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Kung Fu would be considered the top of the
tree in martial arts, it's the one started by the Shaolin Monks from China
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Slight misnomer. The actual definition of "Kung Fu" (Gongfu) is something that takes a lot of time and effort to learn. Thus, people in college can be practicing a style of gongfu....namely their studies. The term "Kung Fu" is usually loosely adopted to mean a style of Chinese martial arts, which really cheats a lot of martial arts of their history. The martial arts practiced by Shaolin monks is one of the first documented widely known styles of martial arts, but probably not the first.
As KirStang may know, martial arts can be broadly split into the "hard" and "soft" categories. Soft style martial arts like taiji or bagua are meant to relax the body and develop internal power for strength and health. Hard style martial arts - like the Japanese Karate - are meant to develop external strength and flexibility. I practice Tae Kwon Do myself....but what I know of karate is that it is a hard style art that focuses mainly on hand techniques and the development of arm muscles and power for defense.
Whichever style of martial arts or gongfu that you're practicing, if you need to convince someone that your style is different from some other style, focus on the differences in the goals of training and the muscle groups developed during practice.
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Karate looks really cool, but is not for self defense. I've known and witnessed many many blackbelts in karate get completely owned by regular joes in streetfights. Roundhouse kicks are not practical (take too long), and all you need to do is catch one of their legs and they are practially at your mercy to what you want to do to them.
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Just as a quick response to that....any martial arts can be for self defense if you know how to use it right. The blackbelts in karate that you saw were probably from crap schools. And your roundhouse kicks might be too slow.....but that shouldn't keep you from dismissing the technique entirely. My roundhouse kicks aren't slow....