The following is a brief description of the major requirements and is not intended to be the official version.  Please consult the Catalog for the official requirements.

To receive a B.S. in Biology from JMU, students must complete 40 credit hours of Biology (BIO) courses including the four "Core" courses and 20 credit hours from the "Upper Division" (300 or 400 level).  Of these, one course must be from a list of Organismal Biology courses and three courses must be from a list of Laboratory courses.  One course may meet multiple requirements.  A maximum of 8 credit hours of BIO 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499 and ICSI 450 can be counted toward the major.  See Special Requirements at bottom.

Students must also fulfill several cognate requirements (math, chemistry, physics), general education requirements, and meet the overall JMU requirements.

Biology Requirements (40 hrs)

Core Courses (required)

BIO 114 - Organisms
BIO 124 - Ecology and Evolution
BIO 214 - Cell and Molecular Biology
BIO 224 - Genetics and Development

Upper Division  (20 hrs)  Tentative 2-year schedule of offerings.

One Organismal course (see list below)

Three Laboratory courses (see list below)

Electives

Cognate Requirements

Calculus

Statistics

General Chemistry

Organic Chemistry

Physics

Refer to your Catalog for specific requirements

General Education Requirements

Refer to the General Education website  for specific requirements

Note that biology majors need not complete Cluster I in the first year.

Also note that Cluster III requirements are met within the major courses.

Organismal courses (must take 1*)

BIO 305 - Ornithology
BIO 310 - General Entomology
BIO 320 - Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates
BIO 340 - Morphology and Anatomy of Vascular Plants
BIO 380 - General Microbiology
BIO 386 - Field Botany
BIO 409 - Marine and Freshwater Invertebrates
BIO 470 - Morphology of Nonvascular Plants
BIO 486 - Systematics of Vascular Plants

*courses in common between lists may be 
  counted for both requirements.

Laboratory courses (must take 3*)

BIO 305 - Ornithology
BIO 310 - General Entomology
BIO 316 - Principles of Animal Development
BIO 320 - Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates
BIO 340 - Morphology and Anatomy of Vascular Plants
BIO 365 - Laboratory in Human Uses of Plants
BIO 370 - Animal Physiology
BIO 380 - General Microbiology
BIO 386 - Field Botany
BIO 410 - Advanced Human Anatomy
BIO 416 - Human Embryology
BIO 420 - Medical Parasitology
BIO 443 - Immunology Laboratory (with BIO 442)
BIO 445 - Neurobiology
BIO 448 - Medical Microbiology
BIO 451 - Ecological Systems
BIO 452 - Population Ecology
BIO 455 - Plant Physiology
BIO 456 - Landscape Ecology
BIO 457 - Biological Applications of Geographic Info. Syst.
BIO 458 - Comparative Animal Physiology
BIO 459 - Freshwater Ecology
BIO 460 - Plant Cell and Tissue Culture
BIO 470 - Morphology of Nonvascular Plants
BIO 480 - Advanced Molecular Biology
BIO 481 - Genomics
BIO 482 - Human Histology
BIO 486 - Systematics of Vascular Plants
BIO 490 - Biomechanics

Special Requirements.  To be used as prerequisites for biology courses, grades of “C- ” or higher should be earned in the following: GBIO 103, BIO 114, BIO 124, BIO 214, BIO 224, CHEM 131, CHEM 131L, CHEM 132 and CHEM 132L. A maximum of 4 hours of lower division biology elective credit applicable toward the major or minor may be transferred as BIO 200. Upper division biology credits applicable toward the major or minor are transferred as specific courses or as BIO 325, Topics in Biology or BIO 426, Advanced Topics in Biology. Credits not applicable toward the major or minor, but applicable toward the 120 hour degree requirement, are transferred as BIO 000. A maximum of 8 credit hours of freshman (100) level BIO courses may be applied to the biology major or minor requirements.