Biology

The Department of Biology offers one graduate program leading to the Master of Science degree in Biology. Graduate students in the program specialize in areas of interest, such as cell biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, physiology, and systematics and organismal biology. The program is research-oriented and requires the completion of a thesis along with required coursework. Students select from more than 80 courses to complete the 31 units of coursework required for the program. More than a third of the coursework (12 units) can be earned for thesis research. The rest of the courses are composed of lectures, lab courses, field courses, seminars and colloquia.

A. Admission to the Program

Students may be admitted as either classified or conditionally classified graduate students. In addition to University requirements, the Department of Biology requires:

1. Submission of a Department of Biology Graduate Program Application. This is a separate application in addition to the University application.
   1. Departmental Application Deadlines:
      1. Fall semester: February 15 preceding entry into program.
      2. Spring semester: September 15 preceding entry into program.
2. Consent of a faculty member to serve as research advisor.
3. Demonstrated proficiency in basic biology.*
4. General Graduate Record Examination (GRE)—although the general GRE is not required, students who believe that their GRE scores will help their application are free to submit them, and a committee of faculty that considers admissions to the program will consider them along with other components of the application.
5. TOEFL and TWE (foreign students only): minimum score acceptable by the University.

*Requirement 3 can be met in the following ways:

For students whose undergraduate degree is in Biology, either:

1. A cumulative GPA at or above 3.0 in all undergraduate Biology courses, or
2. A Biology subject GRE score at or above the 50th percentile.

For students whose undergraduate degree is not in Biology:

3. A Biology subject GRE score is required at or above the 50th percentile.

B. Classified Status

Students must meet the general University requirements for classified status.

C. Conditionally Classified Status

If a student meets the department admission requirements but does not meet the requirements for classified status, conditional classification may be given. No more than 12 units of coursework prior to attaining fully classified status will be applied to a master’s program.

D. Degree Requirements

First-semester graduate students in Biology must meet with the graduate coordinator during their first semester in the program.

Completion of a minimum of 31 units of grade A, A-, B+ or B work in all approved courses applied toward the master’s degree:

1. Required Courses (17 units)

Graduate Statistics* (4 units)

BIOL 502/BIOL 502L Biometry (3/1)
or BIOL 503/L Bioinformatics (3/1)
or BIOL 551/L Computer Modeling in Biology (2/2)

*An equivalent 4-unit upper division course may be substituted.

Graduate Seminars (12 units)

BIOL 615B-G or BIOL 655A-H Graduate Seminars (9)
BIOL 691 Graduate Proseminar (3)

Colloquium (1 unit)

BIOL 692 Biology Colloquium (1)

2. Electives (8-11 units)

Any 400-, 500- or 600-level Biology courses except BIOL 490, BIOL 495, BIOL 497EE, BIOL 499, BIOL 692, BIOL 696, BIOL 698 and BIOL 699. A maximum of 6 units of BIOL 696A-E Directed Graduate Research may be applied toward the degree. A maximum of 9 units of 400-level courses may be applied toward the degree. No more than 6 units from other disciplines, such as Chemistry, Psychology, etc., may be counted.

3. Culminating Experience (3-6 units)

BIOL 698 Thesis (3-6)

1. Oral presentation and defense of a formal proposal of thesis research by the end of the second semester.
2. Completion and successful oral defense of a thesis.
3. Formal approval by the thesis committee.

Total Units Required for the M.S. Degree: 31