You have surely noticed that U.S. higher education institutions come under various names: Middlebury College, Princeton University, or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the U.S., institutions providing higher education can be called by any of these names: colleges, universities, institutes. "School" is also used in informal communication, like in "at my school in Florida we have many students from Romania".

Colleges tend to be smaller. Their student population may range from a couple of hundred to 3,000. Colleges usually offer only undergraduate degrees (bachelor's degrees - "licenta" in the Romanian system). Universities are larger and have a richer offer: undergraduate and graduate programs (master's and doctorate). Institutes commonly provide training in a group of closely related subject areas, like technology, arts etc.

Romanian students generally choose to enroll at 4-year colleges or universities to get their Bachelor's degree. You can start your undergraduate education in a 2-year college and get an Associate degree, then transfer to a 4-year institution to complete your degree.

Most U.S. schools enroll both men and women, but there are also single-sex colleges. The College Board lists 51 women's colleges and 5 men's colleges.

Some institutions are public (42%) and some private (58%). Public universities sometimes include the words "state university" in their title. They tend to have a big student population and generally accept more students than private universities. The largest universities in the U.S. are all public: Michigan State University, Ohio State University, University of Texas.

Explanations of terms is available in the Glossary section.