Dec 03, 2024  
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Biological Sciences, B.S.


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Offered by Biological Sciences .

The curriculum leading to the Biological Sciences, B.S. is appropriate for students desiring a focused, in-depth grounding in all the essential elements of the biological sciences and is particularly suitable for students intending to pursue graduate study in biology or in the health sciences. It also prepares students to function effectively in a variety of technical and laboratory research settings.

University Requirements


Completion of Minimum University Requirements for an Undergraduate Baccalaureate Degree .

  • Minimum 120 credits and minimum GPA of 2.0
  • Completion of 45 upper-level credits, residence requirement, Writing Intensive requirement, and General Education requirement

Major Requirements


  • Minimum 69 credits or 21 courses. Biological Sciences  evaluates completion of major requirements based on courses completed to account for variation in equivalent transfer course credits
  • Minimum grade of ‘C’ in courses applied to the major and prerequisites
  • Minimum six BIOL courses completed in residence at UMBC
  • Students pursuing the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, B.S.  in addition to the Biological Sciences, B.S. complete unique electives for each degree

Course Requirements


Biology Electives (17-21 credits)


Complete a course/course sequence in each of the following:

  • One Column A Elective
  • One Column B Elective
  • One Column A or B Elective
  • One 400-level BIOL course from Column B taken at UMBC
  • Two upper-level laboratory course electives. BIOL 300L ​ may not be used for this requirement. Students may choose to replace one upper-level laboratory with an independent research course sequence. 

Some elective options are thematically similar and only one may be used towards major requirements. These courses include BIOL 305  and BIOL 307 ; BIOL 444  and BTEC 444 ; BIOL 495  and BTEC 395 ; and BIOL 430 , BTEC 430 , and CHEM 437 

Physics (8 credits)


Complete the following. PHYS 121  and PHYS 122  may not satisfy some professional school admission requirements.

Mathematics (4 credits)


Complete the following:

Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Programs


Qualified students may apply to an accelerated program, which allows them to share courses between a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. Students take graduate courses as undergraduate students and later apply those courses to master’s degrees. An undergraduate may apply to participate in an accelerated program even if the desired graduate program is in a department other than the one in which the student is majoring. More information is available from the Accelerated Program page of the Graduate School website.

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