Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. I’m Conner from polyglossa.com, and you’re listening to Episode 30 of the Listening Time podcast.

If this is your first time listening, welcome! I’m glad you found this resource to help you practice your listening comprehension in English. I’m sure that you already know how this works by now if you’ve been listening for a while. But if this is the first episode that you’re listening to, let me just explain really quickly how it works. In each episode, I choose a different topic or a couple different topics, and I speak about these topics in a natural way, using natural words and phrases and expressions, but I speak a little bit more slowly, and a little bit more clearly than the average native speaker speaks. In this way, you can understand me better and learn new words more easily because you understand more of what you’re hearing. And then hopefully, after using these episodes for a while to practice, you can eventually move on to real podcasts made for English speakers. So, this podcast should be a great resource for you to help you practice your listening.

I’ve noticed recently that the podcast is growing, and I’m very happy about that. It’s still a small podcast, but I see some progress. Specifically, I see that there are some new listeners from certain countries. The number one country is Vietnam, actually. So, I’m really happy to have all my Vietnamese listeners here. I’ve been getting a lot of new listeners from Thailand as well. So that’s really cool. And I’m happy to have all of you listening from all the different countries, wherever you’re from. Thank you for tuning in to this podcast, and please share it with anyone who might find it useful so that this podcast can continue to grow.

So today, we’re going to talk about university. This is definitely an interesting topic, and it’s a topic that students asked me about a lot, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Before we begin, remember that you have the transcript available for each episode. So, if you want the transcript for this episode, you can find it in the Episode Notes. And of course, remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com so you can practice your listening skills even more. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay so first of all, I need to talk about something really important. And that is the difference between the words “university” and “college”. So, of course everyone knows what a university is. I think in every language, every country, there’s a word for university. This is a very clear concept. However, it’s important for you to know that in American English, we actually prefer to use the word “college” rather than university. So, the word “college” in American English means this same exact thing as university. They’re interchangeable.

So I can say, “I went to that university” or “I went to that college”. It means the same thing. However, we actually prefer to say the word “college”. When I’m speaking with other Americans, I rarely use the word university. I only use the word “university” when I’m talking to students of mine who are from other countries. And we often have miscommunications when I use the word college, because in other countries, college might mean something different, but in American English, college and university are the same thing.

So, in this episode, I’m probably going to use the word college more often because for me, that’s what’s natural. Alright, so first let’s talk about getting into college, getting admitted into college. This just means being accepted into college. So, in the US, what are the criteria for being accepted into colleges? What are the important things? Well, one thing that’s very important is your grades. This is another important word to recognize in American English, The word “grades” can refer to the years of school, like for example: first grade, second grade, third grade. Or it can also be used to refer to the score that you receive in your class. So: A, B, C, D, F… these are grades. So if I say “I got good grades in school”, this means that I did well in my classes. So of course, your grades play a big role in whether or not you get admitted to a college. If you get good grades, then you have a better chance of going to a good college. If you don’t get good grades, then your chances are lower.

Another important factor is your SAT score. The SAT is a standardized test that you can take in high school that colleges can use to determine your academic capabilities. So, not everyone has to take the SAT. It’s actually optional. So, if you don’t want to go to college, you don’t need to take the SAT. This is something that students take if they aspire to go to college. When we “aspire” to do something, this just means that we intend or plan or have the goal to do something. So, if you want to go to college, you should take the SAT test in high school. So that’s another important factor.

And then one last factor is extracurricular activity activities. This phrase refers to the things that you do outside of the classroom. So for example, if you play a sport in high school, this is an extracurricular activity. Or if you’re the leader of some club, then this is also an extracurricular activity. The top colleges in the US want their students to be heavily involved in school programs and things like that. So, they expect the people who apply to these colleges to have a lot of experience with extracurricular activities. So, these are the three main factors that determine whether or not you get admitted to a college in the US.

