Right now I'm enrolled at St. Petersburg College to finish the Associate degree I started back in 1979. After getting my degree track finally sorted out yesterday, I am only 25 credits (8 classes and one lab) short of my degree. Looking ahead, I've been interested in going on to the next level and completing a 4-year degree. Sometimes I read the requirements for various degrees at different schools, and sometimes they specify "upper division courses". Is there a standard that identifies a particular course as "upper division" or does each particular school, when evaluating your transfer credit, make the determination as to what is upper division and what is not?
In general, courses at the 300 and 400 level are considered upper level. The course numbers that begin with "3" or "4" should work, but definitely check with the school first. - Tom
Rules of thumb I learned this over the course of my studies: 300 and 400 level courses are *generally* considered upper division or upper level. However, many schools will not grant upper division transfer credit for courses with words "Introduction to.." or "Survey of.." in the title, even if they are 300- or 400- level courses. The free materials that you can get from Excelsior College spell it out pretty well.
Upper level courses are those typically taken in the junior and senior years of a four year program. Generally, they build upon material taught at the lower-level in introductory or survey courses. For example, English 101 - Freshman English is a lower level course at the introductory level. A course numbered English 390 - Business and Professional Writing that required particpants to have already completed English at the lower level, would be upper-level. Some schools will not award upper level credit for any course taught at a community/technical college in the 2-year program. Just because a course has lower level prerequisites or is open only to upper classmen doesn't make it "upper level" -- but that is usually the basis for determining what is upper-level and what is not. Some courses labeled "Introduction to..." can be upper level courses depending upon the university reviewing the course. On a 100-400 numbering system, I took a Politics 532 - Intro. to International Law. This course was offered for both undergraduate and graduate credit. It's clearly "upper level" even though it says "Intro." in the title.
As most have said, the upper level classes are generally 300-400. I took a 300 level class and COSC considered it a lower level class. Where are you going to get your BS from? By the way, I went to SPJC several years ago and it is a great school.
Re: Re: Upper division courses? Well, they've dropped the "J" since they're now offering 4-year degrees. Currently they don't offer a bachelor's that I'm interested in that's available completely online, so I'm not sure as yet. I'm considering a number of options, including FSU, UF, UCF, and Excelsior, among others.
One exception to the rule: Thomas Edison State College allows any course 200 and above to be counted as upper level. Combined with the open transfer policy, I think it's fairly safe to say they offer the easiest RA bachelors in existence.
[ Thomas Edison State College allows any course 200 and above to be counted as upper level. Is this true? I thought courses that were considered upper division at TESC had to be at least 300 or above?
80 Credits. Quite possible to get a degree using community college credits + CLEP and never take any university classes.
