What is considered lower division credit upon transferring from a junior college to a university?

Answer 1

All of your courses taken at a JC is considered lower division (100s & 200s or As & Bs).

However, you are considered a lower division transfer student if you have less than 60 semester units that are trasferrably... meaning you still have some GEs (lower division courses) that will need to be taken at the 4year level on top of the units required for your major.

Upper division transfer students are those with more than 60 transferrably semester units and they have GE certification that their GEs are completed.. and they will only have to take the courses necessary for their major (upper division unitis).

The major difference between the two is application process. Many universities are impacted at the Freshman Entry/Lower Division entry.. and it is much more difficult to get into those universities. They consider your high school transcript, JC transcript and your test scores. Upper division transfer applications only have their JC transcripts looked at. So if you didn't do so well in HS, being an UD is to your benefit.

A junior college usually issues an Associates degree, which is typically 60 hours of credit. Of that, roughly 40 hours is "general education," and about 20 hours is major-specific.

All "general education" is, by definition, "lower division" to a bachelors degree. And, sadly, so will most of the major-specific 20 hours also be considered "lower division" by most bachelors programs.

It is, generally speaking, during the junior and senior year of a bachelors degree when "upper division" credits are earned.

I don't think any Jr College can offer upper-level credit (that is what makes them "Jr"). I'm pretty sure that is the case. I know there were no upper level credits at my community college. At any rate, it's usually pretty easy to tell: Look at the course numbers. The first numbers of all the courses at a jr college will generally be a 1 or a 2 (for example, PSY 1240 or COMM 2113). In this system anything that begins with a 1 or a 2 is a lower level (freshman or sophmore) level course. Once you trasfer you will need to take upper division credits (typically begining with 3s and 4s). Master's level classes begin with 5s and on up. Good luck

Lower division is freshmen and sophomore level classes. Upper division is junior and senior level classes. Most universities allow 60 - 68 hours to transfer in from a community college.