All courses approved for degree credit must be numbered according to guidelines established by the College. Courses numbered between 100-499 are undergraduate-level courses and those at or above 500 are graduate level courses.
UNDERGRADUATE
The numbers assigned to undergraduate-level courses are generally categorized as follows:
100-199 – Lower-level courses that provide an introduction to the discipline or specific skills within an area of study. These courses generally have no prerequisites, although some courses taken in sequence may have other 100-level courses as a prerequisite.
200-299 – Intermediate-level courses that provide an introduction or foundation for the major. The inclusion of prerequisites for these courses varies by discipline, but generally they build on other lower- or intermediate-level courses, or courses that students would have completed as part of their secondary education.
300-399 – Upper-level courses that cover a breadth of topics for the major. The upper-level courses have one or more prerequisites that ensure students have attained a sufficient-level of knowledge before embarking on a broader range of topics within the discipline.
400-499 – Advanced-level and discipline related experiential courses. These courses generally require the completion of a significant number of hours at the lower-levels either within the discipline or across the College.
SPECIAL COURSE NUMBERS
Some undergraduate-level course numbers designate certain kinds of courses, regardless of level or discipline. These special course numbers are as follows:
x80 - x84 – Course numbers that end with numbers in the range 80-84 are used to designate “Special Topics” courses. These courses, which enable faculty to offer timely courses of special interest to students, introduce a topic not currently covered by other formal courses. The topic covered by a Special Topics course cannot be offered for more than three times, regardless of the level at which it was offered, without the course becoming a formal permanent course.
391-392 – Independent study in which students work one-on-one with a faculty member on an agreed upon topic not addressed elsewhere in the curriculum. These courses require prior approval of the Committee on the Curriculum.
450-459 – Field study and academic internship courses.
491-492 – Advanced independent study in which students work one-on-one with a faculty member on an agreed upon advanced topic not addressed elsewhere in the curriculum. These courses require prior approval of the Committee on the Curriculum.
493-499 – Supervised research and project courses.
COURSE REQUISITES
Some courses may have one or more prerequisites or corequisites. A prerequisite is a course, skill level, or other requirement that must be completed prior to enrolling in a specific course or program. A corequisite is a course, skill level, or other requirement that must be completed either prior to enrolling in a specific course or program or it must be taken at the same time as another course or requirement.
GRADUATE
The guidelines for numbers assigned to graduate-level courses, which are designated by the Physician Assistant Program’s Curriculum Committee, are categorized as follows:
600-699 - Preclinical phase courses in the PA program
700-799 - Clinical phase courses in the PA program - Students must successfully complete all required elements of the Preclinical Phase in order to progress to the Clinical Phase.