So now, let’s talk about the structure of college or university in the US. So of course, a bachelor’s degree is four years. So, if you do everything on time and you don’t fail your classes, you’ll finish in four years, and you’ll have your bachelor’s degree. The bachelor’s degree is the degree that most students get first. There are associate’s degrees, as we call them, but most students don’t do these types of degrees. Associate’s degrees are only two years. Most people do bachelor’s degrees, and they’re four years. So, in the first two years of your bachelor’s program, this is what we call “general education”.

So, these classes that you take are general classes. They’re not all focused on your major. This is another very important word. The word “major” refers to the subject that you study in college. So for example, I could say “my major is English”, or you can also say, “I majored in English”. You can use it as a verb, like that. So, in your first two years of college, your classes are pretty general. You take a science class, a history class, an English class, a math class, etc. You don’t get to only focus on your major.

Some people like this, and some people don’t like this. For example, the students who already know exactly what they want to study, they probably don’t like this type of structure because it forces them to study subjects that they don’t want to study. But there are many students who enter college, and they don’t know what they want to study yet. They haven’t chosen a major. And these students have until the beginning of their third year to choose their major. When we say that you “have until” some time, this means that this is the deadline. You have to do this action before that time. So, students have to choose their major before their third year of college.

So, these students might benefit from this general education in their first two years, because they have time to see what they like. They can experience different classes, different subjects, and they can choose the one that is most interesting for them. And then, they can declare this major before their third year. And then, in the third and fourth year of your bachelor’s program, your classes are focused on your major. So, almost all of your classes have something to do with the subject that you chose. So really, this system is divided into two parts. Your first two years are general, and your second two years are more specific.

For me, this wasn’t that great because I already knew what subjects I wanted to study. So, it seemed like a big waste of time and money to study all of these unrelated subjects during the first two years, but that’s just my opinion. So, there aren’t only majors in universities, there are also minors. This is an optional thing. If you don’t want to choose a minor, that’s okay. You don’t have to. But some people decide that they want to have a major and a minor. The minor is the subject that is secondary to your main subject. So, maybe you want to study math as your major, and you want to do a minor in physics, for example. This means that the majority of your classes will be related to math, and then the other classes will be focused on physics. And so I didn’t choose this option. I didn’t do a minor, but I know other people that did do this. And a lot of people prefer to have a minor as well as a major.

And one other important thing is that in university, we have what we call “credits”. So, each class is worth a certain amount of credits, and you need a certain amount of credits in order to graduate. So, you have to reach this number. If you don’t have enough credits, you can’t graduate. You can’t get your degree. So if I remember correctly, I think that most classes are worth three credits, but some of them are worth four and some of them are worth one. It just depends on the type of class. So, credits are very important when it comes to college because this is what you need if you want to graduate.

So, how about the class schedule? Well, this is different for everyone. It depends on how many classes you’re taking each semester, and it depends on which classes you choose, and it can also depend on your preference. Some people like morning classes, some people like evening classes. And you often have the opportunity to choose, more or less, when your classes are. But sometimes, it’s a little more limited, and you have to take one class in particular, and there’s only one time slot for that class. When we use the phrase time slot in English, we’re just referring to a certain time in your schedule. That’s it.

So, when I was in college, it was very common for students to have classes from Monday to Thursday. So for example, I think that I only had Friday classes during one or two semesters, I think. I think during the other terms, I didn’t have Friday classes, so I always had a three-day weekend. This is pretty cool because it feels like you have a lot of free time after you finish your week of classes. So, if I remember correctly, I think most of my classes were about two hours in length, but some are shorter and some are longer, of course. And in my college, it was necessary to go to class. So you couldn’t just skip class and study and take the tests and get good grades. So, you had to attend class if you wanted to pass the class. So, I know that in other countries, there are different systems, where maybe you don’t have to go to all the lectures, and you just need to go to certain classes to take tests or do certain assignments, but at least in my college, it was necessary to go to class. So, I didn’t skip class that often.

