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I'm trying to write the following sentence correctly:

X is a graduated undergraduate student from my same undergraduate university.

I hope you get the gist. X is a student who completed his undergraduate degree at the same university as mine a few years ago. How to write the sentence correctly?

2 Answers 2

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If both the speaker and X are men:

X is a fellow alumnus of Wabash College.
X and I are alumni of Wabash College.

If both the speaker and Y are women:

Y is a fellow alumna of Wellesley.
Y and I are alumnæ of Wellesley.

Gender neutral, or mixed gender:

Z is a fellow alum of South Torrance University.
Z and I are alumni of South Torrance University.
Z and I both graduated from South Torrance University.

None of these examples state the level of the degree (Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate, etc.) In many cases, that can be guessed from the name of the institution. For example, a "Junior College" degree is probably an "Associate's" degree; a medical school degree is probably a professional doctorate, such as an MD or DDS.

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    +1 for this good answer. I'll just note that use of "alumnus/a" is not entirely standardized. For example, I consider myself an "alumnus" of the university from which I got my bachelor's degree but not of the university from which I got my master's degree. I doubt that the variation is dialectal, because I've encountered varying usage just within the Northeast U.S. Commented Dec 10, 2022 at 7:03
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A student who graduates stops being a student, at least in the course the graduate from. They become a graduate.

Fred is a graduate from the bachelor's program at Well Known University, the same uni I graduated from.

The confusing bit comes when a person then enrolls in an advanced degree such as a PhD. Then they are called a graduate student. This is because the usual thing is for a PhD candidate to already have an undergrad degree.

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  • yes, that is the issue actually. The person is also applying to grad school. Calling him a graduate student becomes confusing. Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 14:30
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    It isn't really confusing. You definitely can't call him an undergraduate if he already has his first degree. Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 15:31

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