Majors

[TinCow]

I'm confused

So majors and minors have nothing to do with university?

Why do you have such a weird educational system?

I think the confusion is that the US has a two-tier university system, which is not present in many other countries.

The first tier is generally referred to as undergraduate school. The undergraduate level takes an average of four years to complete, though it can be done in less (or more) time. Graduation from undergraduate schooling results in a Bachelor's degree (BA for arts and humanities, BS for sciences). The Bachelor's degree is a degree that certifies that a person has received a general education with classes in all areas of study. However, all Bachelor's degrees also require that the student specialize in at least one area. That specialization is referred to as a 'major' and the student takes more classes (and gains more knowledge) in that specific area of study than they do in the other general courses. So, while the Bachelor's degree is still for general education, the major is an acknowledgment that the student is more focused in a specific area.

The second tier is generally referred to as graduate school. The graduate tier has no general education at all and is entirely focused on the study of the specific area that the person enrolls in. Medical school focuses exclusively on medicine, law school focuses exclusively on law, etc. Graduate degrees are considered to include all Masters and Doctorate degrees, including MA, MS, MD, JD, MBA, PhD, LLM, etc. The length of graduate schooling depends on the degree the person is attempting to get. Some degrees (like a Masters) can be completed in a single year. Some, like PhDs, can take five years or longer.

As a general rule, a "college" is a school that offers only undergraduate degrees, and a "university" is a school that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. However, there are many schools that violate this terminology for reasons I cannot understand, so there are exceptions.