A career is a job for which you have extensive training and you plan on pursuing for your entire professional life. For example a job would be working at a shoe store in the mall but a career would be working as a nurse in a hospital.

A major is the subject you are concentrating your studies on in college/university, and often the subject of your degree. Such as political science, biology, nursing, mathematics, women’s studies. So in the States you say you are going to college to study [biololgy] (or majoring in [biology]) and you plan on pursuing a career in medicine.

Generally, the only difference between a college and university is in the variety of degrees and the availability of higher degrees. At a college, you are usually more limited in areas of study and there are no graduate programs (masters or doctorate). At a university, there is a wider variety of areas of study and there are graduate programs available. This is just the typical difference and not all universities and colleges fall into this, but most do.

A major is what you are studying and learning about; for example, if I major in mathematics I am going to learn all about math. I can then use the degree I get from my major to work as an engineer, teacher, accountant, etc., and this job would be my career. There is no difference between a college and a university; they are essentially two different words that mean the same thing. I know that in the Spanish language colegio means high school (but sounds a lot like college) and universidad means university or college, so I can see where the confusion can come from. I hope this clears it up!

A major is what you study — for example, your major may be Communications, and with a degree in that, you may go on to have a career in Public Relations or Public Speaking… or anything else. Basically, a major is a course of study, and a career refers to the actual job path you get in the workplace.

The difference between a college and a university, I believe, pertains to the size. A University is made up of several “colleges.” I go to the University of Rhode Island, which has a College of Arts and Sciences, College of Pharmacy, a College of Engineering, and so on. In my hometown, there is a school called Bridgewater State College. It is just “one” college.

Hope this clears up some of your questions.

A “major” is a field of specialized study that will lead to a particular degree. For example, a biology “major” would earn a degree in biology.

A career is a life path that a completed degree will point toward. A biology major/degree might point a student towards medical school and a “career” in medicine or in medical research.

The difference betwen a college and a University is harder to quantify. In most cases, colleges offer bachelors’ degrees (BA, BS) whereas a University will offer postgraduate fields of study leading to Masters’ degrees or PhD’s.

Hope this helps.

Usually a college can only grant bachelor degree such as a BA or BS.

A University in addition to granting undergraduate degrees may also grant graduate degrees such as an MA MS or Ph.D.

Now that you understand the differences I can confuse you a little. Sometimes in a university they have division or subdivisions that are frequently called colleges, These colleges do not always fall into the college definition above.

You asked a good question .