Uni? College?

[Guest]

Heya

 

Soo I just want to do this out of curiosity because well I am curious.

 

I want to learn how your university or college system works.

 

For example, I live in RSA. We have to following options to further our education. University or college. Here Uni is much cheaper then college because colleges are private institutes while uni is government. We have many unis and colleges but are also quiet limited. If you want to become a vet there is only one uni offering it. Colleges rank into few categories. Business, law or art & design. So they are also very limited compared to unis. They both have options for accommodation but it is mainly in an estate or few that have on campus as far as I know.

 

I am attending an online uni (it is only online) which is very cheap and affordable. My exams and books are included. This uni is mainly for people who work or cannot be able to attend lectures constantly. I chose it because my anxiety is going is kill me in a class of 400 - 800 and colleges only have around 20 - 40 in a class but way out of my price range.

 

I have ended up behind because my registration went through so late and I have my first assignment soon but that is because the uni messed up, we also had strikes already.

 

Our biggest thing is #feesmustfall which was a good intention but is now used by students during exam time to not write because they did not study which causes people to not get in because others have to repeat. We also have the EFF causing a ruckus. Political parties hey. They tend to be our biggest threat. My friend lost two weeks of lectures because they needed to start their strikes which can get violent easily. It is only Feb and she has only been in class for a month.

 

In college you can only choose one thing to go into like environmental design or cooperate communication while in uni if you not trying to specialize then in a BA you can do quiet a few things like choose 4 subjects and all that jazz.  

 

College fees are about R 7000 - R 12000 a month if not more.

Uni fees are about R 34 000 - R 60 000 a year depending on what you choose to study. (I believe the science departments can go quiet steep)

My uni is not that pricey a month or year luckily and if I ever leave the country I can still do it over seas.

 

What about your side of the world?

Also if you have dropped out, don't mind listening to your story either?

Also what are you studying?

[Skycaptain]

I studied forestry at uni, but failed at the end of the second year. They wanted us to do computer programming for statistics - this was 1992- but had no training facilities for people like me who'd never used computers, and to whom programming was alien 

[Norellia]

Wait, whats the difference between a university and college? Cause I put college just cause that't how everyone refers to undergrad/graduate education around me, but my school has university in the name. Kinda confused lol...

 

I am a senior psych major and art minor at my school and should graduate in May. The school I go to is not a huge state university so the price is pretty decent for the quality that it is. I managed to not get any student loans through scholarships, so i've been pretty fortunate with going through school.

[iff]

I went to college (an institute of technology is what we refer to them here) where I studied accounting & finance

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, Norellia said:

Wait, whats the difference between a university and college? Cause I put college just cause that't how everyone refers to undergrad/graduate education around me, but my school has university in the name. Kinda confused lol...

 

I am a senior psych major and art minor at my school and should graduate in May. The school I go to is not a huge state university so the price is pretty decent for the quality that it is. I managed to not get any student loans through scholarships, so i've been pretty fortunate with going through school.

For us a college is private institute by a foreign company but a uni is government. Thats why I made this post cause I am curious on how other countries are with it.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, iff said:

I went to college (an institute of technology is what we refer to them here) where I studied accounting & finance

I know quiet a few people who are going into that. 

[Grumpy Alien]

None. No because I never went. Other - none.

 

edit: I don’t know if any difference between university and college in the US other than the literal name of the school. You might get a few confused Americans skewing the vote because all universities here are referred to as college.

[Celyn: The Lutening]

There's no such thing as "college" in Australia, so I went to university. None of them are government run. Your only other option for further ed is TAFE or whatever they call it nowadays (basically trade school).

 

The UK is very different in that "college" is the same as "sixth form" - which is where you do your A or AS levels at the age of 16-18. AS level is the first year of the two-year A level, and is equivalent to the ATAR levels I took in Australia in year 12/age 16 (I'm young for my academic cohort). 

 

In both countries, some high schools like to call themselves "college" just to confuse people.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Celyn said:

In both countries, some high schools like to call themselves "college" just to confuse people.

My one school put college at the end of their name and others do it as well but that is when its run by private institutes and not the government. 

