College vs University in USA: Complete Guide for International Students

if you're an international student trying to study in the United States you've probably seen there's different types of schools there are colleges there are universities and there are community colleges but what's the difference and more importantly which one is right for you so I'm actually originally from South Africa I came to study in America as an international student and I found it very confusing on what exactly a college was what a community College was and what a university was so what I'll try and do in this video is explain exactly what the difference is so that you can understand how you can approach your admissions process in America as an international student so let's actually Jump Right In [Music] what's the biggest differences between a college a university and a community college well it comes down to size degrees offered and the cost so let's actually look at colleges first for colleges they primarily focus on undergraduate degrees so think of it as bachelor's degrees and they usually have smaller class sizes and more personalized learning and some examples of colleges are something like am C college or Pomona College these are very selective colleges that offer undergraduate degrees and have very small class sizes now let's actually jump on to the next type which is universities now universities primarily offer both undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees they also have larger campuses and more research opportunities and also degree options so they have much more degree options than colleges now examples of universities are Harvard University and University of Michigan so these are actually a private and a public university which colleges also have public and private colleges now let's actually talk about the third type of college which is community college now community colleges actually offer twoyear Associates degrees so they don't typically offer a full bachelor's degree so usually people will just go there for two years and then transfer onto a college or a university now community colleges are usually the cheapest option and they're great for transfer students so as I said if you go to a community college first you will do two years there and then you'll transfer onto a four-year college or university to finish up the rest of your degree now again I made a video about community colleges and I'm going put it somewhere up here so that you can learn more about them okay so in simple terms a college is a smaller version of a university and then a university has both undergrad and graduate programs and then a community college is simply a two-year school that's great for saving money before transferring to a college or university okay so now let's talk about costs because as an international student this is a huge Factor now the average tuition cost for international students at like a community college is anywhere between $6,000 to $10,000 per year and this is intuition right so you'll be paying typically $6 to $110,000 per year at a community college now at a public university or college you'll be typically paying anywhere between $3,000 to $45,000 as an international student per year for outof state tuition now again there's a way to lower this and I actually created a video that I'll be putting up here so that you can learn more about instate tuition which will help you a lot when it comes to public colleges and universities now for private colleges and universities they typically cost 40,000 to 60,000 plus per year intuition now the big thing about them though is that private colleges and universities typically gives International students financial aid and Scholarships in order to bring down that cost so if you're looking for the cheapest way to get a US degree then what I recommend is starting out at a community college and then transferring to a university where you can say save over $100,000 by doing that okay so now what I want to touch on next is actually the degrees right so at community colleges as I said they offer a 2-year associates degree and this is going to be best for people who want to transfer to a university or college they also offer certificates for technical jobs now that's the big thing about community colleges they typically don't offer a bachelor's degree so you need to get a bachelor's degree at a college or a university now when it comes to colleges they typically offer fouryear Bachelor degrees and the big thing though here is that they usually focus on liberal arts or Sciences so they don't really focus on like engineering and stuff like that they usually focus on Liberal Arts and Sciences and they typically don't have a master's or PhD program now some do and if they do they're usually very small and specialized but typically if you want to go for master's degree or PhD You' be doing so at a university so moving on to University they usually offer Bachelor degrees Master degrees and phds and they are best for students who want to continue studying after the undergrad level and then also if you want more research opportunities so basically if your goal is to get a bachelor's degree then both a college and a university will work but if you plan to do a master's or a PhD then you probably need to attend a University now of course you can get your bachelor's degree in a college and then still do your Master's or PhD in a university so now I want to answer the question which one is best for you as an international student now again I love answering this question with it depends so Community College is best for you if you want the cheapest option to study in the United States and this is because Community College is typically cheaper than going to a college or university in America the big thing about community colleges is that you need to transfer to a university or college later and that again is another process that you need to go through especially when it comes to visas and stuff like that so definitely something to think about as you attend Community College or if you think you want to attend Community College now colleges are best for you if you prefer small class sizes and personalized learning also they're best for you if you AR thinking of doing a master's or a PhD and you're thinking more of a liberal arts education so if you like the liberal arts then colleges are going to be typically better for you than universities now you should definitely think about attending a university if you want more degree options and research opportunities and also if you thinking about pursuing a master's or PhD and you also want the big campus experience then definitely think about attending a university instead of a college now the last thing I want to go over in this video is just some common myths about college and universities and also Community College right so myth number one colleges are worse than universities this is false right so there are many top ranked schools in the US that are actually colleges so think of things like Williams College it's very highly ranked Amherst that's another very highly ranked college so it's not true that colleges are worse than universities in America they're just different myth number two community colleges are only for bad stud students this is another thing that's false many International students thought at community colleges so that they can save money and then transfer to top universities a great example is me I started at a community college because I didn't have the money to go to a four-year University or college first so I started there and then I got a full ride to go to University of Rochester and then later on I actually went to Brown University and University of Pennsylvania which are ivy schools so it doesn't mean because you're going to a community college that you're a bad student it just means again that you have different goals and different means of attending college now the third myth is that universities are always better and this is false again it's not always the case that they're better if you prefer small classes and direct access to professors then a college might be a better fit for you than a huge university so it really just depends on the individual so having said that my recommendations for you is based on your situation right so if you're on a budget then definitely start at a community college if you want a traditional us experience then definitely go straight to college or university and if you are planning on getting a master's or PhD then definitely think about going to a university because they'll have more options for you there but either way I want you to do your own research when you decide to go to whichever University you want to go to and pick the school that fits best for you so if you want to keep on seeing these tips then definitely do that subscribe like and turn on the notifications so that you can get more videos from me but again thank you so much for watching and I'll be seeing you in the next video