Bachelor of Science in Biology:
Biology Core Requirements

The Bachelor of Science in Biology degree requires a minimum of 121 semester hours. (Students may need to take additional hours to meet university requirements such as First-Year Seminar courses.)

General University Requirements—48 Semester Credit Hours (SCH)

Undergraduate students in the Biology Program take a set of General University Requirements. Students may need to take additional hours to meet university requirements such as First-Year Seminar courses. Transfer students must also meet these requirements unless they have completed a core curriculum of 42 or more semester credit hours at another regionally accredited public institution of higher education in Texas.

Biology Core Courses—28 Semester Credit Hours (SCH)

The following core courses are required of all undergraduate students in the Biology Program who plan to follow any of the eight Biology Career Tracks (but not by students in the Life Science Education Concentration).

The current undergraduate Catalog provides more information about the Biology Program, including descriptions of its career tracks and courses. The Online Schedule lists courses that are being offered in the current and/or next semester. Graduate Fisheries & Mariculture Courses with links to their websites and recent syllabi are listed in a tentative two-year schedule.

Important Note: Laboratory Safety Seminar (SMTE 0091) is a co-requisite course for all courses in the Department of Life Sciences that have a laboratory component.

*Students may take Applied Probability and Statistics (MATH 3342) in lieu of MATH 1442. Calculus I (MATH 2413) is a prerequisite for MATH 3342, and will count as the student's University Core Mathematics.

Biology Career Track Courses—45 Semester Credit Hours (SCH)

Which courses a student will take for the remaining 45 Semester Credit Hours (SCH) depends on the student’s career goals. A student should select one of these tracks after completion of a minimum of 35 semester hours of university course work, but before the completion of 50 semester hours:

• Ecology Track—general ecology and terrestrial systems
• Marine Biology Track—coastal, estuarine, and marine systems
• Cell / Molecular Biology Track—cellular and sub-cellular biology
• Microbiology Track—organismal biology of bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa
• Animal Biology Track—zoology; organismal biology of animals
• Plant Biology Track—botany; organismal biology of plants
• Integrative Biology Track—structure and function (anatomy and physiology) of plants and/or animals
• General Biology Track—a broad base of biological concepts