I know the initial question is very simplistic, so allow me to elaborate. I know that your educational system varies from state to state, county to country, city to city, etc., but I’m still pretty convinced you have more fundamental differences between you and other countries, and these are the ones I need to learn about. I would really like to write stories which involves a lot of high school and college knowledge in order to make it realistic, but proper answers are so hard to come by and people seem so offended at even answering when I ask other places, so I hope Reddit is the place. What I seek are big as well as miniscule details, really just anything and everything. Whatever you can provide, I will be eternally thankful for.
For example:
1: I read that you can sign up for college not even knowing what you want to study. How does this work? When you show up at college for the first day, is that when you go to pick a class? Do you do it prior? What-.. how?
2: What types of classes do college offer? I know it must depend on what department you.. focus on, but.. can you choose classes between different departments, like science, humanities, art, etc? Are you forced on one specific path or how free is your system in terms of choices?
3: From what I understand, college is quite different from university and functions as a gateway education prior to being able to enter university. Can you elaborate? How does the specific college you’re at affect your eligibility for your dream education at a university? I know they say community college doesn’t get you as far as some high-ranking college.
4: How are college classes different? Do you usually enter a regular class-room like in HS or do you tend to use auditoriums? Yes, I’m sure it differs, but what is more common?
5: How does the college grade system work? How often are you graded and how? Is it through regular written tests, written exams or oral exams, or how?
6: Do you call the college teachers “teachers” or professors?
7: How does the college authority system work? Instead of principals and vice principals, is it deans instead? What about the school counselor, what are they called instead? Etc., etc.
If there is anything else you can tell me too, please do! Because your system IS fundamentally different from my own (Danish), and I know there are of course limitations to how much I can describe the American college system before it stops sounding American anymore, no matter how many differences everyone keeps insisting there are between states, counties, cities, etc. If I described the Danish college/university system (for example, we don’t exactly have colleges, and you can go directly from HS to university, etc.), an American wouldn’t recognize it as an American system anymore, lol.
Thanks for all the help you can give!
34 comments
You have a lot more freedom in college. You can freely (well, if it isn’t against the syllabus) skip class, no asking to use the bathroom, can come to class late without getting into trouble (different professors may have rules for this though) and can take classes at any time of the day (night classes being a great perk).
At the end of the day, you’re responsible for what you do and teachers don’t have to worry about you as an individual passing or failing like they tend to do in high school.
Good lord, wouldn’t it be more lucrative to write a novel?
1. The expectation, in general, is that higher education provides a broad liberal arts education to students. Some people enter knowing what they want to study, so they take coursework in those fields. Some people do not, so they take a bunch of different classes. In general, people are required to take a lot of different classes to graduate, like at my uni I had to take a year of math, two years of foreign language, a year of science classes (any science), a year of history, a year of English… probably some more I don’t remember. This is all in addition to my major, although obviously coursework for your major can fulfill these general education requirements.
2. For the most part, undergraduate classes are available to everyone. For advanced classes, there are pre-requisites, like you can’t take advanced economics without having prior coursework in that area. Can’t take gigantic brain math without taking some easier courses.
3. College and university are generally used interchangeably. Technically, universities also grant graduate degrees while colleges only offer coursework for undergraduates, that is, bachelors degrees. You might be thinking of community college, specifically, which usually offer two year degrees. People often take this option because it’s cheaper, and you can then transfer to a traditional four year university and finish up a bachelors degree.
4. really depends on the class. I took big classes, usually the general education requirements, with hundreds of students. I also took a class on John Milton that had about six people in it.
5. Depends 100% on the specific school and professor.
6. Professors. I mean, they are teachers, but you usually address them as professor lastname or doctor lastname. Sometimes they’ll invite students to call them by their first names but I would usually default to title + last name unless prompted otherwise.
>1: I read that you can sign up for college not even knowing what you want to study. How does this work? When you show up at college for the first day, is that when you go to pick a class? Do you do it prior? What-.. how?
Yes you can be undecided when you start college, you typically need to pick a major by the end of the second year. All majors have similar pre requisite classes like math, history, english and such, these can be taken in the first two years while deciding what you want to major in. You select your classes ahead of time, there is a date where everyone of a particular group (freshmen for example would be one group) will pick their classes for that semester.
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>2: What types of classes do college offer? I know it must depend on what department you.. focus on, but.. can you choose classes between different departments, like science, humanities, art, etc? Are you forced on one specific path or how free is your system in terms of choices?
Each degree will have its own requirements for what classes you must take. Typically there are standard classes such as math, english and history. There is usually a bit of freedom in what exact class you want to take to fulfil that requirement though, like US history or Ancient civilizations. Most degrees share basic classes like these then in the last 2 years you really dive into your specific major classes.
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>3: From what I understand, college is quite different from university and functions as a gateway education prior to being able to enter university. Can you elaborate? How does the specific college you’re at affect your eligibility for your dream education at a university? I know they say community college doesn’t get you as far as some high-ranking college.
College and university are essentially the same in the US. A university typically offers post graduate degree programs as well but as for experience its basically the same. Community college is a bit different though, they typically only offer 2 year degrees and usually do not have housing on campus like colleges and universities have.
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>4: How are college classes different? Do you usually enter a regular class-room like in HS or do you tend to use auditoriums? Yes, I’m sure it differs, but what is more common?
Varies widely. I have been in both of these at the same school. Generally the class that is an intro to a particular subject will be in a larger classroom and as you get more specific the classes get smaller.
