Biology
Skip sidebar and go to page body
Biology
Honors in the Biology Major is an undergraduate program designed for students who desire a more challenging academic program leading to a degree with the designation “With Honors”. The program has a prescribed 20 credit requirement of Honors or equivalent courses in addition to a Senior Honors Thesis involving at least 4 credits of independent research offered through an academic department. The student is obligated to submit their senior thesis to the Office of Undergraduate Programs & Services (116 Agricultural Hall) and to present the work orally at the Spring CALS Research Forum.
Note that an excellent thesis project is central to this Honors degree and involvement in research during one's senior year should be seen as the minimum requirement. Optimally, students should become involved in research as early as possible, and significant progress in a thesis would typically require involvement during the junior year as well as the required work in the senior year.
To participate in the Honors in the Major Program, a student must be admitted to the CALS Honors Degree Program. Students can be admitted by being in the upper 10% of their high school graduating class, or by receiving an ACT score of 28 or an SAT score of 1240; students who have completed one or more semesters of college will need GPA in college courses of 3.3.
The required 20 credits must be in courses that satisfy requirements 4 and 5 of the Biology Curriculum, although other courses can be approved by the Biology Curriculum Committee on a case-by-case basis. At least 6 credits of the 20 must be in courses at 500-level and above. Senior Honors thesis and other independent research credits do not count toward this 20 credit requirement.
Progress toward the “Honors in the Major” degree in Biology will be monitored by the program staff. Questions should be directed to the Honors advisors in the Biology Major. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.3 and satisfy the requirement listed above. Before beginning a Senior Honors Thesis, students and their thesis advisors must submit preproposals to the students' academic advisors for their approval and that of the Program chair. The student's thesis advisor is responsible for approving the completed Senior Honors Thesis, but that thesis must also be submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Programs & Services (116 Agricultural Hall).