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, Graceful said:

None. No because I never went. Other - none.

 

edit: I don’t know if any difference between university and college in the US other than the literal name of the school. You might get a few confused Americans skewing the vote because all universities here are referred to as college.

I had an American kid in my class once and he was so confused with uni and college XD he said 'You people have no order." lol

[Meng]

Ah...I think I chose the term "Not finish" by mistake,but in fact I am an undergraduate majoring in science,studying abroad in a university in the UK.Just an own idea of mine,I find that in the UK some schools with a particular type of major tend to be called "college",such as engineering and science.

[EnterCreativeName]

Well, there are private colleges and community colleges in the US. Community colleges are much cheaper than private colleges or universities, and a lot of students go there to get their basic courses out of the way then transfer to a university later.

 

I almost went straight to university, but I backed out last second because I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to study, and it cost a lot. I'm currently taking classes at a community college. It's so much cheaper, and I can go at my own pace without worrying about all of the debt I'm accumulating. I still don't know what I want to study, so I'm kind of taking classes that sound interesting and work towards a transfer degree at the same time. Right now I'm almost finished with the biology set of classes, but I am leaning more towards psychology now. 

[Rockblossom]

7 hours ago, AwkwardSquid said:

For us a college is private institute by a foreign company but a uni is government. Thats why I made this post cause I am curious on how other countries are with it.

The terminology can be confusing.  In the USA, "colleges" offer education beyond the public school/high school level with at least one Degree program in at least one area of expertise:  Associates, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate.  Many offer more than one degree program in more than one area of study.   Colleges can be public or private.  In the USA, most public colleges are operated by a State (not the federal government) with at least some of the funding coming from state taxes.  Private colleges operate with no money from taxes. 

 

To qualify as a University, an institution must offer degree programs that include Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorates; and must offer programs in more than one area of study.  Most Universities in the USA are collections of Colleges, so one can be in a College that is part of a University, and someone who is attending College may also be "in University".  Universities can also be public or private, and degrees can be acquired both by physically attending classes or via the internet.  

 

And just to add to the confusion level,  colleges can be Accredited or Unaccredited, there are different organizations that accredit a college/university program.  In order for a college degree to have some validity, it needs to come from a properly accredited institution that is widely recognized and valued.   There are masses of "colleges" here, that mostly operate online, whose "accreditation" is a bit (or more than a bit) suspect, and their "Degrees" are worthless.  

 

Added:  And just to make things more interesting, here a "Professor" is anyone who teaches at the college level.  A teacher is usually referred to as "Professor Smith" if he/she is teaching while pursuing a Doctorate, but is called "Doctor Smith" once the Doctorate is complete.  That is totally at odds with how things are in the UK, and leads to much "across the pond"  confusion.  If Dr.  Smith is placed in an administrative position within a college or Uni, he/she is referred to by the title (Chancellor Smith) while performing that job, but would still be "Dr. Smith" while he/she is teaching a class.  🤩

 

 

🙄Confused much?  

[Grumpy Alien]

2 minutes ago, Rockblossom said:

🙄Confused much?  

Only very!

[ColeHW34]

I'm currently enrolled for a associate's degree in science and maybe transfer over into college.

But I'm also going to get into agriculture some.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Rockblossom said:

The terminology can be confusing.  In the USA, "colleges" offer education beyond the public school/high school level with at least one Degree program in at least one area of expertise:  Associates, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate.  Many offer more than one degree program in more than one area of study.   Colleges can be public or private.  In the USA, most public colleges are operated by a State (not the federal government) with at least some of the funding coming from state taxes.  Private colleges operate with no money from taxes. 

 

To qualify as a University, an institution must offer degree programs that include Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorates; and must offer programs in more than one area of study.  Most Universities in the USA are collections of Colleges, so one can be in a College that is part of a University, and someone who is attending College may also be "in University".  Universities can also be public or private, and degrees can be acquired both by physically attending classes or via the internet.  

 

And just to add to the confusion level,  colleges can be Accredited or Unaccredited, there are different organizations that accredit a college/university program.  In order for a college degree to have some validity, it needs to come from a properly accredited institution that is widely recognized and valued.   There are masses of "colleges" here, that mostly operate online, whose "accreditation" is a bit (or more than a bit) suspect, and their "Degrees" are worthless.  

