Graduated From College

Ah, college! What a wonderful time! Sitting in the cafeteria with friends, joining all sorts of school activities, making friends, cutting class, and for some of us, even learning something important. Who would not enjoy such a time? I'm sure many talk about their college days and graduation as well. However, when we talk about graduation, we do not say, "I graduated in college." Rather, we say, "I graduated from college."

It surprised me to realize that this problem with in and from is actually quite a common one. I think the problem lies in a confusion between coming from something and currently attending that something. If the person is going through college education at the moment of speaking, then, he/she says, "I am in college." At this point, the speaker is attending college. If the person wants to talk about graduation, he/she must say, "I graduated from college" because he/she has finished college. When you finish college, you leave that school and that stage of your life; therefore, from is the preposition to use.

Remember, we use in when we're surrounded by something and from when we've left that something.