College?!

[Simoriah]

I'm not exactly going to be absent per se, but these next few weeks are going to be jam-packed with stuff to do so my activity will probably drop. I leave for school ten days from now, so in those next ten days I'm going to be packing, saying goodbye to friends, etc. THEN once I finally get there, it's orientation... so... lots of busy things to do. And that takes us to classes, which start the 25th of this month! Anyway... this is just a heads up. 

[Remus Lupin]

Good luck! Your college starts really early. Schools here don't start until early September, and universities, which I think are the equivalent of colleges but I'm not sure because their are universities in the US too, don't start until late September/very early October.

[Bethany Rogers]

Colleges/universities tend to start late August around here. I'm in a weird one; we start mid-September. If yours start in late September, when do you get out for summer?

[Remus Lupin]

Schools (as in 18 year olds and under) finish for summer in the last two weeks of July and go back in the first week of September. Universities get really long holidays, breaking up around early June. They vary a lot depending on where you go, some get longer holidays than others, but they're mostly around then.

[Jaycie]

Woo! Exciting times! I'm slightly jealous I had to pass on all my uni offers in exchange for another year of college because this past year fell apart for various reasons XD I supposed I better start looking into them again soon... :S I'd much rather be in your position and going this year though XD

[Simoriah]

Jaycie and I have had this conversation a couple of times. Here, "college" and "university" are understood as the same thing, though I believe (?) the difference is that a university is a collection of colleges. But no one really knows that, and heck, I don't even know if that's true. It seems to make sense, though. When people ask, "Where are you going to college?" I'll respond, "________ University." (The name of which I won't post on here, though I'm not really sure why).

A lot of schools (another word we just substitute in for college or university) won't start til after Labor Day, so early September, but mine is the week before, and so are a couple others. I haven't checked just yet when we get out, but I imagine it is mid-May, because that's when my brothers have gotten out in the past.

It is very exciting, also very busy. I absolutely loathe packing, so that's getting put off, which is a bad idea, and I'll regret it very soon xD. Then there's goodbyes... one friend of mine is leaving as early as this weekend, so we're doing a bunch of stuff together to see her off. We're all just trying to see each other as much as possible before we part ways.

[Remus Lupin]

Hope it works out for you, Jaycie! I know a few people who had to repeat year 12, so it's not uncommon for people to have to repeat a year of sixth form. Still, that sucks.

I wasn't sure about the difference between college and university or why they were called schools, so thanks. Here college is for the last two years of school, so 16-18 year olds. Some schools only go up to 16 year olds so you have to go somewhere else, but others include those two years (collectively knows as sixth form). My school had a sixth form so I stayed there, and would always say I went to school rather than college even though it was the same thing. Colleges tend to be a bit more relaxed and you only have to be there for your lessons so the environment is different but you all take the same exams.

I agree, goodbyes are the worst. And I wasn't planning on packing until a few days before I go, but I'll make sure I have everything I need before then.

[Jaycie]

I've only ever gone to colleges, never sixth forms, but I've had a few friends go to sixth forms and some of the rules sounded pretty crazy. I've never understood why people at a college sometimes still call it 'school'. As soon as I left school I ditched the word and college is 'college' no matter where I've gone. Then some people go as far as to say sixth form when they're in college because they're in the sixth form center area of it, and I'm just like 'dude. save your breath. It's college.' The three have always been very different things to me, and I don't think I've ever really mixed them. Though, doing the summer school thing last year, the uni was split into 'colleges' which really bugged me >.> Some people were so fast to say 'lets get back to the college' at the end of each day which also slightly drove me insane... I'd always be like *groan* 'let's go back to Van Mildert'. Eh.

Random rant/rabble over.

[Remus Lupin]

I called it sixth form whenever people asked whether I was at school or college or uni or whatever, but referred to it as school the rest of the time, so in casual conversation and that. Never college, there's too big a difference between school and college. As for colleges at unis, I really like that system. I applied to Cambridge (rejected after interview so that's not where I'm actually going) and I referred to it as a uni, except for when I was being more specific. So I'd say college if I was talking about the college I was applying to, and I'd say 'head back to the college' when in the town. A lot of people I know got into Oxbridge and they all seem to do similar things. No one would say they attended a college though, they'd all say they went to a university.

