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To me (an American), "what to study in college" sounds acceptable. Meanwhile, "what to study in university" sounds wrong. This suggests that these words have different grammatical attributes.

This is shown somewhat in the example sentences on m-w.com:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/university

I applied to several public universities.
He lives near the university.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/college

She teaches art at a local college.
He graduated from one of the country's best colleges.
She attended a business college.
He attended college for several years, but didn't graduate.
She dropped out of college.
I went to Mount Holyoke College.
When I was a junior in college, I spent a semester in Spain.
the Edinburgh College of Art
the London College of Fashion
She is attending fashion college.

Replacing the non-proper noun 'college' examples with 'university' doesn't sound right in many cases.

He attended university for several years, but didn't graduate.
She dropped out of university.
When I was a junior in university, I spent a semester in Spain.

Placing an article in front of 'university' does make it sound better.

He attended a university for several years, but didn't graduate.
She dropped out of the university.

Meaning aside, what is the difference between 'college' and 'university' that suggest a different sentence structure to make it sound "better".

While, Difference between "college" and "university" looks at the difference between the meanings, the question doesn't ask nor do the answers address the perceived grammatical difference.

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user204517
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    Meanings vary from country to country. Even in the same country, the terms can have various meanings. There is no grammatical difference. They are both nouns. – Mick Nov 05 '16 at 23:06
  • @EdwinAshworth your edit to the title seems to take the emphasis of the question off "why 'what to study in university' doesn't sound right" and invites answers about the difference in educational institutions in different countries (which is not what I am asking). – user204517 Nov 05 '16 at 23:10
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    The 'grammatical difference' between two nouns is a misuse of the term 'grammatical'. Grammar refers to structures; you would need to write a different title for it to be acceptable. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '16 at 23:23
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    In my experience in the U.S., universities confer advanced degrees (e.g., Masters, Ph.Ds), colleges do not. And some colleges are two-year schools (community colleges), others four-year schools. – Richard Kayser Nov 05 '16 at 23:26
  • In most American speakers unexposed to the broader Anglosphere worldwide, you can variously go to school or class or college or work, but not usually to university. Is that what you mean by “different grammatical attributes”? By the way, I find your putatively ungrammatical example of “He attended university for several years, but didn't graduate” to be wholly unremarkable, but I’ve been told I speak Canadian not American. :) – tchrist Nov 05 '16 at 23:29
  • The attributive usages (business / fashion / art) certainly seem restricted to the word 'college', but 'university' means 'whole approach to learning', and this restriction has persisted, so a 'fashion university' wouldn't make sense.'Junior' sounds wrong in the UK for both, but it probably has a specific meaning in the US. 'A local university' is probably expecting quite a few nearby: again, obvious why 'college' workd better here. Otherwise, I don't agree that differences in usage are so marked. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '16 at 23:35
  • Related, some of which are likely duplicates: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/66295, http://english.stackexchange.com/q/8656, http://english.stackexchange.com/q/19604, http://english.stackexchange.com/q/95496, http://english.stackexchange.com/q/51537, http://english.stackexchange.com/q/8656, etc. – tchrist Nov 05 '16 at 23:45
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    The most significant difference in the US, in terms of construction, is that you may "go to college" but you never "go to university". (This is apparently not true in the UK, however.) – Hot Licks Nov 06 '16 at 01:49
  • In my (limited) experience of tertiary education in North America, universities hold a monopoly on conferring post-grad degrees (Masters, PhD) and remain entry level for liberal professions such as Law & Medicine. Evidently one has to go through undregaduate existence at Bachelor level before going onto grad-school & the like. In the UK, Law & Medicine are undergrad-programs offered by the older universities & hospital med-schools in London. Colleges (exception of collegiate system at Oxford & Cambridge) rarely offer degree programs, but confine themselves to conferring diplomas & certificates – Peter Point Nov 06 '16 at 07:10
  • Like Oxbridge, the University of London is a collegiate institution conferring degrees. – Peter Point Nov 06 '16 at 07:28
  • @PeterPoint -- There are undergrad programs for law and medicine in the US as well. They are referred to as "pre-law" and "pre-med". – Hot Licks Nov 06 '16 at 18:14
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    Too broad. There are umpteen meanings of college and university in English. Meanings are not only local to a given country or smaller region; they are often local to a given college or university. In general, to know what is meant by the name you need to ask the given college or university. – Drew Nov 06 '16 at 20:17
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    This is not about the meaning of 'college' vs 'university', but rather the question of "why does 'what to take at university' sounds wrong to the American ear?" – user204517 Nov 06 '16 at 21:30
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    Does this answer your question? "In college" versus "at college" versus "at university" – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Feb 28 '20 at 11:49

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As Macmillan explains, college can be used as a noncount noun, whereas university is generally a count noun. So, when you use "university" in the singular, you typically need a determiner, like "a" or "the."

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  • Like the British (but not American) use of in hospital as an anarthrous ("no article") noun like at home, in church, at school, at work, and at college, you can say He's away at university in the UK, but not in the US (unless you say it in RP). In the US, a university is a grown-up college, which every one aspires to become. In my home town, the local college changed from Northern Illinois State Teachers College to Northern Illinois College to Northern Illinois University during my lifetime; I don't recall whether state and teachers were deleted together or separately. – John Lawler May 09 '23 at 17:07