Departments & Programs
Department of Biology
Honors in Biology
The Department of Biology offers two separate tracks that lead to a degree with honors. Admission to either program requires a combined math and verbal (critical reading) SAT of 1200, or placement in the top 10 percent of the high school class for incoming freshmen, or a minimum GPA of 3.3 based on at least 12 hours of university work for continuing students. Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.3 and an honors GPA of 3.5 to remain in good standing in the program.
Track 1 in biology is an honors-with-thesis program consisting of a total of 21 credit hours of honors registrations. 6 credit hours are taken outside of the major; 4 credit hours are taken as the special experimental laboratory and recitation sections of freshman biology (BIOL-K101 and BIOL-K103); 5 hours are taken as H-Option registrations or 500-level courses; and 5 credit hours are taken as BIOL-K493 Independent Research and 1 credit hour for BIOL-K494 Senior Research Thesis.
Track 2 is an honors program without thesis and consists of a total of 24 credit hours of honors registrations. This option requires 6 credit hours of honors outside of the major, the BIOL-K101 and BIOL-K103 sections, and 14 credit hours of H-Option or 500-level course registrations.