| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about college or university vocabulary words. Let's get started. |
| Alright. First, let's talk about the difference between "college" and "university." Most people use them interchangeably. But, specifically, the difference is this. A "college" offers four-year courses. So, that means four years of education, four years of study, and you can earn a degree. So, I'm going to talk about "degrees" a bit later in this lesson. So, a "college" offers four years, four years of education, four years of study to get a degree. For example, "I got into a good college." "I got into a good college." So, "got in" means I was accepted to. I was accepted to a college as a student. "I got into a good college." |
| A "university" then. A "university" offers four-year courses, like a college, yes. And, universities have what's called a "graduate school." So, there are these four-year courses, and then "graduate school" is like extra study after the four-year coursework. So, for example, "The university is well known for its space program." Okay. So, "university," "college," then the next point, "graduate school," which I've mentioned here in this kind of explanation of "university." |
| So, a "graduate school." A "graduate school" is education, or a graduate school offers education after four-year coursework. So, after college or after the basic, like general education required to get a bachelor's degree, which I'll talk about later, you can choose to go to "graduate school." So, if you choose to go to graduate school, you get higher-level degrees, a master's degree, or a PhD. Again, I'll talk about those later. So, "graduate school" is like even more study. For example, "Are you going to go to graduate school?" |
| Okay. The next word is "TA." TA. A "TA" is a teaching assistant, a teaching assistant. So, this is someone who is an assistant to your instructor. So, in most cases in colleges and universities, there's one instructor. This could be a professor, it could be an associate professor, it could be like a visiting guest lecturer, there are many different types of instructor and the definitions can change depending on the college or the university. But, in general, there's one instructor, and the instructor may have a teaching assistant, or there may be more than one teaching assistant. These teaching assistants help the instructor with the class. So, this might mean the teaching assistant leads group discussions, or the teaching assistant helps with homework, or the teaching assistant helps students to learn some topics in more detail. So, teaching assistants are often graduate students. So, a graduate student is a student in the graduate school. So, it's very common for a graduate school student to work together with a professor in the graduate school in the same topic, and the graduate student gets some extra credit or has maybe a part-time job as a teaching assistant for the professor. So, they have the same subject, they have the same topic of study, and the teaching assistant works together with the professor in this way. |
| So, for example in a sentence. "He got the reading assignment from the TA." He got the reading assignment from the TA. So, this might mean my classmate received our week's reading assignment from the "TA," from the teaching assistant. So, "TA" is a very common way to abbreviate, to shorten, teaching assistant. |
| Okay. On to the next expression or the next vocabulary word, which is "syllabus." Syllabus. "Syllabus" refers to a course schedule and overview. In most colleges and universities, you get this document, this physical document, on the first day of class. It's very common for the first day of a course to be like an orientation day. So, that means you learn all of the important days, you learn all of the materials you need to gather for the lesson, you learn everything you need to know about the class. So, a "syllabus" is very important because it teaches you when all of your exams are going to happen. It teaches you -- or explains rather, it explains all of the other important dates, like the dates for assignments, deadlines for assignments. It will give you the assigned readings. Usually, there are some things to read for your lessons. And, it'll also give you contact information for your professor, for your TA, and so on. You'll typically find information about the grading scale for your class, too. Other information you might see in a syllabus includes something about like the course topics, in general, like the aim of the course, and what you can expect to learn in the course. You'll also find contact information for the key people in your course, and maybe any assistance in the course, too. So, the syllabus is a very important document it has like all your textbooks as well. |
| So, this is a very common expression, this example sentence. "Check the syllabus before you email the professor." This is something most instructors say very often in college courses or university courses. If you have a question, the first document you should check is your syllabus. Does your syllabus answer this question that you have? So, make sure you check your syllabus before you email your professor or your teaching assistant. You might already have the answer in the document. |
| Okay. On to the next one. The next one, actually, let's look at these together. These vocabulary words are "semester" and "term," semester and term. So, a "semester" is six months, and a "term" means one period in the school year. So, depending on the college, depending on the university, they might have different calendar systems they use for their courses. So, some universities use a "semester" system, which means every six months is a new chance to start courses. So, for example, there might be a spring semester, and a fall semester, maybe a summer semester and a winter semester. So, that means courses are for six months at a time. So, you take the same lessons every day or every week, for six months, you finish it. And, at the end of the semester, at the end of the six-month period, you have a break and then you start a new semester, a new course, a new group of courses. So, a "semester" is a six-month period. Some universities operate on a semester system. For example, "Winter semester is starting soon. |
