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Oxford dictionary on alumnus:

a male former pupil or student of a particular school, college, or university

Oxford dictionary on dropout:

a person who has abandoned a course of study or who has rejected conventional society to pursue an alternative lifestyle

If someone chooses to quit his/her study in college, I can say that he/she is a former student of that college. Therefore, I can call her alumnus according to the definition above. It also matches the definition of a dropout.

Which one should I use: an alumnus or a dropout?

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4 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

An alumnus is undoubtedly a graduate or former student of an establishment of higher education and the implication is normally that such people have completed a course of study there. Whether or not anyone who hasn’t completed a course of study is recognized as an alumnus would, I imagine, be a matter for each establishment to decide. If you wish to avoid ambiguity, dropout would be the better choice. Alternatively, you could describe the personal circumstances of academic failure in more detail. (I have used alumnus, but the feminine is alumna. The plural of alumnus is alumni and the plural of alumna, alumnae. In referring to male and female graduates, it seems to be the convention to call them alumni.)

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If I use dropout, it seems that the person is expelled from that institution. Do I sense the meaning right? – AndonDraif Nov 23 '11 at 17:43
3  
Not necessarily. Students can leave voluntarily and still be called droputs. – Barrie England Nov 23 '11 at 17:46
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@AndonDraif: I would go as far as to say someone who was expelled for reasons other than not attending might not be considered a dropout. Dropout, to me at least, implies an amount of apathy to doing things that certain reasons for expulsion do not. – Matt Эллен Nov 23 '11 at 18:30
I know a few schools will tend to use the term "former students" to refer to anyone who has ever attended the school, as a way to contain both alumni and dropouts (and without having to use a word that sometimes bears a negative connotation). But I would agree with Matt that dropouts more typically choose to leave the school for whatever reason, while those forced out are typically just labeled "expelled students". – matthias Nov 23 '11 at 20:48
How if you use drop out in passive format as in "I was dropped out of the University of ABC in 2008"? Does that mean I was expelled from the university? – AndonDraif Nov 24 '11 at 7:50
up vote 4 down vote

You must have graduated to be called an alumnus, plural form alumni. For women, the term is alumna, plural form alumnae.

To my knowledge, this term can't be used for people who haven't graduated.

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up vote 2 down vote

Choose any of the terms alumnus, dropout, former student, attendee depending on what slant or emphasis you wish to achieve. Of these, former student and attendee are most neutral. Graduate is right out.

Note that in dictionaries alumnus, alumni, alumna and alumnae have multiple meanings listed, including both "student at" and "graduate of" senses; hence some people may misunderstand alumnus.

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up vote 2 down vote

The term alumnus/alumna refers to anyone who attended a particular university. Use graduate or dropout (or non-graduate alumnus) to specify whether or not someone completed a degree.

Many tech company founders dropped out of college, but are still considered alumni. Here is a list of Harvard's non-graduate alumni on Wikipedia.

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+1 My alma mater will hit up non-graduates for donations via the alumni association. At least when they're asking for money, there's not a distinction as to whether you finished your course of study there. – saritonin Nov 23 '11 at 22:45

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