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>5: How does the college grade system work? How often are you graded and how? Is it through regular written tests, written exams or oral exams, or how?
Written tests, homework, attendance … all can be used. Grade system is no different than high school except some classes may grade on a curve.
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>6: Do you call the college teachers “teachers” or professors?
Professor
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>7: How does the college authority system work? Instead of principals and vice principals, is it deans instead? What about the school counselor, what are they called instead? Etc., etc.
Yes. Councilors are called councilors
This post isn’t long enough.
I’d encourage writing what you know than what you don’t
College and university is not training for a specific job. It’s an education. Nearly every degree has general ed requirements and it’s easy to spend 2-4 semesters without a declared major.
We do have technical schools, apprenticeships and community college that do train you for a specific line of work.
College and university are interchangeable in common use.
So college/university are the same thing. Technically, when people refer to college, they mean getting an undergraduate degree. There are some independent colleges, but many/most are part of a university (that also may contain more specialized schools like engineering, nursing, and graduate masters/PhD programs, law school, medical school, business school, etc.)
1. Most American colleges/universities have “distribution requirements” and “major requirements” necessary to graduate. You typically spend the first year or two completing courses in a wide array of subjects to become well rounded and gain exposure to areas of possible interest. So you might have to take 2 math courses, 2 science courses, 2 social science, 2 literature/culture, and so on no matter whether you plan to major in English Literature or Chemistry. You can wait until the end of your second year to declare your major (concentration) and then focus on those courses your third and fourth years. When I was in college, we learned how to read the course guide, determine our schedule, and register for classes during our freshman orientation week.
2. Colleges offer a wide array of courses that can depend on size of school, financial means of school, interest levels, etc.
3. see above (first paragraph)
4. College courses are often a variety of class size. Some are small, some are large auditoriums. Sometimes there are classes that are hybrid, like 2 large lectures/week and one small discussion group/week.
5. grading varies by class, by subject, by teacher.
6. professor or doctor
7. Deans, but less authority/control than high school. Many professors don’t care if you attend class or not, but participation grade will be hurt. But it’s much more independent and on the student to manage their time, attendance, etc.
Similar to high school, most colleges require undergraduate students to take some general courses in order to graduate – usually humanities, math, science, sometimes language – in addition to their specific course of study (referred to as a “major”). So most students will fill their first year with those general courses and then decide what major to pursue. Graduate school is different – you have to enroll in a specific degree program from the start. And some undergrads know exactly what they want to do from the start.
In the US “college” and “university” are often used interchangeably. Generally university indicates a larger institution that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees, whereas a college only offers undergraduate programs.
College classes vary in size and format, from large auditoriums (usually for into-level classes that lots of students take) to regular classrooms to small groups (for the most niche or high-level courses). Likewise grading varies by the subject and the professor’s pedagogical preferences.
Professional teachers are generally referred to as professors. Some courses are taught by graduate students who aren’t professors.
In general the biggest differences between public high school and college/university are that it costs money and you have to apply for admission (although private high schools charge tuition and have admission requirements).
>I read that you can sign up for college not even knowing what you want to study. How does this work? When you show up at college for the first day, is that when you go to pick a class? Do you do it prior? What-.. how?
You take general education courses and core classes that are prerequisites for multiple degrees. This way when you do finally settle on a degree you’ve already technically made progress in it.
>What types of classes do college offer? I know it must depend on what department you.. focus on, but.. can you choose classes between different departments, like science, humanities, art, etc? Are you forced on one specific path or how free is your system in terms of choices?
You’re free to enroll in whatever classes you want. Something outside your field that sounds interesting? Sign up. You won’t get anything tangible out of it, but nothing’s stopping you.
>From what I understand, college is quite different from university and functions as a gateway education prior to being able to enter university. Can you elaborate? How does the specific college you’re at affect your eligibility for your dream education at a university? I know they say community college doesn’t get you as far as some high-ranking college.
Universities are collections of colleges.
You’re a *student* at Florida State University, but you *attend* the Florida State University College of Business. Or whatever is relevant to your field of study.
>How are college classes different? Do you usually enter a regular class-room like in HS or do you tend to use auditoriums? Yes, I’m sure it differs, but what is more common?
Most of my classes were regular classrooms.
>How does the college grade system work? How often are you graded and how? Is it through regular written tests, written exams or oral exams, or how?
Typically written tests. The only classes you’ll really see oral exams are public speaking or speech communication.
You receive a grade at the end of class, however long that class is, which is a culmination of all of the grades you’ve received in that class from assignments, tests, and projects.
>Do you call the college teachers “teachers” or professors?
Professors are addressed as professor. Doctors are addressed as doctor. Though this is entirely up to the individual.
>How does the college authority system work? Instead of principals and vice principals, is it deans instead? What about the school counselor, what are they called instead? Etc., etc.
Here’s a good example of the [administrative hierarchy.](https://s3.amazonaws.com/thumbnails.thecrimson.com/photos/2013/10/16/022524_1290495.jpg.2000x1292_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg).
Counselors don’t have any specific title. Mr./Mrs./Ms. are all fine.
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First off, I’ll tackle the third question you asked: college/university are used interchangeably here. It is *very* common for people to say “I went to college” or even more specifically answering “where did you go to college?” With: “The University of Arizona” or “Arizona State University”. There other nuances like “I’m in the teachers college at X university” or “I have a degree from the Ira A Fulton School of Engineering” (which is at and apart of Arizona State University). Feel free to dive deeper into those weeds at your own risk. Community colleges are two year degree programs that are different from university but offer lesser degrees upon completion and generally fulfill the requirements to transfer into the latter half of a four year program. Basically: College = University unless you’re talking about community college, in which case college !=university.