| Then, a "term." A "term" means one period in the school year. So, a "semester" can be a "term." So, one period could be six months. So, we have two terms in the school year. So, two semesters. However, you may find -- it's actually very common, for some universities to have like three terms or four terms, like one term for each season. So, they don't use a semester system, they have like three terms or four terms. So, there might be like a spring term, and a summer term, and an autumn term, and a winter term in your university. You might find something like that. So, a "term" refers to the period of time for a course. For example, "Our university uses a four-term system." So, that means in one year, in one academic year, in one college or university calendar year, there are four periods for study. |
| Okay. Let's go to the next word, which is "quiz," quiz. A "quiz" is a small test of knowledge. So, "quiz" is something that's usually not really, really important for your grade, but it's like a small test of your knowledge to make sure you understand the things you're studying in your class. For example, "I had a pop quiz today," pop quiz today. "Pop quiz" refers to a surprise quiz. "Pop" means like sudden or surprise. A "pop quiz" means you didn't have any information about it. Your teacher or your instructor decided to give the students a quiz with no chance to prepare. So, it's like, what do you know now? You may find pop quizzes in some of your classes in colleges and universities. |
| So, let's compare "quiz" to "exam," or examination. An "exam," or an examination -- we use "exam" because examination is long. An "exam" is a large test of knowledge. We, typically, in university-level courses, have two exams. We have a midterm exam and a final exam. So, I just use the word "midterm." So, "midterm" means in the middle of the period. So, for example, "In the middle of spring term, I'll have a midterm exam." So, that means this term, this period, is halfway finished. We're going to have a test of knowledge, a midterm. So, "mid" refers to middle. A midterm exam and a final exam. So, "final exam" refers to a test that happens at the end of the course. It is the final test of your knowledge from that course. For example, "We need to study for the final exam." |
| Okay. The next word is "thesis," thesis. A "thesis" is a document that students prepare in order to graduate and receive a degree. So, many universities and colleges require a thesis. So, you need to make a topic of study or you need to choose a topic of study to write a document about and give a presentation about to your instructors, and they'll decide if you get a degree or not, based on your work. So, depending on the university, there may be different requirements. You may not have to prepare a thesis document, a big thesis document, for a bachelor's degree, or there may be some different requirements. But, a "thesis" is a very common thing that many students need to prepare in order to graduate. So, it's common for a "thesis" to be a paper document and to be a presentation. You need to present your ideas to the instructors at your university in your department. For example, "What's your thesis title?" So, we choose a title for our research or a title for our topic. |
| Okay. The next word I've mentioned is "degree," a degree. A "degree" is a certification of knowledge in a subject from a college or a university. So, a "degree" is physically, the paper, the paper certificate you receive, after you finish a four-year course of study or more, if you go to graduate school. So, a "degree" is like the thing you receive at the end of your studies. For example, "I finally got my degree." I finally got my degree. |
| Alright. The last group here, these are types of degrees. So, after four years of study at a college or university, you'll receive what's called a "B.A." or a "B.S.," in most cases. So, "B.A." stands for Bachelor of Arts, "B.S." stands for Bachelor of Science. So, there are these two groups. If you study something that's in the Arts -- so, that means Humanities, maybe something that's more creative, you'll receive a Bachelor of Arts. If you study something in the sciences -- so like Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Math, you'll receive a Bachelor of Science. So, depending on the type of study you do, you'll receive one of these two. We call this a "Bachelor's Degree," a Bachelor's Degree. A four-year degree, typically. |
| The next type of degree, the next step up, is called a "master's degree." A "master's degree" is something you get by attending graduate school. So, after you finish four years, you decide to continue your studies, you attend a graduate school. And, typically, a master's program, a master's degree, requires maybe about two additional years of study. So, that means six total years of study in order to get a "master's degree." You may also hear this just called a "master's." Similar to bachelor's degree, which we often just call a "bachelor's." "I got my bachelor's in…" something, or "He got his master's in architecture." So, when you want to introduce the topic of your study, or the title of your department maybe, you use "in," in. "A master's in architecture," or "She has a B.A. in linguistic." So, "linguistics" means like the study of language. So, we use the preposition "in" after our degree, and before the topic of study. |
| Finally, "PhD." "PhD" is the highest level of certification you can receive. So, "PhD" means Doctor of Philosophy," or we also call it a "Doctorate." So, "Doctor of Philosophy" is the highest level of certification you can receive. And, yes, "Philosophy" is in the title, but that doesn't mean like your topic of study is Philosophy. It just means you have the highest level of recognized knowledge in that subject. So, we can use "PhD" as a title, and we can use it to talk about our degree. For example, "She's a PhD." So, that means she's a Doctor of Philosophy. And, we usually include like the subject or the topic of study that she received the "PhD" for. So, "She's a PhD," or "He has a PhD in Economics." So, we can use both of these patterns, "he has" or "she is." So, both of those are commonly used to talk about people with PhDs. So, a "PhD" often takes a lot of time. It can take after a master's degree, which is maybe six years, it can maybe take another two years to maybe even up to eight years to receive a PhD. So, like medical doctors receive PhDs. It takes a very long time, and in many cases, a lot of money in order to get a "PhD." |
| So, these are some very important keywords that you can use when talking about colleges and universities, and your studies. So, I hope that this was helpful for you. Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
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