Biology Major

Requirements for the Major in Biology

All courses for the Biology Major must be taken for a letter-grade.

1. BIOL 040 PO , BIOL 041C PO , BIOL 041E PO .
2. CHEM 001A PO , CHEM 001B PO  or CHEM 051 PO  and CHEM 110A PO .
3. MATH 030 PO , if needed, and one Pomona math course above Math 30. This course can be in Calculus (MATH 031 PO or
   MATH 032 PO
    ) or can be an approved statistics course such as MATH 058 PO , PSYC 158 PO  or BIOL 153 HM .
4. One upper-division laboratory or field course in organismal biology from BIOL 125 PO , BIOL 131 PO , BIOL 132 PO , BIOL 140 PO , BIOL 144 PO ,  BIOL 169 PO  or BIOL 189 PO .
5. Four additional upper-division biology courses, three of which must be laboratory or field courses.
6. Senior Thesis: BIOL 191 PO  or BIOL 194A PO .

No more than one course credit from any combination of half-credit courses may be applied to the major.

CHEM 115 PO , MOBI 185 PO , MOBI 187 PO , NEUR 102 PO , NEUR 103 PO  and NEUR 130 PO  may be substituted for upper-division biology courses.

Upper-level courses taken at the other Claremont Colleges may be eligible for major or minor credit with prior written permission from the department chair. One course credit may be obtained for appropriate upper-division biology coursework undertaken in a Study Abroad Program with prior written permission from the department chair. If a student chooses an upper-level biology course to fulfill the requirements of another major, that course cannot be used to fulfill a Biology Department major or minor requirement.

Senior Exercise. Seniors are required either to present a satisfactory research thesis based on original research in the laboratory or the field, completed over two semesters (BIOL 194A PO ) or to present a senior thesis in grant proposal format based on library research (BIOL 191 PO ). Students are strongly encouraged to take a course in statistics before beginning the Senior Exercise.

Students who wish to pursue graduate study in biology are recommended to take a year of calculus and a year of physics, in addition to departmental requirements, because most graduate and professional schools require these for admission. Early consultation with an academic advisor in the Biology Department will ensure that the student’s program of study satisfies departmental requirements and provides adequate preparation for career goals.