College of Arts And Sciences » Departments & Programs » Biology » Major in Microbiology—B.S.

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Biology

Major in Microbiology—B.S.

Purpose

The B.S. in microbiology is designed for students who wish to pursue careers as professional microbiologists in health, environmental, governmental, or industrial laboratories. It is also a basis for further professional or graduate training in microbiology and related fields.

Required Courses

Students must complete the following Foundations, Intensive Writing, Foreign Language, and Breadth of Inquiry requirements:

1. Writing, same as for B.A. degree (Intensive Writing, English Composition).
2. Mathematics, fulfilled by major.
3. Foreign language, three semesters in the same language or equivalent proficiency. Culture studies courses are not required.
4. One Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences course—students are advised to choose a course that will serve as one of the required arts and humanities or social and historical studies courses listed below.
5. Arts and humanities, two courses.
6. Social and historical studies, two courses.
7. Natural and mathematical sciences, fulfilled by major.

Major Requirements

Students must complete the following:

1. Biology L112 and L211.
2. Microbiology M250 and M255.
3. Microbiology M350, M360, and M480.
4. Two of the following lab courses: M435, M445, M465, M485, or T315.
5. One of the following lecture courses: M430, M440, or M460.
6. Two of the following additional lecture courses: M430, M440, M460, M375, M416, B351, L312, L321, or T310. Courses used to fulfill requirement 5 above will not apply to requirement 6.
7. Chemistry C117 (or C105-C125), C341, C342, C343. For students planning to enter a professional school, this sequence is recommended: CHEM-C 117, C341, C342, C343, and N330.
8. Mathematics M211 or M215 (or M119 and M120).
9. One of the following statistics courses: Mathematics K310, Psychological and Brain Sciences K300 or K310, Liberal Arts and Management Program L316, Statistics S300, or SPEA-K 300. (Note that although SPEA-K300 fulfills the statistics requirement, it does not count toward College of Arts and Sciences credit hours if the total hours allowed outside the College have been met.)
10. Physics P201-P202 or P221-P222.

Students must also complete the requirements and procedures listed in this Bulletin under "General Requirements for Bachelor's Degrees" except for the Breadth of Inquiry requirement.

Recommendations

Because chemistry is a prerequisite for many upper-level microbiology courses, students are urged to begin chemistry as soon as possible. Students should consult the advising office to plan a coherent program.