Secondly, the vast majority of freshman entering into a 4 year degree have either A. Declared a major, B. Need to take prerequisite courses to be admitted to a major, or C. Are undeclared like you mentioned. However ALL of them, unless they’ve done so beforehand either in high school or at a local community college, need to take general education courses which usually consumes the first two years of their degree. They’re required, but you can pick and choose electives.
Universities offer classes in pretty much anything/everything you can imagine, though your choices are limited/expanded based on the school itself. For example, I know plenty of people that took snowboarding class, ballroom dancing, target shooting, etc. as electives. Elective courses are what the name implies: elective. Courses often those of which you’re required to have credit for, but it doesn’t matter what it’s in. Some programs are more restrictive as to how many/which electives you can choose from, but they’re the students choice.
On your “first day” you don’t really need anything because the first week is commonly referred to as “syllabus week” where the instructer will just go over the general basics of the class. After that you take what you need for the classes you have on that day. If you start on a Monday and have Algebra/Calculus you should probably bring a calculator. On Tuesdays if you have an English course, it’s probably wise to bring a notepad/laptop. So on and so forth.
At major universities (20,000+ students) College classrooms differ depending on how common the course is and the number of students in the course. For general studies they are typically massive (200-500 students) and are offered in auditoriums to accommodate the size. As you get further along in the degree programs typically the class size gets smaller and smaller to where you’re sitting in regular classrooms with 10-50 people, or just smaller auditoriums.
Grading is specific to each university, sometimes up to the state level for public schools, but often to each college itself. 99% use the 0-4.00 grading system (4.00 being the highest level of achievement), some universities use a ranking/curve system of grades, and some professors grade their individual courses specifically to whatever style they want. For example, class A. Could be the standard A-F with cutoffs at the 90, 80, 70, 60, <50 percentages of the grades earned on assignments. It’s not unheard of for some professors to have 100-93 = A 83-92.99 = B, 77-82.99 = C 70-76.99 = D, anything less is an F. There are too many different styles to list, but you get the gist.
Instructors are usually either A. Full tenured professors, B. Associate professors, C. Graduate/PhD. Students, or D. Adjunct professors. It’s different for each individual course, I often had TA’s (grad students) teach lower level courses and the professors themselves taught the higher level courses. Of course this is not a one-size fits all, it’s different at ever college, every major in those colleges, and every professor who teaches those courses.
Finally – Jesus this is long -, the “authority generally works like this: there is a president of the university, who is as the name implies, in charge of the whole university. Then there deans of the individual colleges/schools within the university (engineering, humanities, architecture, etc), professors that make up different departments within those individual colleges (think industrial engineering department vs civil engineering department, though this widely depends on how big the college is to begin with, smaller ones don’t need different structures and are lumped together).
Basically, if a student has an issue they take it up with their professor. If the issue is big enough it makes it’s way up to the department head, then the dean, if the issue is so big (think news worthy story) the president will get involved. I would say that 99.99% of the time the only interaction a student would have with faculty are with the professors/department heads. The only time someone might actually have an interaction with a university president is at graduation, or for a specific reason outside of school. Fun story, I once sat next to my university’s president on an airplane after I had already graduated. Other than that I’ve only ever saw him at my commencement.
Wheew, that was a doozy.
High school and college are *completely* different. Aside from both being “school” it would be easier to list the ways they are similar.
1. I believe what you’re referring to is not starting college with a declared major (or declared “undecided”). Yes, that is common. In many cases, you are not even allowed to declare a major in your first semester or even your first year. Even if you are decided, you still need to pick all of your classes (and this is done long before your first day). Most American universities follow the liberal arts tradition of education, in which most students are required to take entry-level classes in a variety of subjects; these are typically completed in the first year, and gives those students who are undecided a chance to choose a specialization.
2. All the classes. As a student you are free to take whatever classes you want, regardless of whether or not they contribute to your chosen degree. Even if you’re studying engineering, you can take underwater basket-weaving if you want to. They call it a “four-year degree” but you can finish it in as many years as you want, as long as you pay tuition for your classes.
3. You understand incorrectly. **In the United States, “college” is almost always a colloquial term for “University.”** The system you describe is, to my knowledge, common in the UK but unheard of in the US.
4. It depends on the class. Some classes are taught in huge lecture halls, some are taught in normal classrooms.
5. Again, depends entirely on the class. Final exams and term papers tend to be a larger portion of grades than in high school, but there also might be regular assignments and tests.
6. Professor, almost always.
7. Yes, “dean” is the typical title for a university administrator. Counselors are still called counselors.
4. We had a lot of different sorts of rooms for different kinds of classes in college. I guess the default would be sort of a regular classroom with desks and chairs, but larger lectures were in auditoriums, labs were in different laboratories that were specialized to the field, some classes were in studios with big work tables, some in rooms with a lot of computers. For the same course, you might have lecture in an auditorium and then the class would be broken up into smaller groups that meet at different times in classrooms for discussion and in-depth study or in laboratories for lab work. I also had a few classes that met in sort of cozy little lounge rooms, where the expectation was to participate in discussion rather than try to take notes.
We had the same variety of different rooms in high school, but to a lesser extent. The science labs were more general and simple and there was only one auditorium which only a few classes used.
I started College(University) as a Poetry major and ended in Business Info Technology(programming). In some ways, your major is not as important in the first year because you will be taking General courses for most majors. Engineering is different. Business as well. English was reading and writing whereas business was more tests and projects.
