What do BU and Cal mean..?

<p>bluebayou.. i dont know about that with the UC = berkeley thing.
Ive never heard anyone say that they go to UC. If somebody says that tehy graduated from the university of california.. its because they dont want to reveal which campus it was.. which probably means one of the lesser ones. </p>

<p>Here in san francisco, we have UCSF. Everytime somebody refers to the hospital, they call it UC. While you're in san francisco, if you come across a med student, or ask your doctor, where they go (or went) to school, theyre likely to say "up at UC" (its on a hillside, hence the "up").
This is mostly because its just easier to say UC.. and everything here is SF, so it would be redundant anyhow. </p>

<p>the sushi restaurant a couple blocks away from the hospital/campus of UCSF changed its name form "we be sushi" to "you see sushi" a few years ago in homage to the high number of patrons who work or go to school at the university and are always referring to it as UC.</p>

<p>up until recently i just heard people call it UC-berkely, or more noteably simply Berkely.</p>

<p>and I dont care what anyone says though, i use UofM when talking about Univ. of Minnesota! even if sometimes they think i mean Michigan.</p>

<p>UofM is purely for in-state purposes. In Minnesota, it stands for the University of Minnesota, in Main, it stands for the University of Maine, in Montana, it stands for the University of Montana and in Michigan, it stands for the University of Michigan. In Missouri, the just say Mizou, in Massachusetts they usually say UMass and in Mississippi, they usually say Ole Miss. To people from most other states, when you say UofM, you usually get a blank look! LOL</p>

<p>One guy said UM = University of Miami, and I said, sorry buddy, UM = Michigan.</p>

<p>yeah but UofM doesnt have a catchy nickname, so people anywhere would probably refer to it as U"of"M (never used just UM).</p>

<p>Granted though because Michigan is so popular sometimes people think that but generally thats the only place they mistaken it for, because as you said, most of those other schools have some sort of nickname.</p>

<p>UMiami = Florida
MiamiU = Ohio</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What does EA mean? As in Harvard EA?</p></li>
<li><p>If LAC is Liberal Arts College. What does that mean more precisely? And why does everybody talk so badly about LAC's?</p></li>
<li><p>Sometimes I find Columbia referred to as CU. If I tell somebody about CU, what university will they think of?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you use the term postgraduate studies in the US (as I believe they do in the UK). Or do you just say graduate?</p></li>
<li><p>And finally, what exactly is the difference between a university and a college (sorry, I'm a foreigner).</p></li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li><p>EA=Early Action. This is similar to Early Decision, but it is non-binding. In other words, you get an admissions decision earlier, but you don't have to accept.</p></li>
<li><p>Liberal Arts Colleges generally offer only bachelors degrees, no graduate degrees. Please see other threads debating the merits of LACs.</p></li>
<li><p>I tend to think of Colorado.</p></li>
<li><p>I use the term graduate.</p></li>
<li><p>A university is a collection of colleges. For example, the University of Texas contains a college of engineering, a college of communications, a college of liberal arts, etc. Also, Oxford University is another example - it is made up of several colleges - Christ Church, Magdalen, Oriel, and many others.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Also, to get around some parts of this site, you should know that: </p>

<p>CC = this site
UW/W = unweighted/weighted (for GPA)
IB = investment banking
UM = another abbreviation for the University of Michigan</p>

<p>Usually on this site IB stands for International Baccalaureate.</p>

<p>usually investment banking is known as i-banking.</p>

<p>
[quote]
5. And finally, what exactly is the difference between a university and a college (sorry, I'm a foreigner).

[/quote]

Universities conduct research and grant undergraduate and graduate (including masters and doctoral) degrees, while colleges focus on undergraduates (occasionally grandting masters degrees).</p>

<p>
[quote]
what does CIT stand for? california institute of tech. or carnegie institute of tech.?

[/quote]

There used to be a Carnegie Institute of Technology before it merged in 1967 with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to make Carnegie Mellon University = CMU. I think CIT = California Institute of Technology, more commonly referred to as Caltech.</p>