<p>I'm from canada, so i don't know anything about the whole college scene. </p>
<p>I was wondering are there different sets of colleges? i.e. community? or is it all the same?</p>
<p>I know that this differs in different parts of Canada but in the American system, the traditional student graduates from their secondary school at 18 and proceeds directly to a university. The terms college and university are used interchangeably here. That being said, there are different types of colleges that one could attend after graduating from high school. There are community colleges which tend not to be residential and are not prestigious in nature. As their name suggests, they fulfill the needs of a community. At the next level there are state universities, these are the bread and butter of the college experience. These range in size and prestige. Often people who weren't motivated in high school and could not merit entry into a state university will transfer after a year or two into one. In addition, there are private universities which run the gamut from the specialized teaching schools to liberal arts colleges to internationally recognized ivy league universities. After graduation from a university, people will either go on to professional or graduate study or enter the workforce.</p>