Mapping Old Post-baccalaureate Award Levels with New Award Levels
- As of the Fall 2010-11 Data Collection, all IPEDS institutions are required to use the new post-baccalaureate award levels.
- Changes to the award levels affect only post-baccalaureate award levels.
- The changes can be briefly be summarized as the elimination of the first-professional degree (Award level 10) and first-professional certificate (Award level 11), and the expansion of the doctor’s degree (Award level 9) into three categories: Doctor’s degree-research/scholarship (Award level 17), Doctor’s degree- professional practice (Award level 18) and, Doctor’s degree- Other (Award level 19).
- Ultimately, IPEDS institutions have the discretion to decide how to recode their post-baccalaureate awards; this tip sheet simply provides suggestions on how to do this recoding.
| Old Award Level Code | Old Award Level Description | New Award Level Code | New Award Level Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Master’s degree | 7 | Master’s degree |
| 8 | Post-master’s certificate | 8 | Post-master’s certificate |
| 9 | Doctor’s degree | 17 | Doctor’s degree-research/scholarship |
| 18 | Doctor’s degree-professional practice | ||
| 19 | Doctor’s degree-Other | ||
| 10 | First- professional degree (D.C, D.C.M, D.D.S,D.M.D., M.D., O.D., D.O., Pharm.D., D.P.M.,D.P., Pod.D., D.V.M., L.L.B, J.D.) | 17 | Doctor’s degree-research/scholarship |
| 18 | Doctor’s degree-professional practice* | ||
| 19 | Doctor’s degree-Other | ||
| 10 | First-professional degree (M.Div, M.H.L, B.D., Ordination) | 7 | Master’s degree |
| 11 | First-professional certificate | 8 | Post-master’s certificate |
*While most doctoral level first-professional degrees will typically be re-coded as 18 Doctor’s degree-professional practice, schools may elect to recode them in another doctor’s degree category.