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 two courses must be from a list of Laboratory courses (see below). Three credits of independent research (BIO 497 and/or 499) may be used for one of the 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)
• Two Laboratory courses (see list below)
• Electives to fill out the credit hour requirements

Cognate Requirements

Calculus

Statistics

General Chemistry

Organic Chemistry

Physics

Refer to the Catalog for specific requirements.

NOTE: New chemistry requirements effective Fall 2011.

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.

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.

Revised 10/8/09