One thing is– college and high schools are VERY individual. Public schools have to teach EVERYONE. From non-verbal disable children with 1 on 1 aides to gifted students.
There are some high schools that are SO advanced they trump what I was doing in college (at a medium-low competitive college – they accept about 60-65% of applicants).
So while people will have opinions – going to Harvard is way different than going to Arizona State.
A comprehensive answer to this question could be as long as a book.
We use college and university basically interchangeably.
There are absolutely shit high schools and shit colleges. There are amazing high schools and amazing colleges.
1. You can be undecided. Mostly when this happens you have to take some general education classes–a math, a science, a history, etc. We all signed up for classes at the same time before the semester starts, through an online portal. Classes that are popular you might try to sign up for early before all the spots fill.
2. I’d recommend checking the website of an actual college if you want a detailed answer. [Here is NYU for example](https://www.nyu.edu/academics/academic-programs.html). The short answer is most colleges will offer a broad range of classes across a broad range of subject areas. Generally speaking, you have to take some courses to satisfy the requirements of your degree/major, but then you get to take electives which are more flexible and can be in areas of interest.
3. Not in the US. In the US, college and university are generally used interchangeably to refer to a tertiary level of schooling. There are differences between a college and university but for everyday discussion, if someone says they’re in college it’s generally understood that they mean university level.
4. Some college classes, especially the big intro ones like Biology 101 may be in a big lecture hall with hundreds of students. Some smaller classes take place in “normal sized” classrooms. I’ve had small classes that had 10 people sat around a big conference table.
5. Each class will have its own system but usually you can expect a combination of weekly assignments, periodic exams, big essays or projects, and class participation to be factored into an overall grade.
6. You might address a professor as “Professor” or “Professor Surname” but I’ve also had professors who introduced themselves by their first name and were happy for us to call them that
7. There are deans yes. My counselor in school was my academic advisor but they weren’t an authority figure, they were just the person that looked after me and made sure I was taking all the classes and getting the credits needed to graduate.
I would caution against writing about a place you’ve never lived and don’t really know much about, but that’s your call.
The purpose of the higher education system here is generally not just to prepare someone for a specific job, but to do that while also providing a generalized education in a variety of subjects. Someone majoring (a major is what we call your “specification”) in Engineering will still have to take courses on literature and writing or foreign language. Someone majoring in Journalism will still have to take courses on math and science. There is often a mixture of required courses for all students, or for all students of a specific major, and courses that can be chosen between. There are restrictions based on major or prerequisite courses that will be specific to each college, and these structures will differ between schools.
Because of the concept of a broad “liberal arts” education it’s often possible for students to do their first year or two just getting general education (gen eds) credits out of the way without declaring a major, or by declaring one and then changing it later on, sometimes multiple times. Grades, exams, and stuff like that differs from college to college, class to class, and professor to professor. Yes we call them professors. Often there is some sort of large project that you have to complete in order to earn a Bachelor’s degree or higher (a thesis for a Master’s or a dissertation for a Doctorate degree). I did a 20ish page research paper as my senior “capstone” project for my Bachelor’s degree on a topic that I chose which related to my major.
In common parlance we use the words college and university interchangeably. A university might be made up of different colleges with varying degrees of specificity. My university has a college of engineering, a college of art/design and architecture, a college of liberal arts/humanities, a college of business, etc. They operate sorta independently, but also not. These structures will differ from college to college.
This is a course catalog at my University that shows majors that are offered and what courses fall under those programs: https://bulletin.temple.edu/courses/
College and university are identical for most functions. Also, the classes offered in your undergraduate program are entirely dependent on your major. If my major is sociology, I likely won’t be in a program that offers advanced welding or thermodynamics. The same is true where if I’m in a program for nursing, I likely won’t be offered courses in terrestrial and celestial navigation.
Here’s a few other tidbits about college vs high school for you, in no particular order.
In high school, all students will be attending classes during the same school day. It’s usually something like 8am-3pm every day. You’ll have a few options for courses, but your day will look pretty similar to other students. In a lot of schools, you don’t have much control over which teachers and schedule you have. (So you might be able to pick whether you take English or Honors English, but you could get assigned to any English teacher and any time slot.) Other high schools give you a little more flexibility, but it varies.
College is more of a free-for-all when it comes to classes and schedules. You usually sign up for the classes you want at the times you want. You are often only in the classroom about 12-15 hours a week instead of 30+, so you might have classes on just a few days a week, just in the mornings, or scattered throughout the day. You have a lot of control over your schedule. (Although if you are in a small program that isn’t always true. Sometimes there is only one time available for each class, so you have to take it when it is there.)
In college, big exams, projects, presentations, or essays are usually more important to your final grade, and classroom attendance and daily homework is less important.
Some college classes any student can sign up for. Some of them you need to have taken other courses first. Some are only open to people who are in the right major. (Major=emphasis of study)
Some majors anyone can sign up for. Other majors you need to apply for after you’ve started college. If it is a competitive major, it is common (or at least in my university it was) for people to apply during their first year, and then again during their second year if they didn’t get in the first time. After two years, if they didn’t get the major they liked, they could either a) take open enrollment courses for another year and try again, possibly delaying graduation, b) transfer to a different school, or c) pick an open enrollment major.
