Meaning & use
career college
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A school that prepares students for a particular job or trade, rather than for academic study.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a career college' or 'career colleges'. It is often used in the US.
Patterns
- go to a career college
- a career college student
- graduate from a career college
After high school, he enrolled in a career college to become a dental assistant.
Career colleges often offer short programs in fields like medical billing or auto repair.
She teaches at a career college in Chicago.
Word forms
| plural | career colleges |
|---|
Common combinations
- career college program
- The career college program lasts eighteen months.
- career college degree
- He earned a career college degree in culinary arts.
- attend a career college
- Many adults attend a career college part-time while working.
- career college fair
- The career college fair attracted hundreds of high school students.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vocational school
- This is the more general term used in both American and British English; 'career college' is especially common in the US and often implies a private institution.
- trade school
- This focuses on manual or technical trades like plumbing or welding; 'career college' can also include office or health fields.
Commonly confused: career college or community college?
career college vs community college
A community college offers academic courses and two-year degrees, often as a step toward a four-year university; a career college focuses on job-specific training.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'career college' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Career college' is a noun phrase for a type of school, so it fits after 'at a' in sentence 0. The other options misuse it as a verb, an object, or an adjective for food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “career college”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.