Upper Division Engineering and Science Electives are courses that require substantial college-level preparation on the part of the student. The intent is to require courses that provide in-depth learning in a particular subject as opposed to an introductory and/or survey course. All CEE technical elective courses meet this standard and can count towards requirements in this section. Beyond this, the department maintains a list of non-CEE courses that meet these standards. However, new courses are continually developed at UW, some of which may meet these requirements. Seminars generally do not meet these requirements. If a student identifies a course that they believe meets these requirements but is not on the departmental list, they may submit a course petition to have it count toward their upper division engineering and science elective requirement. The following definitions are provided to help students identify such courses:

• Engineering course: Offered by the College of Engineering or its departments.
• Science course: Offered by a department, not in the College of Engineering, that addresses the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world. This excludes courses such as math, social sciences, business, anthropology, music, and others that do not meet the definition. 
• Substantial college preparation: The course contains a recommended college-level background as indicated by prerequisites, minimum credit requirements to enroll, required academic progress (e.g., junior/senior standing) to enroll, required permission, or entry code to enroll). These courses are typically offered at the 300- and 400-level, although some 100 and 200-level courses meet this definition.