Questions 101 - explain the American system of assigning numbers to subjects

[VetLegion]

OK, this confuses me to no end. In another thread, KrazyHorse writes:

Meanwhile, I waltzed in to a 300 level history class and got an A- with ease (only formal history class I took after high school).

It's obviously bragging , but what is this 300 level? Is it above the 200 level and below 400 level? What do these mean?

I stumble upon stuff like Economy 101 all the time. Obviously this is some sort of intro class? Is it followed by Economy 102?

Is there some sort of standard for this? Do all subjects have a subdivision into numerical levels? Is this by difficulty or what?

Enlighten me

[KrazyHorse]

Less advanced to more advanced. Undergraduate classes are numbered from 100 to 599. Graduate classes are numbered 600 and above

400 and 500 level classes are generally taken in the final year of university in your area of concentration. 300 level classes are often taken in the second to last year, and so on.

EDIT: 599, not 500

[Timexwatch]

I'm not sure how they do it at U Maryland, but in my University anything below 100 level was an intro class, anything 100 or 101 was theory and methods, anything between 101 and 200 was upper level and 200 and above were grad classes.

[VetLegion]

Thanks. What about the subdivisions? Like this guy who lectures in...

http://www.applet-magic.com/watkins.htm

I teach a wide variety of courses in economics at SJSU. Typically in the fall semester I teach courses in Corporate Finance (Econ 137A), Regional Economics (econ 165) or Urban Economics (Econ 166), and Economic Analysis for Decision Making (Econ 205A). In the spring semester I typically teach a course in Topics in Corporate Finance (Econ 137B), a survey of National Economies ( Econ 117), Macroeconomic Theory Econ 202 and whatever other economics courses meet the needs and interests of students in economics at SJSU. These have included derivative securities ( Econ 237), Computer Applications in Economics ( Econ 195) Mathematical Methods in Economics (Econ 104 and Econ 204), Computational Economics (Econ 220), Public Finance ( Econ 132), Money and Banking (Econ 135), Economic Development (Econ 112 and Econ 212), Macroeconomic Theory (Econ 102, Economic Report Writing (Econ 100W), Workshop in Policy Analysis (Econ 205B), Industrial Organization (Econ 121), and Institutionalist Economics (Econ 193). Only occasionally do I teach the principles of economics courses, (Econ 1A and Econ 1B). I have taught the Economic History of Europe (Econ 110) and the Economic History of the U.S. and Canada (Econ 111) and very much look forward to teaching them again. In the summer sessions I sometimes teach Business and Economic Forecasting (Econ 138). In the Spring 2002 semester I will teach a new experimental cource on the economic history of Asian economies (Econ 196h).

Also, are all Econ 101 courses on all universities standardised in some way? Or is this just a handy way of reffering to "your intro class on the subject"?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Timexwatch
I'm not sure how they do it at U Maryland, but in my University anything below 100 level was an intro class, anything 100 or 101 was theory and methods, anything between 101 and 200 was upper level and 200 and above were grad classes.

Hopkins, not UMD

It was the same at McGill. I think that system is fairly widespread.

[AnnC]

At U of Illinois, undergraduate courses are numbered 100 to 399, and graduate courses are 400 to 599. 400-level courses are master's degree courses in most departments, and 500-level courses are for PhDs.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Also, are all Econ 101 courses on all universities standardised in some way? Or is this just a handy way of reffering to "your intro class on the subject"?

101 might be a fairly standardised intro course in many disciplines. The numbering at higher levels is just a code used by the university. 315 might be one thing at one university and something else at another university, but they'll often be aimed at the same "level" of student.

[Ramo]

Depends on the school.

At UT, the first number indicates the number of hours that the class meets per week (usually excluding discussion sessions and labs), the second number indicates the level of the class (0-1 are lower division, 2-7 are upper division, and 8-9 are graduate), and the third number is more or less meaningless in a general sense (other than a vague sense of higher levels as the number increases).

I'm actually trying to figure out Rice's scheme right now. I think 500 and up are graduate, but I'm not certain...

[Dinner]

It depends on the system. At the University of California (where I graduated) 100 is the basic undergraduate level, 200 is the upper division under graduate level (which only declared majors or at least declared minors can take), while 300 is a graduate level course.

There were a few remedial courses like Math 054 but those were reserved for ********* who didn't learn basic skills in high school and who were likely let into the university as a charity case (affirmative action or what not).

[DanS]

Originally posted by AnnC
At U of Illinois, undergraduate courses are numbered 100 to 399, and graduate courses are 400 to 599. 400-level courses are master's degree courses in most departments, and 500-level courses are for PhDs.

That's what it was at my university, IIRC.

[DanS]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Also, are all Econ 101 courses on all universities standardised in some way? Or is this just a handy way of reffering to "your intro class on the subject"?

There is no standardization as such (unless specified by the accreditation association to which your college belongs, but that's a long story), but you may find particular textbooks that are consistently popular and are therefore referred to as standard texts.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Thanks. What about the subdivisions? Like this guy who lectures in...

I would imagine that "Econ 138", "Econ 196" etc. are not ranked by level (as long as they belong to the 100'), but that they're numbered in order to easily find them.

When a Uni has many different courses (hundreds of them), it can be quite a hassle to find the particular course that interests you, when browsing the booklets. A number makes it easier.

This post is backed by pure ignorance and speculation.

[Jon Miller]

University of Maryland: (maybe particular to physics)
0-100 remedial courses
100-200 non-magor courses
200-300 major courses (mabe starting in soph year?)
300-400 major courses
400-500 advanced major courses, not needed for major
500-600 remedial graduate courses (masters courses if you will)
600-700 intro graduate courses
700-800 specialized graduate courses
800+ special advanced graduate courses (I took one and sat in on another, and I think that only the two classes have been offered in my time at Maryland)

JM

[Lawrence of Arabia]

at my university of california:

<100 is intro courses undergrad
100 - 200 is upperdivision courses undergrad
>200 is graduate.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Spiffor
I would imagine that "Econ 138", "Econ 196" etc. are not ranked by level (as long as they belong to the 100'), but that they're numbered in order to easily find them.

When a Uni has many different courses (hundreds of them), it can be quite a hassle to find the particular course that interests you, when browsing the booklets. A number makes it easier.

This post is backed by pure ignorance and speculation.

That disclaimer should be mandatory on all 'Poly posts.