Biology, B.S.

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Please note: The third year of the program varies depending upon which semester the student chooses to take away following The Arch Summer Semester classes. Please note the following differences in curriculum:

• If students are going to be away during the Fall semester of their junior year, they should take the listed courses for each term and any courses under the Fall Away Track for year three of their program.
• If students are going to be away during the Spring semester of their junior year, they should take the listed courses for each term and any courses under the Spring Away Track for year three of their program.

Fourth Year

This curriculum requires a minimum of 128 credit hours.

Footnotes

¹ Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Core Electives: A total of 24 credits of HASS Core Electives should be taken. Students should take an Inquiry course during their first year. For a listing of HASS Inquiry courses go to: https://info.rpi.edu/hass-inquiry. In addition, students should take a HASS Communications Intensive course during their first three semesters.

² Students who apply Advanced Placement credits in place of BIOL 1010  and BIOL 1015  may take BIOL 2120  and BIOL 2125  in its place.

³ Students must take 1 of the following Laboratory courses alongside BIOL 1010  : and BIOL 1015  or BIOL 1016 . Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Biological Neuroscience, and Computational Biology majors are recommended to register for BIOL 1015 . Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Biological Neuroscience, and Computational Biology majors who posses thorough wet-lab experience and an interest in enhancing their data analysis skills are recommended to register for BIOL 1016 . 

⁴ Communication Intensive and Culminating Experience Requirement cannot by satisfied with transfer credits and must be fulfilled via the Advanced Laboratory requirement.

⁵ Biology Elective Requirement (16 credits). Biology electives may include any BIOL courses, and up to 1 BCBP course. No 1000 or 2000 level courses can serve as Biology electives. Only 4 credits from research courses may count toward this requirement (Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 2 research credits in a semester to count towards this requirement). No more than one 4000-level elective can be met with transfer credits.

⁶ An additional 2-CR elective may be satisfied by mentoring, research (e.g. BIOL 2900 , BIOL 2930 , BIOL 2940, BIOL 4940 , BIOL 4970 ), or any other elective. This credit may be taken at any time, not necessarily at the time shown in the template.

⁷ Cannot be satisfied with transfer credits.

Advanced Laboratory Courses

• BIOL 4320 - Microbiology Lab Credit Hours: 6
• BIOL 4710 - Biochemistry Laboratory Credit Hours: 6
• BIOL 4720 - Molecular Biology Laboratory Credit Hours: 6
• BIOL 4740 - Advanced Cell Biology Laboratory Credit Hours: 6