[Bethany Rogers]

That sounds terribly complicated, at least compared to here. We've got school (kindergarten through 12th grade), then college is the four years after that. Some colleges are universities, but others are just normal colleges for an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree, which is what I'm getting. Master's degrees and doctorates are university stuff, but you can get bachelor's degrees at a university, too.

[Remus Lupin]

Everything's done at a university here, but it doesn't last four years. A bachelor's degree takes three years except medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, which takes five years. Master's degrees, which is what I'm going to start, take four years, since the extra stuff is just done in an extra year after all the stuff for a bachelor's has been covered. Doctorates work very differently, I'm not sure but I think they might take 3 years.

[Jaycie]

My summer school was at Durham Uni, and most of the student ambassadors there even referred to the colleges by their names. They'd always say 'lets go back to Van Mildert' or 'boys, you can head straight to Aidan's to drop of your things', or 'we're going to go look around Castle soon'... Stuff like that. But everywhere was always referred to by name. But I think it helps that the majority of the places are named after people so it just kinda sounds like you're saying your going to someone's house xD I miss that place

Here school is like... Nursery (sometimes), but at least from reception (age 4/5) up to Year 11 (age 16). A-levels (which is the academic route) is classed as 16 - 19 education, but I think that's because it's surprisingly common for people to fail their first year of A-levels by not realizing that they have to put a lot of work into it unlike for their school GCSEs XD That and a lot of people make the wrong choices of subjects and stuff, because they assume it's going to be one thing and it's not. Either way, there's a three year window for that though the course itself only takes two. And, of course, if you go to a college rather than a Sixth Form there's all the vocational courses, etc. THEN University

And actually, things aren't so different here. There are a number of colleges/further education places that offer bachelor degrees. The college I was at the last two years for A-levels offers a small selection of degree courses. And here a four year bachelor's degree is an option on quite a lot of different courses, because a lot offer study abroad/work placement/stuff like that. I think pretty much all foreign language courses have a compulsory year abroad...

[Remus Lupin]

We'd refer to them by name, but only when it wasn't clear which we were talking about. Never been to Durham but I hear it's really good. I miss Cambridge, it was such a nice place. Hopefully I'll get there one day for a PhD or something.

Yeah, kids start school at 4, but sometimes you get preschool when you're 2 or 3 as well. That's optional though. For me and Jayce, you legally had to go school (or be home schooled) until the end of year 11, age 16. They've changed it now so the school leaving age is 18 for people one or two years younger than me, I forget which. It's pretty common to mess up in sixth form. You only take three or four subjects and some people don't know what they wabt to do. I myself was set on being a vet, but aftera while had doubts. At the end of my first year I decided I definitely wanted to take physics at uni instead, and since I'd thought I wanted to be a vet I hadn't taken maths. Luckily I didn't have to redo a year though, I just switched history for maths and caught up on the year I missed over the summer. They got rid of january exams though so I had to wait until this summer to take all last year's maths exams which was a pain.

I know of some places that have a year abroad in a three year course, and occasionally in industry too. Depends on the place and course. In Scotland the courses are all a year longer, too.

[Simoriah]

Wow, you guys are really specific on the differences between the types of schools. Kinda wish we were like that, but we all understand what we mean anyway. No one really says "university" unless its in the name of the school (see, there I go using the word school). If someone asks what my plans are for next year, I wouldn't say, "I'll be attending university." That would get me some strange looks. I'd say I'm going to college. I guess "school" is really used at any stage at which you're receiving an education. We have pre-school, grade school, elementary school, middle school (or junior high school), high school, then college.

Like Jo, I'm going to be starting on my bachelor's degree. Four years is the standard. Some people may take five because they don't know what they want to do, like Quetzal. Some people may take three because they have a bunch of credits already going into college (I could do this, but I'm not). I'll be at a university, and most of my friends my age will be as well. You could also be saying I'm going for my undergrad (undergraduate), and a Master's or Doctorate would be considered Graduate. Master's is typically four years, doctorate another 4. I think. My knowledge gets fuzzier at that point.

Studying abroad is an option for most everyone but a lot of people don't take it up. Because I'll be getting a minor in Spanish, I really want to. And I think I'll be able to. So that's exciting. Anyway, me specifically, I'll be going in for Math, with a possible double-major in Chemistry. And a minor in Spanish.