These sentences ‘My brother is a student at college.’ and ‘I am a student in school’. Why use ‘at college’ in former sentence, not ‘in college’?
It’s another case where the preposition “at” is more common in British English.
As an American, I would more often say “in college”.
Again to me, “at” sounds incorrect because it feels more like defining your physical location, like “at school”. Whereas, “in college” and “in school” can be more abstract.
So, you are a student “at college”, and when you leave campus you don’t consider yourself a student?? That’s how it sounds to me…
…But it’s correct in British English.
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Agree your point that ‘at’ feel more like defining your physical location. I think the sentence use preposition ‘at’ is not correct for American English.The lesson is tags on American English, not British English.
Well, it sounds like an American program you’re listening to, although the voice sounds a little cartoonish. The accent is American.
I guess either could be used. It’s not that big of a deal. But I would more often say “a student in college” or “a student at _____ college” when naming a specific place.
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I was taught that if we speak ‘at school’ or ‘at college’ we speak about our study, like ‘at work’ - about the place we are working.
But if we say ‘in school’ -it’s like about the building, i.e.: There are 4 floors in my school.
However, the is also this difference between BE and AE.
In AE there’s a tend to use in both cases ‘in’.
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