The Old College Try

[nq:1]"School" "College" "University" They often seem to me to be interchangeable in AmE. Are they?[/nq]
Neither your impression nor the breadth of American English offer any answer to this question. You have to consider actual usage, e.g.
(1) Actual establishments: e.g. the University
of Toronto which includes a School of Medicine,
Massey College, etc.
(2) Actual users of AmE:

MC (Email Removed) wrote on 09 Nov 2003:
[nq:1]"School" "College" "University" They often seem to me to be interchangeable in AmE. Are they?[/nq]
Yes and no. In informal speech, many people don't bother to make the distinction. They'll say "I went to school at Harvard", which probably means that they went to Harvard College for a BA degree. If they say they went to Harvard University, it p

[nq:1]In informal speech, many people don't bother to make the distinction. They'll say "I went to school at Harvard",[/nq]
Maybe if they graduated within the past decade or two. To more ancient alumni, calling the college a school alerts the ears: it's an understandable, but unexpected, innovation.
[nq:1]which probably means that they went to Harvard College for a BA degree.[/nq]
Not

[nq:2]"School" "College" "University" They often seem to me to be interchangeable in AmE. Are they?[/nq]
Depends.
"I went to school at Indiana" means I attended Indiana University.

"I went to college at Indiana" means I attended Indiana University.

"I went to university at Indiana" means I attended Indiana University and I'm phrasing it this way to irritate Areff.
Cha

[nq:1]"School" "College" "University" They often seem to me to be interchangeable in AmE. Are they?[/nq]No. 'School' refers to any school, whether nursery, kindergarten, elementary school, high school (what's called 'secondary school' in BrE, I believe), college, professional school, graduate school, or a two-week course in widget-making. (Indeed, less formally, 'school' can refer to a two-hour co

I, today, wrote a long explanation. In part, it read:
[nq:1]There are three systems: A. 'Elementary school' is first through eighth grades (approx. ages six through thirteen). 'High school' is ... (fifteen through seventeen). In any of these systems, middle school might instead be called 'junior high school' or 'intermediate school'.[/nq]
However, see
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/w

(Email Removed) (J. W. Love) wrote on 09 Nov 2003:
[nq:2]In informal speech, many people don't bother to make the distinction. They'll say "I went to school at Harvard",[/nq]
[nq:1]Maybe if they graduated within the past decade or two. To more ancient alumni, calling the college a school[/nq]
And is a college not a school?
[nq:1]alerts the ears: it's an understandable, but unexpect

[nq:1]Depends.[/nq]
Only if your a Hoosier, and don't care to know the difference.

Further South, a college doesn't have a paved parking lot or a football stadium, a university has both.

CyberCypher asked:
[nq:1]And is a college not a school?[/nq]
Yes, in the sense that a square is a rectangle. If people want to draw a square and call it a rectangle, that's their choice and more power to 'em!

[nq:1]"School" "College" "University" They often seem to me to be interchangeable in AmE. Are they?[/nq]
Not interchangeable, though the differing words can apply to the same institution.
Harvard was a college for a long time. I think that even as a university some of its proudest alums wore (wear) the old school tie. I think Yale has its own colors, too. I just haven't heard of Princeton