Classes in college can take a few forms. Standard classes might have 20-40 people in a classroom with a professor. Lecture classes (more common in early college) have bigger classes—anywhere from 80-1000. You don’t really interact with your professor much, just show up and listen. Any homework or exams will be graded by assistants. Some classes (standard or lecture) also have lab hours. For these classes, you’ll go to the standard/lecture class like normal and then also have assigned hours in a different room with a smaller group of classmates to do more hands on work. This is especially common in science classes where you are going to do literal labwork, but it can happen in other classes too. Another form of class is a capstone/collaborative class, where about 4-12 students meet for a more personalized learning experience. Usually the group does a bigger project together or each group member will be doing their own big project throughout the semester. The professor acts more as a mentor instead of just teaching lessons. These are common at the end of a program, right before graduating.
Along with your major, you can also get a minor (or sometimes multiple minors). This is essentially a secondary field of study that you only take a few classes in. You might do something that is related to your major to make your degree stand out or get specific skills, like getting a cyber security minor to go with your computer science major. You might go for something that gives you a totally different skill set that’s useful. Lots of people get minors in Spanish or another language because speaking a second language is useful in any field. Or you might get a minor that is just an excuse to take some more relaxing/personally enriching classes, like a music or art minor. The minor I got in college required me to take two extra classes a year for my last three years, and that is pretty normal. There is usually some extra room in your course load so that people can get minors, retake a class they’ve failed, or change their majors without delaying graduation. (Although you usually can’t change your major once you’ve completed enough, or at least not easily.)
College is four years, but it is generally split into 8 semesters, with a whole new set of classes each time. Some colleges also offer an extra semester in the summer so that you can graduate faster by taking summer classes.
Generally, tuition is a flat rate for full time students no matter how many classes you are taking. If you are only part time, you will pay by the class.
1. Our bachelor’s degrees from college/university require a broad collection of general studies that aren’t directly related to your major. About half of your coursework you will be doing with people from all sorts of different backgrounds with completely different fields of study and majors. This is by design, with the idea rooted in classic “liberal arts” education where the premise is that to be really great in your field you need a broad education that includes a decent shared background with other educated folks about history, communication, mathematics, etc. So, you can easily just start out with those general courses and leave the major specific stuff for later on down the road as you explore different classes and fields that will still count towards “general education credits.”
2. Generally, most majors will require a certain number of total hours of courses taken from a list of classes related to your major, but you have some choice in which ones you decide to take and there are more choices than there are credit hour requirements. I was a business major and my area of interest is in CX and process development, so for example, I chose to take some courses regarding management concepts in larger companies but skipped out on some courses about small business management (which really wouldn’t be as useful for my chosen direction). There are also specific classes that you absolutely HAVE to take to graduate with a certain major as well. To graduate with a degree you also need a certain number of hours of “general education” courses that, for the most part, you can freely choose depending on your own interests. These could be anything from Calculus to Crossfit. Now, just like the requirements for a major, there are also *some* classes that will be required for general education credits as well (like a lot of the “101” courses you have probably heard americans talk about.)
3. No, that’s not accurate. However, we do have associate degrees, which are 2 year degrees instead of 4. These can either be more generalist in nature, or sometimes they can be the opposite and are much more focused on specific skill sets. For example, before I went back and got my degree in business, I had an associate’s degree in “Computer Networking and Administration.” I think what you’re thinking of are ***community colleges***, which are usually smaller colleges that often *only* offer an associates degree, but are cheaper than traditional college and a much more “bare bones” experience.
4. 100% depends on the college and the course.
5. However the professor has set up their grading system. I had all kinds of different grading systems, from courses that were entirely structured around a single weekly online test, to essays, online simulations, class participation, etc etc. There’s a lot of variance so it’s hard to give a straight answer here.
6. Professors
7. I dunno, I never interacted with any of these people at all. I legitimately don’t know how any of that works.
1. Every college is different. Each one can do whatever it wants, ranging from “choose all your classes before setting foot on campus” to “have two weeks of exploring and go to every class you feel like and register whenever you want and keep the ability to drop it or add another one for 8+ weeks.” My college was the latter – we didn’t register for classes until at least 2 weeks into each term. It was very very difficult for the college, logistically.
2. You’ll have some classes, or a list of options, that relate to your major. Many, not all, colleges have a “general education” requirement that means english majors have to take at least one math class. And then you’ll have free “slots” where you can take more or less anything you want. Some classes at some schools are only open to people majoring in that subject.
3. College and university are the same thing. University generally just means there are more graduate programs, for people who want to continue on with more degrees after getting the basic bachelor’s degree. You go to college, whether or not your college identifies itself as “a university.”
4. Classes are extremely varied. Some classes will be you, three other students, and a professor sitting in the professor’s home library. Others will be you and 15 other students sitting around a table in a small classroom. Others will be you and 300 other students in an auditorium. Many of the auditorium style classes have sessions where it’s you and 15 other students around a table, with a grad student, talking about the auditorium lectures from yesterday. Many grad students earn their living, while in grad school, doing this kind of thing.
5. Every class is different. You might write one paper at the end, get an A, and that’s your grade for the course. You might have to do problem sets every week. You might have to take multiple exams, or no exams.
6. Usually you call them professors. You may refer to them, in class, as “professor X” or “doctor X” if you know they have a doctorate. Some may ask to be called by their first name. It’s up to each professor. “Mr. Jones” (like in high school) is relatively rare in my experience but who knows what other experiences people have had.
7. It’s basically deans for academic stuff. Counselors and so on are usually called “advisors” and you may have several of them for different reasons, but you might have “counselors” too. If you live in a dorm there is probably a special authority structure for the dorm, or for all the dorms combined.
