School Acronyms

[Vene]

"U of M" causes problems constantly, because my family is from Minnesota and I went to grad school at University of Michigan.

I grew up in Michigan and moved to Minnesota, so I've taken to calling it UMN because the U of M is in Ann Arbor.

[Crucial BBQ]

Crucial BBQ, I din't get the acronyms in your signature: CSMB? MLML? 

 

And sometimes I don't get the program's name on the Results page...

CSUMB = California State University, Monterey Bay.  MLML = Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. MLML is the "marine biology/oceanography" department/program for a seven campus CSU consortium.  Applicants apply to both MLML and one (or more) of the participating CSUs, and need to get accepted by both (which is why some applicants apply to more than of the CSUs).  I just happened to select CSUMB because it is "next door" to MLML. 

 

It can get especially confusing with the California State University school system, since some schools are "California State University [city name]" and others go by "[city name] State University".

 

For example: Cal State Northridge and San Jose State University (CSUN and SJSU) are both in the CSU (California State University) school system.

I was born and raised in California, Chico State was the only "State" school that I knew of growing up and CSU Northridge was just "Northridge".  The rest were all CSU Something, or CSUX.  

 

 

 

Luckily, the most confusing acronym for the universities I applied to is UMD (University of Maryland).  I refer the other two universities as simply "Lehigh" or "UDel," which folks can usually figure out.

Before moving to Maryland, UMD to me was University of Minnesota, Duluth.  People around here simply refer to it as Maryland.  Or College Park.  UMD, UMCP, and so on will get you confused looks. 

[Munashi]

I applied to two "PSU"s: Portland State (in Oregon) and Penn State.  I've taken summer classes at Portland State in the past, so starting this fall I'll not only have applied to them both but attended them both.

 

In my mind, Portland is "PSU" and Penn State is... "Penn State". 

[starofdawn]

I was born and raised in California, Chico State was the only "State" school that I knew of growing up and CSU Northridge was just "Northridge".  The rest were all CSU Something, or CSUX.  

 

 California born and bred as well - no one ever talked about San Diego State? Or San Jose State? Or Sonoma State?

[gr8pumpkin]

I grew up in Michigan and heard USC called "Southern Cal" all my life.  Then I came to realize nobody actually from USC calls it that, it's often just SC.

[spectastic]

not really school related, but people in Texas keep forgetting where I'm from.

 

"where are you from again?" - Iowa - "ohh, cold up there" - yep....

 

"so you're Buckeye fan?" - no I'm from Iowa - "yea but aren't they the buckeyes? er no, hawkeyes" - no that U of I, I'm from ISU, Cyclones - "ohhhh"

 

"So are you going back to Idaho for Thanksgiving, er Ohio?" - *thinking: are we really going to do this again?*

[PhDerp]

I screw up Idaho, Ohio, and Iowa sometimes. I know the difference, but it's such an easy mistake for me!

[gingin6789]

 

Before moving to Maryland, UMD to me was University of Minnesota, Duluth.  People around here simply refer to it as Maryland.  Or College Park.  UMD, UMCP, and so on will get you confused looks. 

Oh, really?  Ahhh I still don't have it right! I'll just call it Maryland =) College Park makes me think of Penn State, so I'll stick with Maryland =) Thanks for letting me know!

[GreenePony]

As a Pennsylvanian, I always get confused when I hear people say "Penn" by itself when referring to either Penn State or the University of Pennsylvania.  After someone says "Penn," I have to ask "State?  Or UPenn?"  Or I ask "'We are!'  or 'U?'"   

 

I also had several friends who attended Bucknell University for undergrad, so whenever folks on here say "BU," I have to remember that they likely don't mean Bucknell.

 

I don't think I've ever heard anyone use Penn to refer to Penn State, however an annoying number do mix up the full names - "No, University of Pennsylvania is not in the middle of no where. Pennsylvania State University is."

