduate and professional school.</p>
<p>Universities usually are comprised of colleges that are devoted to specialized subjects, e.g., liberal arts. Colleges can also have several schools under its wing - a college of fine arts can have schools of music, theatre, etc. That said, universities can also have schools that devoted to the study of just one topic, e.g., management/business, medicine. Even at Harvard University, undergrads attend Harvard College which is the undergraduate college.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your answers. I understand the difference a little better now. :)</p>