Not sure what else you want to know. This is a vast topic and asking people for “anything else” is rather vague…. but good luck!
College is University in the US.
The difference is that Universities tend to be much larger that colleges, tend to offer more degrees, tend to offer more advanced degrees and often does a lot more research.
Of course colleges can do all that too technically.
I think you’re confusing “college” with ”community colleges” which often only offer 2 year degrees and certifications in various trades. Community colleges are often a popular stepping stone because they’re often much cheaper and you can get some of the course material out of the way.
1- you pick your classes you want to take and hope to god, at the exact second you can register, you get it. Preferably towards your major or general education classes. If you don’t get it you pick something else. It’s stressful because you don’t wanna get stuck with a shit class. Like my 1st semester I took cryptology. It was dope as fuck
2- yeah I was a business major and took theater design (using autocad), cryptology, Cold War lit, American war history, and some other classes
3- college means university here. You have it the opposite. University and college in canada and other places actually make the distinction. That said, literally universities are comprised of multiple colleges. But colloquially we call them the same thing
4- they’re not really all that different imo, just a bit faster. I didn’t think they were that much harder until you got towards hell week/finals
5- I’ll be honest I’m too lazy to explain but it goes from 0-4, where they correspond A-F grading and percentages. You can actually look the conversions up online
6- I called them by their name usually
7- President or dean (I can’t believe I forget which lol). As for school counselors you have guidance counselors, ra’s, security and other people but I don’t quite remember all of them tbh… sorry
You have more control over your life than in High School. There is no such thing as truancy, you attend class or not as you choose and you pay for your own laziness in your grades. There is no stupid and poisonous social competition. If you want to be left alone you will be. College tends to be better equipped (Mt Hood Community which was a rather hokey little place had a two story library, a fishpond and a hiking trail). On the other hand you have to pay for textbooks and as the college chooses your textbooks and prices them it is a racket Michael Corleone would approve of. There is more emphasis on lectures and preparing for tests and less on “busy work”. In general there are a lot of things I don’t like about the system but I have to say they treated me like an adult. My professors were decent people and unlike the caricature I was raised with were not intolerant. As long as I made it clear I knew what the book said, they did not mind if I disaggreed (one time I made a point of making a side note saying in effect “that’s not really what I think” on a test and got back from the professor a reply “I think I understand”). You could carry on intellectual conversations with professors and if they thought you simplistic they were polite enough not to say so. Whereas High Schools are in proportion rather regimentalized. I must not carry that to far (my High School was not like Capt. Von Trapp with his Bosun’s Whistle in Sound of Music). But they did make you stick more to a formula.
If you’re writing a novel, rather than try to get it all right at the front end, you could also try writing it with what you know now and then have someone try to fix it after the fact – that’s a smaller, more defined task. Maybe have an American beta reader help you make it feel more realistic.
Others have answered this in detail, but I’ll add a few things:
1) Schools might have a policy requiring you to declare a major by the end of your second year, but first year students often get try out different classes to see what they want to do. It’s also very common for students to change majors early on.
3) I don’t know who told you this, but they’re so wrong that I’m struggling to know where to start. This is part of the reason I think it might be helpful to figure out what you want to write first and then focus your questions only on what your story is about, rather than try to teach yourself about the American college experience via Reddit comments.
4) Some classrooms for smaller classes resemble high school classrooms, and then others for bigger classes look like an auditorium.
6) You’d never call a college or university level instructor a “teacher”. If they have a PhD, you’d call them “Doctor” or “Professor”. A LOT of teaching is done by graduate students, and they’re generally just called by their first names and referred to as TAs (teaching assistants).
1. You can start with General Education/Studies, and you can also change your major. In the beginning most people primarily take their general classes as well as a few 100/200 level courses for their major. You pick your classes over the summer, before the semester starts.
2. You have to get approximately 120 credit hours to get a bachelors degree. Each standard course is 3 credits (typically. Labs are 1, and some schools may have something slightly different.) You have to take general requirements like math, science, and humanities, and then core requirements for your major, a minor (if applicable), and some electives. You have some choices within that. For example, if you need 6 math credits, an engineering major might take Calculus I and II, but a business major might take pre-calculus and stats.
3. College and university are used interchangeably. Community college or junior college are different. If you just say “I’m a college student” it is assumed that you go to a university.
4. This depends on the school. Small schools may have a classroom but large universities will tend to be more of a lecture hall, but it also may depend on the class.
5. Typically on a 10 point scale. Your final grade is at the end of the semester. An A (90 percent or more on a 10 point scale) is a 4.0, B (80-80 percent) is a 3.0, C is a 2.0, etc. It factors into your semesterly and final grade point average (GPA).
6. Professor
7. You would have a dean of a department and I think there is a president sort of like there is a CEO of a corporation, but honestly I never paid any attention to that kind of hierarchy because it had zero impact on me. I wouldn’t have recognized most of those people if they were right in front of me. No idea about a counselor. If we had one, I didn’t know they existed and wouldn’t know off the top of my head what they were called.
1. You generally choose a major (area of study) when applying for college/university (to answer 3, those are the same as other people have said.) You can change later on once you’re in, with the awareness that depending on what you change to/from this can extend how long it takes to get a degree, and with some restrictions based on majors – for example, at my university (which had a big and semi-prestigious engineering program), anyone could transfer majors to any non-engineering major automatically, but getting into engineering required a specific application and approval by engineering administration.
