<p>I know it probably sounds a little dumb and I've tried searching for the answer on my own but I've come across some conflicting information.</p>
<p>Not dumb at all. The confusion arises because in the US the term “college” is used more than one way. When one graduates from high school and “goes to college” it could be to a college or a university. In this usage all universities are colleges but not all colleges are universities. </p>
<p>A college that is not a university, typically a liberal arts college, will generally be focused on undergraduate education and will not have professional schools or Ph.D. programs. Universities typically do offer doctoral degrees and focus heavily on graduate research in addition to the undergrad education.</p>
<p>Now, no matter which definition of college or university you care to use, you can probably find an exception somewhere. For example, just within the Ivy League you can see differences in the way “college” is used. Functionally, all eight Ivy schools are universities. They all offer doctorates and nearly all have professional schools. But Dartmouth still styles itself as “Dartmouth College,” while Harvard is “Harvard University.” To confuse things even more, there is also a “Harvard College” - it is Harvard’s undergraduate school and is one of the 12 schools that together comprise Harvard University. </p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Also, generally speaking, divisions within a university are called colleges. But, sometimes they are called schools. This can even happen within one university. For example, at Cornell University there is a College of Ag. and Life Sciences, and a School of Hotel Administration. Some places aren’t even named college or university at all: MIT is Massachusetts Institute of Technology and RPI is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.</p>
<p>I know it’s confusing, but think of all of the “Joe’s Bar & Grill”, “Joe’s Diner”, “Joe’s Country Inn”, “Joe’s Restaurant”, etc. places out there. The exact name doesn’t matter all that much so long as you get fed.</p>
<p>The important thing is that wherever you study is fully accredited by one of the regional accrediting organizations. This should be right on the website of each college/university/fill-in-name-here.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! That makes sense. I was just a bit confused, because as you said, Dartmouth still calls itself a college when it has Tuck along with a few other schools. Now I know Brown offers graduate degrees, but it doesn’t have separate schools, does it?</p>