Courses with the last two digits between 20 and 79 (ex: CS 429, CS 378) are upper division courses. Those with the last two digits lower than 20 are lower division (ex: CS 314). Those courses with the last two digits greater than 79 are graduate courses (ex: CS 380C).
Most lower Div courses are similar in difficulty, though with few exceptions depending on professors. The Upper Div courses, however, will be more difficult in topic and curve, as many people that did not do so hot or were not as motivated will have dropped out before reaching Upper Divs.
Writing in the Professions
Upper division courses are courses offered at the junior level or higher. By definition any course taken at a community college is not upper division.
Courses with the last two digits between 20 and 79 (ex: CS 429, CS 378) are upper division courses. Those with the last two digits lower than 20 are lower division (ex: CS 314). Those courses with the last two digits greater than 79 are graduate courses (ex: CS 380C).
Commonly, lower division courses are numbered as 100 or 200 level courses and upper division courses are 300 to 400 level courses. Understanding the difference between the two will help you plan and prepare in advance.
Upper Division (UD)—A general term describing the third and fourth years of college (an upper-division student) or courses taken in the last two years of college (upper-division courses). For example, UD courses are numbered in the 300- and 400-level which cover more in-depth content.
The credit value of courses is expressed in semester hours. Most courses are designed to require approximately three hours of work a week throughout the semester for each semester hour of credit given; that is, for each hour a class meets, an average of two additional hours of preparation is expected of the student.
Lower-division courses are offered for freshman and sophomore level credit. All courses offered at a community college are lower-division courses. Upper-division courses are offered for junior and senior level credit. These courses are not offered by community colleges.
You can generally tell the level of the course by looking at the first digit of the 4 digit catalogue number. For example ARTS 1007 is a level I course and ARTS 2009 is a level II course.
Top level management refers to top position in the organization such as Board of Directors, CEO, President, Managing Director, etc. Lower level management refers to lower/ last positions in the organization. E.g. superintendents, supervisors, etc.
1. Lower division2. Upper division3. Major courses4. Minor courses5. General education courses
Lower division courses are the building blocks of an undergraduate’s major. College beginners might have restrictions in the courses they can enrol...
Lower division courses sometimes count as prerequisites for upper division classes. That means an undergraduate must take, and pass, a lower divisi...
Any class with a number between 1 and 99 is a lower division course, and any class with a number between 100 and 199 is an upper division class. • 100-499. Other schools, like the University of Arizona , might start the numbering higher. All lower division classes are numbered from 100 to 299.
Depending on the size of the school, lower division classes are often larger because they may cover a broad swath of material that applies to multiple majors and areas of study. A lower division class might even have more than one section a semester because so many students need to take it.
Once students know their area of study, then comes the selection of courses. Upper and lower signify beginner and advanced courses in an academic career.
Third- and fourth-year students are more likely to be in these courses, typically because they’ve taken the prerequisites. • Smaller classes. Whereas lower division classes may be large lectures, upper division classes start to get smaller, in part because the curriculum is more specialized.
College beginners might have restrictions in the courses they can enroll in. Unless they bring in AP, IB, or college credits, they’ll need to take (and pass) lower division courses in their major before being able to sign up for upper division courses. Lower division courses are the building blocks of an undergraduate’s major.
Clearly, students can’t just sign up for classes willy-nilly. They’ll often need to start at one point before they can progress to another. This is where upper and lower division courses come into play. Like levels in a video game, students have to start with beginner lessons before they can take on advanced challenges.
Due in part to their larger class sizes and structure, students can often expect multiple-choice tests in lower division courses. Of course, every college’s policies on classes is different, but for the most part, students can expect to take lower division courses as they begin their academic career.
In colleges/universities, undergraduate courses are categorized into two divisions:
The course number designated to a course indicates its course level. While some universities utilize three-digit course numbers, others use four digits for their course numbering system. Nevertheless, most institutions have similar interpretations for the course number designations.
Lower-division courses are primarily focused on fundamental theories, concepts, perspectives, principles, methods, and procedures of critical thinking that serve as foundations for higher courses.
Upper-division courses involve specialized and advanced coursework that improves your problem-solving and analytical skills and allows you to apply theory into practice. These courses build on basic knowledge and skills learned and developed from lower-division course academic experiences.
In general, upper-division courses are more sophisticated and challenging than lower-division courses. With higher course numbers, the complexity of the study also increases.
In climbing a flight of stairs, you take one step at a time until you reach the top. Similarly, completing your undergraduate degree requires significant steps for you to move from one level to the next.
The upper division portion of an undergraduate education is where the student drills down on the specifics of their academic major of choice, taking numerous classes very particular to a discipline, and if applicable, a certain concentration or academic 'track’ within that discipline.
Lower division classes are generally part of some school-prescribed curriculum that require students to study in a variety of disciplines, usually science, social science, math, and English . For California CCs, this curriculum is the IGETC. This is similar to the set of required classes students have to take in high school for graduation.
But first, a little summary of undergraduate education…. Modern undergraduate education in the United States generally lasts four years; 8 semesters or 12 quarters, excluding off-season supplementary sessions.
UCSD explicitly lists organic chemistry as an upper-division course. They also explicitly list microbiology, physiology, structural biochemistry, metabolic biochemistry, and a host of others as upper-division courses. Many of these can be taken for full credit at a local community college.
If you take them at UCSD, they can be listed as upper division. If you take them Community College X, they cannot be listed as upper division, and that's what Carboxide's talking about.
Yeah, I agree with Carboxide. Lower division means taken by freshmen and sophomores. As all pharm prereqs can be taken in your first 2 years of college, they are all lower-division.