2. Depends on the college. Small colleges might have a more limited field of subjects available, but big state universities (as in run by the state) generally have pretty much everything you could imagine. There are a lot of general classes that anyone with the schedule time can take, but most majors have more restrictive classes later on only for that major, and if a major is extremely popular (again, going back to engineering at my school) even the early classes might be restricted to majors only.
3. As above, same thing. Some universities will divide their subjects into “Colleges” (ex: College of Engineering, College of Sciences, College of Mathematics, etc.), but that’s just a way to say Department of Engineering, etc., especially if you need more sub-levels (College of Engineering -> Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Sciences -> Department of Biology, etc.)
4. Varies by class. English 101 that every student has to take? 600 students in a giant auditorium or theater. Senior-level advanced course with years of prerequisites in a major without a lot of students? 10 people in a half-empty small classroom.
5. Varies by instructor, but IME (mechanical engineering) it usually would look something like 10-15% homework, 2x “midterm” exams (written, oral exams aren’t much of a thing here) worth 20-25% each, a final exam worth 25-30%, and a final project worth the remainder, 10-25%ish. Like I said, this varied a lot. Some classes, no final exam and 3 midterms. Some classes, 10% was class participation.
6. Depends on who the instructor is. A lot of classes at bigger schools get taught by “teaching assistants” (TAs), who are generally grad students. Some instructors don’t have a full professorship, so they’re technically not professor, but students are going to call anyone with a doctorate professor. General term for all of them is instructor, not teacher, that’s for primary/secondary education only. Generally, it goes something like this, for an instructor named Zachary Smith:
* They have a doctorate: Professor Smith, Dr. Smith
* TA or no doctorate: Mr./Mrs./Ms. Smith
* Young TA who’s pretty chill: Zach
7. The following is for big schools like major state universities: Generally, the big guy at the top is the chancellor. They’re in charge of the whole shebang, and don’t involve themselves in the affairs of individual departments. The head of each department (or “college” if it’s like how I detailed in #3) is the Dean – Dean of Engineering, Dean of Sciences. If there are subdepartments, those might have Associate Deans (Associate Dean of Mechanical Engineering.) Below them are the professors and other instructors (and there’s all kinds of stuff involving tenured vs. tenure track vs. non-tenured that I don’t know enough about to go into.) Each professor, if they’re involved in research, probably has multiple graduate students working for them, who might also be TAs for classes under that professor’s purview.
Lots of questions so I’ll answer one. “College” and “university” mean the same thing in this context. A college is an institution that teaches students whose most recent education was finishing a high school. A university does the same thing but also teaches graduate students- people who have finished college and are doing advanced study for a masters degree or PhD. After high school you can go to college but you might do it at a “college” or a “university”. Most big state schools are universities but most of their students are at the college level. Community colleges tend to be smaller and usually only award an “associates” degree for two years of study and mostly teach more practical and specific job focused subjects. Some community students stop at the two year degree and get jobs and some transfer to four-year colleges after two years at community college.
More freedom
>1: I read that you can sign up for college not even knowing what you want to study. How does this work? When you show up at college for the first day, is that when you go to pick a class? Do you do it prior? What-.. how?
You can sign up for most Universities not knowing what you want to study. It’s usually called Open Studies, or GEneral Studies. Most Universities throught the US and Canada have that option.
>2: What types of classes do college offer? I know it must depend on what department you.. focus on, but.. can you choose classes between different departments, like science, humanities, art, etc? Are you forced on one specific path or how free is your system in terms of choices?
Different schools have different policies. If it is more of a vocational program you likely won’t have much ability to take unrelated classes. If you are in a general diploma program it is usually more likely. It really depends on the program.
>3: From what I understand, college is quite different from university and functions as a gateway education prior to being able to enter university. Can you elaborate? How does the specific college you’re at affect your eligibility for your dream education at a university? I know they say community college doesn’t get you as far as some high-ranking college.
They usually focus on different paths. Colleges usually offer vocational training (ie: trades), or 2 year diplomas. Universities offer 4 year degree programs. They’re just different.
>4: How are college classes different? Do you usually enter a regular class-room like in HS or do you tend to use auditoriums? Yes, I’m sure it differs, but what is more common?
They aren’t very different from University classes.
>5: How does the college grade system work? How often are you graded and how? Is it through regular written tests, written exams or oral exams, or how?
Entirely depends on the program, and the school to an extent.
>6: Do you call the college teachers “teachers” or professors?
It’s usually up to the Professor/Teacher. Some of them are doctorates, others aren’t.
>7: How does the college authority system work? Instead of principals and vice principals, is it deans instead? What about the school counselor, what are they called instead? Etc., etc.
This element is pretty much exactly the same as Universities.
No parents.
You only have classes on certain days instead of the same classes every day, and you can wear hats
1: At most schools you’re assigned a specific time to register online along with a large batch of other students. You pick your classes there. As far as which classes to take, you’re generally going to have a degree plan of courses you MUST take for your degree and some that flex but need to fill a general credit like “foreign language”, “Physical Activity” or “cultural credit”. Details vary by school on this and with your degree plan. Some schools you may enter as a “general studies” major and be able to stay there for a couple of years, in which case you’re filling in general requirements that work for any degree. Language, math, history, phys ed, etc…. Others you might have a specific degree plan from day 1, others you may have a general field like “Engineering” and you won’t pick a specific one like “Aerospace engineering” or “Civil Engineering” until after your second year. It is possible for one school to have students in all three of those situations.
