3) Why don't you use a definite article when referring to a
university or college? (As in "I go to University"?)
Basic English grammar. "I go to work", "I go to school", etc.
A generic doesn't take a definite article.
Of course, there's the little issue of Oxford and
Cambridge universities being made up of colleges... So, you can
go to "Jesus College, Cambridge" or "Cambridge University"
depending on who you're talking to.
Now, you may also notice that we don't call universities
"schools". The English tend to have left school by the age of
18. Similarly, only those at university level are
"students": younger people are schoolchildren.
Then there's the problem of degree equivalents. Must UK degrees
when I was a lot younger were three year courses. US courses
tended to be four years. The amount of work done in those
three years was equal to the four year US bachelor degree plus
at least a year of Master's level. Hence the massive influx into
the US back then of English graduates: they were much
better qualified than their American peers. (I accept that this
may no longer be true...)
As for term papers... An eight page essay is not a tough
challenge. But most US college students seem to think so. 
Gavin