Online Degrees and CLEP and DSST Exam Prep Discussion
What does UL mean? - Printable Version

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What does UL mean? - freshclicks - 12-07-2019

Just starting my journey and I've seen the abbreviation UL several times without a description. Can someone enlighten me?


RE: What does UL mean? - AwardTour - 12-07-2019

(12-07-2019, 05:13 PM)freshclicks Wrote: Just starting my journey and I've seen the abbreviation UL several times without a description. Can someone enlighten me?

UL=Upper Level. 

If a degree specifies that UL credit is required then you will need to find classes that transfer in as UL to fulfill those requirements. It can be challenging in some cases to find the proper UL credit course that can transfer so you will see people here using that abbreviation to specify the type of credit they are looking for.


RE: What does UL mean? - freshclicks - 12-07-2019

Thank you! Does that mean you can't take a CLEP for an upper Level class?


RE: What does UL mean? - AwardTour - 12-07-2019

(12-07-2019, 05:53 PM)freshclicks Wrote: Thank you! Does that mean you can't take a CLEP for an upper Level class?

I have never taken a CLEP and I don't plan on ever taking one. I will let someone else answer that. 

Generally speaking, it depends on the school. First figure out where you want to go and then you can figure out the specifics of what will and will not transfer as well as what level it will transfer as.


RE: What does UL mean? - natshar - 12-07-2019

UL = upper level as known as course numbers between 300/400 or 3000/4000 (depending on the school)

Upper-level courses generally have more rigor and difficulty compared to LL (lower-level) courses. They also might be more specialized whereas LL is more board overview. For example, a LL course might be introduction to psychology and an UL course might be the psychology of personality.

At the big 3 and WGU, for instance, all cleps come in as LL I don't think any came as UL at the big 3. Someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

CLEPs are designed for freshman-level gen ed coursework so as a result, most schools will only accept clep as LL.

If you are lucky you might find a school that counts a few cleps as UL. For example, at the school I'm at the Business Law CLEP counts as UL, but that is only CLEP that counts as UL.


RE: What does UL mean? - bjcheung77 - 12-07-2019

It depends on which school you're going to, but generally, CLEP is all lower level. I highly recommend using CLEP/MS for the first 90 credits to max out the credits you can get from CLEP/MS. In addition to that, if you're starting from scratch, to do all the FREE courses on the wiki. You should take the majority of Upper Level courses from the College/University itself as most of them will have residency requirements in addition to their program requirements.


RE: What does UL mean? - dfrecore - 12-07-2019

UL means upper level, and refers to courses that you'd take your junior/senior years in college - as opposed to ones you take your freshman/sophomore years that are more introductory.

You can't use course numbers to figure it out, because lots of schools don't use the 100/200/300/400 or 1000/2000/3000/4000 system (although it would certainly make life easier if they all did!).

CLEPs are all ACE-recommended for LL credit, and the vast majority of schools give LL credit for them if they give any at all.


RE: What does UL mean? - jsd - 12-07-2019

Here are some other common terms that might trip some people up: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Common_Terms


RE: What does UL mean? - Zo_ey - 12-09-2019

Thanks - this is really useful.