 

Added:  And just to make things more interesting, here a "Professor" is anyone who teaches at the college level.  A teacher is usually referred to as "Professor Smith" if he/she is teaching while pursuing a Doctorate, but is called "Doctor Smith" once the Doctorate is complete.  That is totally at odds with how things are in the UK, and leads to much "across the pond"  confusion.  If Dr.  Smith is placed in an administrative position within a college or Uni, he/she is referred to by the title (Chancellor Smith) while performing that job, but would still be "Dr. Smith" while he/she is teaching a class.  🤩

 

 

🙄Confused much?  

I think I need a dictionary for half this stuff XD 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Who_Are_You said:

Well, there are private colleges and community colleges in the US. Community colleges are much cheaper than private colleges or universities, and a lot of students go there to get their basic courses out of the way then transfer to a university later.

 

I almost went straight to university, but I backed out last second because I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to study, and it cost a lot. I'm currently taking classes at a community college. It's so much cheaper, and I can go at my own pace without worrying about all of the debt I'm accumulating. I still don't know what I want to study, so I'm kind of taking classes that sound interesting and work towards a transfer degree at the same time. Right now I'm almost finished with the biology set of classes, but I am leaning more towards psychology now. 

I changed my mind like 5 times before I decided and I only applied like an hour before the applications closed XD I was labeled crazy by my classmates.

[EnterCreativeName]

10 hours ago, AwkwardSquid said:

I changed my mind like 5 times before I decided and I only applied like an hour before the applications closed XD I was labeled crazy by my classmates.

Oh, I signed up last minute too. I only signed up for one university, and I got in. I went through picking a roommate and dorm, I toured the campus and spoke to advisors. I was almost ready to accept loans when I finally backed out. I felt so bad telling my roommate that I wasn't going anymore, but I felt better knowing that I could stay with family and start my education cheaper. 

[LonesomeCrow]

I never went to college. After high school I picked up more hours at my job and started working full time, and eventually picked up a second job.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Who_Are_You said:

Oh, I signed up last minute too. I only signed up for one university, and I got in. I went through picking a roommate and dorm, I toured the campus and spoke to advisors. I was almost ready to accept loans when I finally backed out. I felt so bad telling my roommate that I wasn't going anymore, but I felt better knowing that I could stay with family and start my education cheaper. 

I only knew the place I signed up for was online and it was my only choice. I was like 'why the hell not.'

[Kelthepurplequeen]

Took Office Admin and graduated 8 months ago.

[Zinerva]

No colleges here. 
Higher education is free to all EU citizens, tuition up to 5000€ may apply to non-EU students (which sucks). Books may cost money though, but personally, I haven't bought any during my years in university. Libraries, online resources and course materials are good enough. We also get student benefits so technically students get paid a little for studying.
University students always aim for a degree, most go for both Bachelor's and Master's and it's always with a specific major (and minor of course). To get in you usually need to do fairly well in upper secondary education and the matriculation examination or the entrance exams, it's not just a matter of signing up since the schools are free. I'm not going to go into the legalese but all universities are some kind of public entities.

Edit: And I study engineering.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Zinerva said:

No colleges here. 
Higher education is free to all EU citizens, tuition up to 5000€ may apply to non-EU students (which sucks). Books may cost money though, but personally, I haven't bought any during my years in university. Libraries, online resources and course materials are good enough. We also get student benefits so technically students get paid a little for studying.
University students always aim for a degree, most go for both Bachelor's and Master's and it's always with a specific major (and minor of course). To get in you usually need to do fairly well in upper secondary education and the matriculation examination or the entrance exams, it's not just a matter of signing up since the schools are free. I'm not going to go into the legalese but all universities are some kind of public entities.

Edit: And I study engineering.

My mom wanted me to go study in Germany but I wasn't really keen. 