So, one really important factor when it comes to choosing a college is the environment at the college, because in the US, it’s really common for people to live on campus during their first year or first couple years. Just a note: when we say live “on campus”, we’re referring to living at the university. The “campus” refers to the university grounds. So for example, I lived on campus for a couple years when I was in university. When people live on campus, they live in what we call “dorms”, or dormitories. So, when people live in dorms this just means that they share a room or a space with other students at the same college, and they live there full-time. So, they can walk to all their classes, they don’t need a car, and their whole life revolves around that university.

You’ve probably seen American movies that are about college, or with scenes where people are living in the dorms. This is very accurate. This is really common in the US. So, living on campus is definitely an interesting experience. And many people love this, especially people who like to party. I’m not one of these people. I don’t drink and I don’t party. So for me, this aspect isn’t that interesting, but for other students, this is what they’re looking forward to when they start college. They want to party.

So, many students do very poorly in their classes during their first year of college. When we say that you do “poorly” in something, this means that you don’t do well, you do bad. So, many students fail a lot of classes in their first year, or they just don’t do very well overall because they’re focused so much on their social life on campus. So, that’s one thing that a lot of people regret after their first couple years, because maybe they’re not able to finish their degree in four years because they have to retake classes that they failed. So, partying on campus is a really big thing in the US.

Another thing that’s really big in college is sports. So, college sports in the US are really popular. Many people watch college sports on TV, even. So for example, I know people who like watching college football, and they actually prefer watching college football more than professional football. So, this is a really big industry, so to say, in the US. And so, of course, if you’re a good athlete in high school, you have the opportunity to go to a lot of good colleges.

So, if you’re one of the best athletes in your sport, there will be recruiters who come to watch your games in high school. These recruiters are coming from different colleges. And they’ll actually try to convince you to go to their college, and they’ll offer you all kinds of benefits, and they’ll offer you a scholarship for sure. A “scholarship” is money that a university gives a student to attend their school. So, instead of you, the student, paying to go to the school, maybe the school will pay your whole tuition for you. The word “tuition” in English refers to the money that you have to pay to attend a college.

So, the best athletes in high school oftentimes receive full-ride scholarships. A “full-ride scholarship” is a scholarship that pays for your whole time at the university. It pays the whole price that you would normally owe in order to go to that university. So, this is a huge benefit of course, because in the US, universities are extremely expensive, as you probably know.

How much does it cost to go to college in the US? Well, it depends completely on which school you go to, and it also depends on where you live. Usually, if you go to a college that’s in your state, it’s cheaper than if you go to a college in another state. And of course, if you want to go to a very good college, this is going to cost significantly more than a bad college. I didn’t go to a good college, but my college was still expensive compared to universities around the world. It still costs thousands and thousands of dollars. If you want to go to a really good school and you want to live on campus, it’s common to pay one hundred thousands dollars or even more, to finish a four-year bachelor’s program. That’s a crazy amount of money. I know. But this is the reality in the US.

Alright, so lastly, let’s talk about whether or not college is worth it. Should students go to college, or no? I think this depends completely on what you want to do in your career. If you want to be a doctor, for example, you probably need to go to college, but if you want to be an entrepreneur, you probably don’t need to go to college. I think each person needs to weigh the pros and cons, and make the decision for themselves. When we say to “weigh” something, we’re just saying to measure it… to see what is more important: the pros or the cons, the advantages or the disadvantages. For me, I think that most people don’t need to go to college. They just need to gain experience on the job. They need to actually work and learn, and they’ll be just fine. But I know that other people disagree with me, and they would tell you that you definitely need to go to college if you want to be successful. People have differing opinions when it comes to this.

Alright, we’ll stop there for today. Hopefully, this episode was interesting for you, and hopefully, it was good practice for your listening. Remember that you can access the transcript in the Episode Notes. And remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com if you need more practice for your listening. Alright, thank you very much for listening to this episode, and I hope you’ll come back for Episode 31 of the Listening Time podcast.