Why do Americans call university 'college' and how does it work?

Even if you’ve never set foot in the United States, you probably know something about American university life.

Whether it’s from classic films like Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You or more recent TV shows like Off Campus, we’re willing to bet you’ve heard terms like ‘college’, ‘sorority’ and ‘major’ before.

But what does it all mean? And why is the American university system so different from ours in the UK? Here, BBC Bitesize takes a look at some of the key differences and explains where they come from.

First things first: why is it called college instead of university?

In America, the word 'college' is generally used to mean any institution that offers higher education - learning that happens after high school or secondary school. In the UK, we associate the word with institutions that provide further education from the age of 16.

However, there is technically a distinction. An American college usually only offers undergraduate qualifications, like bachelor’s degrees, while a university is bigger and also offers postgraduate courses like master’s degrees and doctorates.

Speaking of Harvard, you might have heard the term Ivy League thrown around regarding the American college system.

This is a group of eight private universities – meaning they’re mostly funded through sources like donations and tuition fees rather than by the government – in the north-eastern United States.

The universities are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell. The term Ivy League originated from sports journalism in the 1930s to refer to athletic competitions between the colleges, taking inspiration from the ivy plants that grew on the stone walls of the campuses.

Today, the term symbolises academic prestige and competitive admissions as well as sporting achievements. Harvard only admits between 3-4% of applicants. The closest equivalent to the Ivy League in the UK is the Russell Group, which consists of 24 universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Liverpool.

The contrasts aren’t just about linguistics. There are differences throughout the process, from fees to living arrangements and students’ social lives.

To start with, applications focus far more on the university than the subject in the US. Students make separate applications directly to every university they choose, and they can apply to as many as they like.

In the UK, we typically make one application through the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and you can only apply to a maximum of five universities for undergraduate study.

You might have heard a lot of talk about scholarships when it comes to American colleges. A scholarship is a financial award that doesn’t have to be paid back, designed to cover the cost of higher education.

While these exist in the UK – usually in recognition of academic performance or financial need – it’s less common here, and scholarships are generally worth less money. Another key difference is that, in the United States, it’s possible for students to be recruited by colleges for their athletic ability.

Universities give these students financial aid, and in return they play for college teams. ‘Full ride’ scholarships, where all costs including food and housing are covered, are only given to about 1% of student athletes. This is particularly common for sports like American football, with as many as 18 million people tuning in to watch televised college matches.

So, you’ve got into an American university and figured out how you’re going to pay for it. But where are you going to live?

In the UK, students typically live in university-owned halls of residence for at least the first year of an undergraduate course. This usually means each student has their own bedroom, with a kitchen and bathroom shared between a group.

We’ve already seen how university applications are geared more towards the institution than the subject in the US.

That’s because American colleges don’t require you to specialise in a certain subject straight away. In the UK, students generally apply to study one subject – or two in a ‘joint honours’ degree – and study that subject from day one.

In America, bachelor’s degrees usually take four years, whereas most British courses take three. For the first two years – known as the freshman and sophomore years – the focus is on general education in classes like English, maths and history. Students usually ‘declare a major’ at the end of their sophomore year. This is the subject they want to specialise in, and they spend the majority of the rest of their degree – their junior and senior years – studying it.

But there are other options. Some students add a minor, a second subject that requires fewer classes than a major, often because it lets them explore a passion without the heavier workload. Some take it a step further and turn this into a double major, completing the full requirements for two separate subjects.

For example, Emmy-winning actress Kerry Washington double majored in anthropology and sociology at George Washington University. Rory Gilmore, from the TV show Gilmore Girls, majors in English without a minor in anything. The idea behind this system is to give students more flexibility, a broader education and more time to decide on a specialism than we typically get in the UK.

One American college tradition that can be a little more puzzling is known as Greek life. You’ve almost certainly seen it depicted in films and TV shows – but what’s it all about?

Sororities and fraternities are student clubs, often named after Greek letters, and each university usually has multiple. The first was founded in 1776 in North Carolina, and today there are over 1,500 across the country. Often, these are national organisations with chapters at different universities. In the film Legally Blonde, Elle Woods is president of the fictional Delta Nu sorority.

Sororities are exclusive to women, while fraternities – also known as frats – admit men. While they began as a place to discuss current events and university issues outside class, they’ve expanded to encompass parties, mentoring and career workshops.

Group members often live together as students and remain in touch after graduation. However, some Greek organisations have attracted criticism for things like underage drinking and initiation practices known as hazing that involve dangerous or illegal activities.

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