 

I was waiting for engineering to come up XD 

[user23974865]

In my country, I think there's a technical distinction between "college" and "university", but it's kinda like the distinction between "company" and "corporation". It has more to do with how they operate internally and what kinds of legal autonomy they have. Like, the university I went to operated like a separate municipality in some ways. But nowadays there are lots of small private colleges that are technically universities, so I don't know what it really means or how it works. Either way, for all other intents and purposes, "college" is synonymous with "higher education", and there's no specific distinction between programs in different fields of study or with different lengths (there are no two-year programs as far as I'm aware). A college degree is a college degree.

 

If you want to go to college, you'll normally want to go to a public one. There are some municipal universities that charge a partially-subsidized tuition, but public universities are usually state or federal, and those are always free. For the most part, they are the best ones (or at least the most well-regarded by employers), and are the place where active research happens. You apply for one and only one program for each institution you're interested in, and then you show up for the entrance exam at a predetermined time and place along with the other candidates. 10 seconds late? Have a cold? Had an emergency? Tough luck, try again next year. Some factors can boost your score slightly (like if you went to a public school for a certain number of years), but it all comes down to your score anyway, and the process is anonymized. There's no interview, and your previous school history isn't a factor. There's an SAT-like exam that can be used in place of institution-specific exams these days, but I don't know how it works. Back in my day it was just one of those "slight boost" factors.

 

Sometimes your chosen program will have free-choice/limited-choice open slots in the curriculum (or, in one case that I know of, you go through a second selection process for your chosen specialty, after the first two years), but there's no general concept of "major/minor". If you change your mind about your initial choice, then, at best, you can only apply for an unlikely transfer and hope for someone to cancel their enrollment -- or just cancel your own enrollment and try the entrance exam again next year. If you're applying for a program in a small private institution (or in one of the latest diploma-mill empires), all the same technical principles still apply, but there's usually more supply than demand, so it doesn't really make a difference in practice. They want your money. They'll find a way to get you in. Those college programs are usually a lot cheaper than private elementary school for your children, and, realistically speaking, you're not expected to know much -- or learn much, for that matter. If your particular college degree isn't a legal requirement for your job, then it's not very different from adding "basic English and intermediate experience with Excel" to your CV.

 

Accommodations are usually not included. My university had a small apartment complex on campus, but it was only meant for students from far away who really couldn't afford accommodations of their own. The common practice is to just share an overcrowded house/apartment instead. Dirt-cheap subsidized meals on campus were included for everyone though. Disruptive strikes in public universities are kind of a perennial tradition. Humanities professors and students will try to spark one every year, and then sometimes it will catch on, and every once in a while it will spread like wildfire to other universities and will go on without an end in sight. On one hand, it's like a boy crying wolf, but on the other hand, funding is never actually adequate. So... yeah. 😶

[user23974865]

Now, my personal story.

 

All my life before college, I was well above average, academically speaking. Teachers seemed to think it was because I was "a good student", but I never was. I never actually studied anything, I was just curious about things on my own, and that happened to be enough. I never knew any different from "high expectations by default". My high school was an unusual one. It was inside a public university campus, which meant we were treated by staff pretty much the same way as the college students were, which meant I skipped half of all classes.  It was still enough for good grades anyway.

 

I got into a public university twice. First time it was for advertising (I guess mostly because it was the polar opposite of mathematics). I absolutely hated half of my classmates and most of the professors. It was a fetid swamp that I didn't want to be involved in. So I dropped out after one semester. The next year I went for computer science, which was the actual natural choice for me. TONS of math though. METRIC SHIT-TONS of it. And former-Soviet professors. I struggled a lot, especially because I didn't cope well at all with the move to a big city, and my former close friends had turned into hipster jerks. I had serious mood- and sleep-related issues. I was diagnosed with a thyroid disease a couple years later.

 

I didn't have that much trouble with computer-specific courses, even though I'd be surprised if I showed up for more than one-fourth of all classes. But I did struggle a lot with abstract math classes. So, after six or seven years of an undergraduate program meant to last only four, I had completed most of the curriculum, but I kept failing first- and second-year courses, and it just didn't get any easier. On top of that, my experience as part of two different research groups made me very disillusioned with academia and the way it works in the real world. The natural course of action for me after graduating would be for me to go work for some large corporation, in a high-pressure environment, doing something that has no meaning to me and doesn't even make any sense, just because some cigar-smoking executive somewhere farted some "innovative" idea. It was making me physically sick in several ways.

