Colleges vs. Universities

In anyone's lifetime, they have probably heard about either colleges, universities, or both. Today's blog will be about: what is the difference between colleges and universities?

A college is a smaller institution that usually offers undergraduate degrees, while a university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Universities offer undergraduate programs that will eventually lead a student towards a master's degree or a doctorate.

This might bring the reader to the question of what is the difference between undergraduate and graduate degrees. An undergraduate program is a 4-year college bachelor's degree program or a 2-year associate's degree program. Most people usually do the standard 4-year bachelor's degree. A graduate program is a 1-6 year college master's degree program; these are for people who have already gotten there bachelor's degree.

One question that the reader might have is what is a bachelor's degree. So as written in the paragraph above, a bachelor's degree is just an average 4 years of college kind of like high school.

There is, then, the master's degree that takes a little more time to get; a master's degree usually takes an additional 1.5-2 years. This means that anyone trying to get a master's degree will be spending around 6-7 years in college, depending on the person's schedule. This is because people who want their master's are required to have their bachelor's degree before they try to get their master's. Fun fact, my mom has a master's degree!

There is then the doctorate degree; the doctorate degree is a little more complicated than the master's degree. It typically takes an extra 4-6 years after the master's program, but this depends on the major the person is working in.

There is also the Ph.D.; this stands for doctor of philosophy or a postgraduate doctoral degree. The Ph.D. is awarded to students who complete an original thesis offering a significant new contribution of knowledge in their subject. To get a Ph.D., it takes up to 8 years to get it. A Ph.D. is one of the hardest degrees to earn and a great accomplishment to have. Fun fact, my dad has a Ph.D. in computer science.

A very peaceful picture!