Selecting the appropriate career level for a student's curriculum

Owned by Denise Kidd
Last updated: Feb 06, 2024
4 min read

Jump to level decision trees

Career Levels

Career levels are used to distinguish one program of study from another, within the same level, or at different levels. In addition, levels are used to separate course work from one program of study to another, allowing course work to display correctly on a transcript.

Level code

Level

Usage

Level code

Level

Usage

UG, U2, U3

Undergraduate

Used By Newcomb-Tulane College, and the School of Professional Advancement. U2 and U3 reflect second and third undergraduate careers at Tulane.

GR, G2, G3

Graduate

Used by graduate program in the following schools:

  • Architecture

  • Business

  • Liberal Arts

  • Professional Advancement

  • Public Health

  • Science and Engineering

  • Social Work

G2 and G3 reflect second and third graduate careers at Tulane.

PR, P2, P3

Professional

Used by Law School. P2 and P3 reflect second and third professional careers at Tulane.

NC

Non-credit

Used for non-credit summer programs.

Program strings

Program strings are entered as programs in Banner and represent the college, degree, and level.

Example 1. LABA_UG is a program in Liberal Arts (LA), degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA), at the undergraduate level (UG).

Example 2. LAMA_GR is a program in Liberal Arts (LA), degree of Master of Arts (MA), at the graduate level (GR).

Course levels

Courses are also assigned levels. On the transcript, courses will display. under the program with the same course level. The level separates course work and grades in a transcript. Undergraduate courses and GPA will point towards the UG career, and in a transcript, will display separately from graduate courses and GPA.

See also: Updating career pointers (SHATCKN), Viewing a student’s academic history

Multiple careers at the same level

A student can have more than one career at the same level.

For example, student attends Newcomb-Tulane college, Business School, and graduates with an undergraduate degree. Student then returns to the School of Professional Advancement for a second undergraduate degree. First degree at the UG level and the second degree at the U2 level (BSBSM_UG and PABA_U2).

BSBSM_UG courses will point towards the UG career and PABA_U2 courses will point towards the U2 career. The programs and corresponding courses will display separately on the transcript.

Selecting the right career level

Program levels should be addressed during the admission process for any student that has attended Tulane.

In deciding if the admission to a second degree program, at the same level, at Tulane, should be at a different level.

As an example, earned an undergraduate degree, now returning to another undergraduate program should it be at the U2 consider the following:

  • If a student has earned a degree, that record is considered “locked”, a new program should be at a different level, you do not want to add courses and grades to a completed, degree earned program. Examples:

    • Student earned a BA in Newcomb-Tulane College at the UG level and is now applying to School of Professional Advancement wants to earn a Postbaccalaureate degree. The student should be admitted to a U2 level program.

    • Student earned an MBA at the GR level and is now applying to the School of Public Health for an MPH degree. The student should be admitted to a G2 level program.

  • Keep in mind that some degree programs are considered part of a higher degree program. For example, an Associate degree could be earned while working towards a Bachelor’s degree.

    • Or a master’s degree could be earned while working towards a doctoral degree. In both cases, the newly admitted programs are at the same level.

Level decision trees

The following graphics illustrate the decision tree we use to decide which career level to use for admission, curricula, and course pointing.

(Editor’s note: To change the following flows, access the raw files.)