Studying in the United States...

[Lucin]

Here is my 'problem':
Whoever (in the US) I ask, Where/what are you studying? I usually get the following answer: "I’m going to college! " Then I ask, what do you mean by ‘college’? You mean university? The answer is sometimes "yes " sometimes “no, college! ". Fine, How long will it take you to get a degree? "Two years!" And this is kinda shocking to me and confusing…
I can’t make head nor tail of it…

Can someone explain to me what a ‘college’ is? Is it the same as university? Or it’s just an institute-like establishment? How is in general the academic ‘system’ in the United States and when do you get a degree? (After high school).

[karoaper]

Re: Studying in the United States...

The term college is a very flexible term. Usually college is used to refer to smaller institutions or sub-schools in big universities. For example in a major university, there will be a college of management, or college of arts and sciences, etc. Now if the entire school is called college, usually that means it doesn't have any graduate programs (or very minimal), so that could explain why someone may insist that they go to a college. Finally, if you ask a mobster (aka wise guy), they'll tell you they just came back from the college (i.e. prison).

As far as years to complete, it takes as a norm 2 years to get your Associates degree, 4 years for Bachelors, 2 for Masters, and 4 for PhD.

[Anonymouse]

Re: Studying in the United States...

And 3 years for JD!

[Sip]

Re: Studying in the United States...

lol @ priosn

To elaborate on what Karo has said, college is usually a term used to refer to school after highschool. In the US, you graduate from highschool after completing the 12th grade. After that, thre are several options:

1. Vocational school - Usually very specialized training for certain jobs. This could be something like medical billing, dental assistant, optician assistant, car mechanic, etc.

2. Community College (also known as Junior College) - Usually 2 year programs in which you might earn an "Associates degree" of some sort. Some examples are listed here

3. University - Usually a 4 year program towards a BS (science) or a BA (arts) degree. This is most often also referred to as going to college. Some people who go to a community college will transfer to a 4-year university to continue on towards a BS/BA degree.

After #3, comes "graduate school" ... there are many different kinds of graduate programs but most legit ones at real universities (i.e. not like those that email you saying they will give you a diploma ) will lead to masters degrees such as MS (science), MBA (business administration), MA etc, or some go on to pursue medical degrees and become medical doctors (MD) and then after that go and specialize in certain areas like brain surgery or cardiovascular etc etc. Among other graduate type programs that seems to be popular with Armenians in the LA area include pharmacy (leads to a PharmD degree) so it's also worth mentioning

Either concurrent with MS or after MS, one can pursue a doctorate degree e.g. Ph.D. ... that could take serveral years. I am more familiar with electrical engineering and computer engineering. It typically takes something like 4-5 years to do a Ph.D. in computer engineering.

Anyway, I hope this kind of answers the question but that's the basics of it in the US.

[karoaper]

Re: Studying in the United States...

Hey Sip, thanks for saying 4-5 years for PhD dude. The 5 especially makes me feel less like a looser. And Mouse, apppper ho ch'neghacar vor iravabanneri masin moraca nshem.

[Sip]

Re: Studying in the United States...

Well, for me, it technically took 7 years to file and get it over with (including time spent doing MS work) but the bulk of the PhD work I did in about 4-5 years. There are some places where it does take 6 years for Ph.D. in electrical or computer engineering so don't feel bad at all if it's taking you 5. That's not bad at all.

If I had to do everything over again, I might be able to do all my PhD research in about a year But I did a lot of side projects along the way that resulted in various papers etc which weren't really part of my main topic in the end.

[Էլիա]

Re: Studying in the United States...

I always thought that college was part of a university (the educational part) and thre rest of the university was other things, like mini-restaurants, gyms, etc.

[sev_zeytun]

Re: Studying in the United States...

I think it depends on what you mean by college. Some people will go to community college or a liberal arts college where you can only get your AA and BA (that's what college is--a place that only offers you an AA and BA degree). But some people interpret going to college as in going to undergraduate school and, thus, call every educational institution above highschool a "college." This includes universities, technical institutes, ect.

[Էլիա]

Re: Studying in the United States...

Well, that just makes it confusing.

[Lucin]

Re: Studying in the United States...

Thanks Karo and Sip for the good explanation…

Among other graduate type programs that seems to be popular with Armenians in the LA area include pharmacy (leads to a PharmD degree) so it's also worth mentioning

Lol, I often hear this in the US. On the other hand, it’s funny that in England they( Armenians) all become ‘nurses’ all of a sudden.