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2: Hundreds. Generally you’ll be taking a base courseload of history, english, math and physical sciences. What counts for those credits varies with your area of study. The physical sciences and math courses required for engineering students are higher level than those required for a business major, for example. You’ll also have a series of electives you have to take like civics/government and a certain number of cultural or foreign language courses. You’ll also have degree-specific courses, business majors will be taking things like accounting and economics while engineers will be taking things like thermodynamics and drafting courses. As you go through years you take fewer general courses and more degree-specific ones.
3: Community colleges aren’t geared towards (or accredited for) granting four year degrees the way Universities are. They offer a variety of 2-year degrees, professional certifications and courses which can get you credit for classes in a four year degree, usually mostly classes you would take in your first two years there. Community colleges are cheaper and more numerous than universities, so you might take a year or two at one to save money on tuition or maybe on cost of living if you have a community college nearby but not a university and then transfer to a full four year school. You might also start at a community college because you didn’t get into your preferred school straight out of high school and want to apply again as a transfer student so you can keep working on your education in the intervening year.
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.4: It depends on the class. Because so many courses share the same general education requirements, classes for the first two years are often HUGE and may feature hundreds of students in a lecture auditorium. As you advance to more specialized courses in later years, they get smaller and smaller. University size has a big part to play in this, too. They can range in size from a few thousand to tens of thousands. Most students go to large state schools.
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5: All of the above. Professors have WIDE discretion on how they score their classes. As a general trend those large, low-level courses will be based on a few scantron-based tests throughout the semester, usually 2-4. You may have a few short answer questions or maybe a paper to turn in during the year but those classes are too large for professors to grade that sort of thing often. Some professors will prefer to give a larger number of quizzes and homework assignments (usually online at this point) and/or an attendance grade as a way to force students to stay engaged throughout the semester instead of cramming for a few tests. As you get into smaller and more specialized courses short answer, essay, long-form projects and oral stuff becomes more common. Oral exams are generally rare outside of language or post-graduate courses though. Projects ending in a presentation to your professor and class are more common.
6: Professors, though you’ll use Dr when addressing them if you have a PhD. So like: “My calculus professor, Dr. Smith, assigns WAY too much homework”. The position is always professor but the honorific is only professor if they don’t have a doctorate. Generally the university is broken into various “colleges” by general subject. The college of fine arts, the college of business, the college of engineering, etc…. Each college will have a dean and one or more assistant deans who oversee the professors and may work with students if, for example, they need special permission to take a class or have some sort of dispute with a professor, disagree over how they got transfer credit from community college, whatever. “Counselors” in the sense of academic counseling on your degree plan will be assigned to each college in a larger university most of the time, but may be a single unified office at smaller ones. Counseling in terms of like…mental counseling will usually be an arm of the student health office. Large schools often have health departments with a clinic on campus for basic check-ups, vaccination, birth control, counseling and other routine things. These aren’t free, at least not outside of maybe some basics like being able to talk to a qualified nurse, but they are generally discounted or offer a discounted insurance like plan for students.
1. A Bachelor’s Degree in the US includes a broad base of interdisciplinary education. This is usually referred to as the General Education (or Gen Ed) requirements. Most of these classes double as the introductory classes for various specializations. So, some students who know they want to get a Bachelor’s but aren’t sure what they want to specialize in will enter college and start working on the Gen Ed requirements while they figure out which one interests them enough to specialize in.
2. To some degree, there is flexibility in class choice. For the Gen Eds, there will typically be some classes that are required for everyone and other requirements that are more “take X credits from Y list”. Similarly, within Majors (your primary specialization) there will be some requirements that mandate specific classes while others that say “take A credits from B list”. For my major in particular, there were some requirements that were a choice between two classes to fill a particular requirement.
3. College is a term that is used to refer to all higher education. University is a type of college. Community colleges are a particular style of college that is locally funded. They will usually be very cheap, but don’t get very advanced. Many don’t offer Bachelor’s degrees and stop at Associate’s (2-years instead of 4-years). However, it is typically pretty easy to start your education at a community college and then later transfer to a university.
4. This vastly depends on the institution and the class. I’ve mostly attended smaller schools and had most of my classes in regular classrooms. However, I have taken some classes where we used an auditorium and from what I understand they are much more common at large institutions.
5. This vastly depends on the subject, how your school runs things, and even the professor’s personal choices. You can have two different classes at the same school that are on paper the same class but are run very differently. I’ve had classes where the entire grade came from a small number of tests while other classes had no tests. Oral exams are uncommon but they do exist (especially in more advanced classes). Some classes derive a significant portion of the grade from participation in class activities. Others will make heavy use of assigning papers.
6. Professors.
7. This gets complicated. The person at the very top of the school is the college president. There are deans who run various departments as well as academic advisors who help students figure out what classes they should be taking. It depends on the school, but sometimes there are just as many administers running the various bureaucracies on campus as there are professors.
Class Registrations
[https://www.washington.edu/students/timeschd/AUT2022/](https://www.washington.edu/students/timeschd/AUT2022/)
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That link is a time schedule for a large state school. Students have seniority based on credits accumulated. Registrations to classes becomes available to students based on seniority.
* Graduating Senior Priority
* Senior
* Junior
* Sophomore
* Freshman
Along with seniority my school staggered us by student enrollment number. Every other registration day odd numbered students got to register for classes first, and the other years even numbered students got to register first. By 24hrs.
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classes have codes to them that signify the class meets an “area of knowledge”. It makes you write large papers, use symbolic reasoning, visual learning performing arts, individuals and societies, natural world,
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you take any elective classes with these codes as required by a liberal arts degree [along with your major focus]. You just browse and register.