<p>what is the difference between a college and a university?</p>
<p>I don't believe there is a clear cut defintion of either. In general, colleges tend to be smaller and undergrad focused (think of places like Amherst and Swartmore), while universities are larger, grant degrees on all levels, and do extensive research. Some places like Dartmouth are universities, but still called colleges due to their small size and undergrad focus. Colgate University on the other hand is more like a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that universities have multiple colleges with special focuses. They also have grad students.</p>
<p>colleges have no graduate program - i believe thats the difference, correct me if im wrong</p>
<p>This is from the Carleton site:</p>
<p>Colleges and Universities
How they're basically the same:</p>
<pre><code>* 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.
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<p>How they generally differ:</p>
<pre><code>* 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."
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<p>From US News -- Though the term "college" is commonly used to describe many types of post-secondary education, it is also used to describe a particular kind or subset of educational institution. "College" can be used to distinguish solely undergraduate institutions from those which also maintain graduate programs. Within a given school, its "colleges" may be its areas of study, like the "College of Arts and Sciences" or the "College of Architecture."</p>
<p>In order to call itself a " University" a school must offer a Bachelor, a Masters and finally a "Terminal" degree, e.g., PHD. (Just one terminal degree program is all that is necessary mind you), Allot of so-called "Universities" offer only one terminal degree and they many times will have only a few active terminal degree candidates. But! By the official criteria they linguistically are entitled to call themselves a University.</p>
<p>The term "University" is lately become nothing more than a marketing ploy.</p>
<p>Devry university!</p>
<p>I've heard that universities are schools that aside from undergrad also offer at least one higher degree.</p>
<p>For example Washington and Lee was a college until it added the law school, then it became a university.</p>