Biological Sciences, BS

PNW General Education Core (30 Credits Minimum)

• English Composition (6 Credits): ENGL 10400 - English Composition I  and ENGL 10500 - English Composition II  
• Speech Communication (3 Credits): COM 11400 - Fundamentals of Speech Communication  
• Quantitative Reasoning (3 Credits): MA 16031 - Calculus I For Life Sciences  
• Natural Sciences (4 Credits): CHM 11500 - General Chemistry  
• Technology (3 Credits): CIS 20400 - Introduction To Computer Based Systems  
• Humanities (3 Credits): Select from the Humanities Core list  
• Social Sciences (3 Credits): Select from the Social Sciences Core list  
• Additional Credits (4 Credits): PHYS 22000 - General Physics  
• First-Year Experience (FYE) (1 Credit): BIOL 10700 - Freshman Experience In Biological Sciences  

Major Core (17 Credits)

• BIOL 10100 - Introductory Biology
• BIOL 10200 - Introductory Biology
• BIOL 24300 - Introductory Cell Biology
• BIOL 24400 - Genetics
• BIOL 42600 - Senior Capstone

Required Courses (72-73 Credits)

Requirements

Minimum Grade and Grade Point Average (GPA):  Minimum grade of C required for all Major Core courses (unless otherwise noted); 2.0 GPA

Experiential Learning (EL):  One EL course required.  EL courses are noted by (e) next to the course title.

General Education Core:  General Education notations can be found within the course description.  Please click on a course to see if it meets a Gen Ed requirement.

Milestone Courses noted by (m) next to the course title have been identified as being critical to your success in this field of study. 

Courses that are only offered on one campus will be noted by an (H) for Hammond, or (W) for Westville.

Please see the Additional Information and Guidelines section below for more information.

Additional Information and Guidelines

Note 1: Additional GPA Requirements for BS Biology Degree: Minimum 2.0 GPA for all biology core (BIOL 10700, BIOL 10100, BIOL 10200, BIOL 24300, BIOL 24400, BIOL 31100 (58000) and BIOL 42600) and concentration required courses.

Note 2: Gen Ed Technology Course Requirement CIS 20400 is recommend for students with limited experience using Microsoft Suite and can be replaced by BIOL 59500 Bioinformatics or a different course approved by the department. If students choose a course that is not a Gen Ed Technology course, they will have to fulfill this requirement with another course in this area as a free elective. See http://catalog.pnw.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=4&poid=1002 for a list of suitable courses.

Note 3: Gen Ed requires a 3.0 credit Humanities and a 3.0 credit Social Science course. It is important that these be chosen from the approved Gen Ed course list (see https://www.pnw.edu/registration/class-schedule-and-course-descriptions/ for more information). This degree also requires 9.0 credits of additional electives from these two subject areas that are not required to be chosen from the Gen Ed list. Some professional schools have specific Humanities and Social Sciences course requirements for admission. Please select recommended courses accordingly to fulfill this requirement or choose any courses of interest. Six credit hours of foreign languages may also be used to fulfill part of this requirement.

Note 4: Biology required courses: See attachments for choices of required courses.

Note 5: Biology Elective courses range from 1 to 5 credits. Maximum 3 credits of independent studies / research / internship (BIOL 34200, BIOL 39500, BIOL 49500 can be used to fulfill the biology elective requirement. BIOL 33000 is not considered a Biology elective. At least one of the courses in this category must be a 50000 level class.

Note 6: Other chemistry courses can be used with departmental permission.