Unit4-Describing your educational background

General English:7

Describing your educational background

VOCABULARY

Take a look at some educational vocabulary

university,high school,private school,middle school,public elementary school

University and college

In the US,a college is often a single school offering a liberal arts degree,
while a university has multiple schools(engineering,law,etc...).
Americans refer to both as college,unless they are tlking about a specific university.When university is used,an article such as the usually precedes it.

I'm going to college in the fall.

They both went to Pacific University.

We play on the volleyball team at the university.

In the UK,college is generally a place for further or vocational education,whereas university is where
you study for a graduate or postgraduate degree.The article 'the' is not usually used with either term.

I'm going to university in the autumn.

I went to college to study computer programming.

In the US,students say they are in college;In the UK,students say they're at university.

Paul and his sister are both in college.

Paul and his sister are both at university.

Listening

Sentence stress

Making a word sound longer and saying it with a slightly higer pitch.

Private schools are too expensive.

Notice that high and university are stressed in this sentence:

After high school,I went to a private university.

You can change the meaning of a sentence by stressing different words.Notice how the meaning changes if private is stressed instead of university.

After high school,I went to a private university.

Notice how the meaning changes if the speaker stresses I in addition to private.

After high school,I went to a private university.

VOCABULARY2

University degrees

Here are some common types of university degree and their abbreviated terms.

Bachelor's

BA
Bachelor's
Bachelor's of arts
BS
Bachelor's of Science

Master's

MA
master's
Mater's of arts
MS
Mater's Science
MBA
Master of Business Administration

Doctorate

Ph.D.

doctorate

Doctor of Philosophy

M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Use expressions like there to talk about qualifications and degrees:

I got my BS in political science.

Charles did his master's in communications.

She has a doctorate in criminal justice.

You qualifications are impressive.Two master's degrees!

Expressions2

I did an MBA at....

I went on to ....

I received a ...

Most of them had...

My grades went down.

The classes were big.

I went to ....