计划留学的小伙伴们，总有一些人认为哈佛、耶鲁等这些常听的大学，才是好大学;而其他没听过的(或者叫学院的)统称为野鸡大学。这也真是太冤了! 这次我们就一起来区分university和college吧~

　　College和university的区别是否就是国内学院和大学的区别？

　　University是否比college高大上呢？答案是：不一定。

　　Going off to college is a milestone in any young adult's life. The phrase itself conjures up images of newfound independence, exposure to new perspectives, knowledge, and possibly even one or more sips of alcohol.

　　上大学对任何一个年轻人来说都是人生大事。光是上大学这个短语，就让人想起新获得的独立、接触到的新视角和新知识，也许还能让人想起初尝酒的滋味。

　　conjure up: 想起，使在脑海中显现

　　In America, however, few people use the phrase "going off to university," or "headed to university,"even if they are indeed about to set off for, say, Harvard University.

　　然而，在美国，很少有人用university来泛指“大学”，即使他们上的是哈佛大学。

　　Why did college become the predominant term for postsecondary education? And is there any difference between the two institutions?

　　为什么college成为指代中学后教育时普遍使用的术语？这两种机构之间有什么区别吗?

　　While university appears to be the older of the two terms, dating as far back as the 13th century, schools and students in North America have embraced college to describe most places of higher learning. There is no rigid definition of the words, but there are some general attributes for each.

　　尽管university这个词汇在这两者中历史更悠久，早在13世纪就产生了，但北美的学校和学生却主要用college来指代大多数高校。这两个词没有严格的定义，但却有各自的属性。

　　在北美地区，一般来说college指提供本科学位的四年制大学，而university则指提供本科和研究生课程的学校。

　　A college is typically a four-year school that offers undergraduate degrees like an associate or a bachelor's.(Community colleges are often two-year schools.) They don't typically offer master's or doctorates, and the size of their student body is typically the smaller of the two.

　　北美的college一般指提供本科学位(比如准学士学位或学士学位)的四年制大学。(社区学院通常是两年制高校。)College一般不提供硕士或博士学位，学生规模通常也没有university大。

　　Universities, on the other hand, tend to offer both undergraduate and graduate programs leading to advanced degrees for a larger group of students.

　　University则一般都会提供本科和研究生课程，有更大的学生群体能获得高级学位。

　　有的情况下，university会包含college，指学院。

　　They can also be comprised of several schools—referred to as colleges—under their umbrella. A university could offer both a school of arts and sciences and a school of business. The University of Michigan has a College of Engineering, for example.

　　University还可以包含college， 即学院。一所university旗下可能有艺术学院、科学学院和商学院。比如密歇根大学(university)旗下就有工程学院(college)。

　　不过，有时候一些college可能比university还大，也会提供硕士学位。

　　While many of these traits are common, they're not guaranteed. Some colleges can be bigger than universities, some might offer master's degrees, and so on.

　　尽管两者间通常是这种关系，但也有例外。一些college可能比university还大，一些college可能还会提供硕士学位。

　　还有些高校开始是college，后来发展成为university，不过仍沿用原名。