 

Between "career" and "basic health", I chose health. I moved back in with my parents. During the following years, I had a very tense relationship with them, and I was diagnosed with multiple psychiatric conditions. Eventually, through a series of lucky breaks and coincidences and a healthy dose of stubbornness (and also thanks in part to finally getting access to prescription stimulants), I managed to start making enough money to support myself working from home, on something completely unrelated to my academic history.

 

The end. 😁

[Strifed]

I went into school thinking I was going to be a Veterinarian until organic chemistry slapped me down a full flight of stairs 😅 I don't want to go into specifics of what I do now, but I graduated uni and still work in a scientific industry  

[Jinkx]

I have been going to my local community college for... goodness, this will be my fourth year there. I have been severely neglecting General Ed and have instead been flitting from one interest to another. Due to that, I've taken fashion classes, ASL, Japanese, German, drawing classes, vocal classes, piano, acting... for the past year I've been focused mostly on dance. 

 

Community colleges are a much cheaper option here than universities (whether those universities be public or private), and often the plan of action for students going to community college is to get their required general education out of the way (English, maths, sciences, the like) in two or some years, and then they'll transfer to a university to focus on their major. From community colleges you can only obtain Certificates or an Associate's Degree (a 2-year degree). To get anything higher you must go to university. Unfortunately, that also usually means putting yourself thousands of dollars in debt from student loans. 

 

I don't know if or when I'll eventually get my general education out of the way and obtain an Associate's, but regardless I don't think it'll help me in getting any jobs. 😓

[Guest]

On 2/23/2019 at 12:59 AM, Strifed said:

I don't want to go into specifics of what I do now, but I graduated uni and still work in a scientific industry  

With your profile saying A-gent I get you 😉 XD lol jokes. I have a life to live I am not ready to vanish ... 

[WanderingKate]

I graduated college about a year ago and have a humanities degree...didn't get a job in anything humanities related, but I'm glad I studied it nonetheless

 

[Chimeric]

On 2/21/2019 at 10:20 AM, Rockblossom said:

Added:  And just to make things more interesting, here a "Professor" is anyone who teaches at the college level.

There are distinctions between instructors, assistant professorships, full professorships, tenured professorships, and emeritus status, but to people outside of academia (or at least, outside of academia as it operates in Universities.... I'm less familiar with, for eg, community college systems) it's kind of all the same. If you're in academia, it matters a lot which one you are (in terms of recognition of your contributions to your field and to your university, your publications, your pay, your progression up the career ladder, and your job security). More and more, you need a PhD to qualify for anything above an instructorship; it's really rare to find professors who don't hold PhDs, anymore.

 

That's my understanding, anyhow. I was told if I wanted to get into academia, I would need a PhD. Turns out I don't want to get into academia, precisely because of the politics involved with navigating that sort of career ladder - the complication of it all noped me right out of the field (it changes even more when you add a medical component - we can pick tenure track or clinical track but either way we also need to run a productive lab that publishes and.... no, no thank you, yikes). No doubt there are people here who are more familiar with the process!

 

To answer the question, I attended two colleges in the same University; I was enrolled as a biology major in the College of Life Sciences, and as a management major in the College of Business at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (aka the unmatched Virginia Tech =D ).

 

I went on to do two degrees from the College of Vet Med at the same university - I got my Masters in Public Health and my Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine there. Then I moved on and am doing a medical residency in comparative anatomic pathology and a PhD in molecular diagnostics; these two things I'm working on currently. I sit the final part of my boards in August, so here's hoping the residency is nearly complete (though in all honesty, I love the crap out of being a resident); I'm scheduled to do prelims for my PhD this semester, and to defend next May. Fingers crossed.

 

As much as I like collecting degrees, I am jealous of the way other countries have their vet/med systems set up. It would have been cheaper to skip undergraduate studies and go straight to vet school. I'd be done by now and making actual money, instead of living on a stipend and watching my student loan debt accumulate.... 🤣😭