For some reason, I never think of Bucknell as a BU- probably because there was a big marketing hubub 3-5 years ago about Boston and Baylor. A former university president was soooo concerned he tried to eliminate "BU" as a logo, and instead only use "BAYLOR". Too bad he forgot the universities have different colors and BU is too engrained in the sports culture (iconic set for the Golden Wave and a couple very popular cheers, also it would have messed up my face painting schedule. BU fits much nicer on a cheek than Baylor)

[bakalamba]

This is enlightening.

 

According to this, confusion may arise most with NSU, MSU, CU, and ASU. Coolest nickname? Wazzu or Oxy, I think.

[gingin6789]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone use Penn to refer to Penn State, however an annoying number do mix up the full names - "No, University of Pennsylvania is not in the middle of no where. Pennsylvania State University is."

For some reason, I never think of Bucknell as a BU- probably because there was a big marketing hubub 3-5 years ago about Boston and Baylor. A former university president was soooo concerned he tried to eliminate "BU" as a logo, and instead only use "BAYLOR". Too bad he forgot the universities have different colors and BU is too engrained in the sports culture (iconic set for the Golden Wave and a couple very popular cheers, also it would have messed up my face painting schedule. BU fits much nicer on a cheek than Baylor)

Pretty handy way for folks to remember where PSU and UPenn are!!

 

Oh, I never knew about that BU hubbub!!  The lengths that former president went to were pretty extreme!!  I'd rather say "BU" for Baylor because, whenever I see Baylor, I just think of my friend who is originally from Vermont (I think) whose last name is Baylor, and it just throws everything off in my mind ... 

 

[Not as confusing as the high school bearing my last name in the state I happen to share a first name with.  It was super weird when I found that out!]

[chigirl2014]

I went to Northwestern undergrad and everyone there hates it when people and especially sports channels abbreviate it "NW" or "NWU." Northwestern is one word. ONE WORD. The abbreviation is NU: Northwestern University.

[DerpTastic]

People have been constantly confusing University of Rochester with RIT. I tell them I was accepted at or visiting at Uni of Rochester, and they're like, RIT? Nope.... Uni of Rochester... like I said. >.>

[maelia8]

I'm from Oregon, and for me, OSU means Oregon State University, so I was super confused the first time I saw it used here to refer to Ohio State University … and if I'm really unlucky, it might even mean Oklahoma State University … so confused.

[GeographyOSU]

My school's acronym is UMD, which is mainly used within Minnesota. Of course, the much more well known University of Maryland-College Park uses that acronym too so outside of the state, my school usually is referred to as Minnesota-Duluth.

[Vene]

I've ran into something more now that I've accepted a program. I'm heading to the University of Vermont, which is UVM, but people keep calling it UVT.

[maelia8]

Another difficult one for me is U of O … for me, as an Oregonian, it's clearly the school attended by the Ducks (University of Oregon in Eugene), but for some people, it's the University of Oklahoma in Norman … thank goodness there's no University of Ohio as well, only Ohio State University.

[Scarf in the wind]

 California born and bred as well - no one ever talked about San Diego State? Or San Jose State? Or Sonoma State?

 

Same here. Attended a Cal State, and will be attending SDSU. Funnily enough, people I talk to about my upcoming master's program have difficulty differentiating between SDSU (San Diego State University) and UCSD (University of California San Diego). Always amusing. I mean, I'd love to do my Ph.D at UCSD. It woud be amazing if I had that opportunity, but not yet.

[Scarf in the wind]

Not necessarily an acronym, but saying "Tech" in the south refers to Georgia Tech, but if you go elsewhere then it may refer to something else like Michigan Tech.  Kinda frustrating considering that Georgia Tech is the first one to "brand" the name Tech.  

 

Or it could mean CalTech.

[starofdawn]

Same here. Attended a Cal State, and will be attending SDSU. Funnily enough, people I talk to about my upcoming master's program have difficulty differentiating between SDSU (San Diego State University) and UCSD (University of California San Diego). Always amusing. I mean, I'd love to do my Ph.D at UCSD. It woud be amazing if I had that opportunity, but not yet.

Add in University of San Diego to the mix (USD) and it confuses everyone!

[S_Colorado]

University of Colorado - Boulder isn't UC-Boulder but is instead CU-Boulder.

 

I got so confused when I first applied being from California and the land of the UC schools.