BS Biology Degree Requirements

A Bachelor of Science in Biology requires a minimum of 122 credit hours. All courses must be taken for a letter grade, except for Free Electives which can include pass/fail courses. All letter grades of D and higher are accepted in the Biology degree. Always refer to the Undergraduate Handbook specific to your catalog year (the year you entered the Biology major) for information, rules, and regulations specific to your Biology degree requirements.

Quick Links:

• Biology degree Undergraduate Handbook
• Biology degree requirements
• Introductory and Core courses
• Quantitative Biology Requirement
• Senior Research Requirement
• Biology Electives
• Required Non-Biology courses
  • *New US and Georgia Constitution and History Requirements (beginning May 2022)*
• Biology degree 4-year plan
• Biology degree checklist

BS Biology 2022-2023 degree requirements

For degree requirements prior to the current year, please refer to the Biology Undergraduate Handbook for your specific catalog year.

Required Biology Introductory and Core Courses

BIOS 1207 Majors Biological Principles or 1107 Biological Principles (credit also accepted for BIOS 1107)
BIOS 1207L Biological Principles Project Lab or 1107L Biological Principles Lab (credit also accepted for BIOS 1107L)
BIOS 1208 Majors Organismal Biology or 1108 Organismal Biology (credit also accepted for BIOS 1108)
BIOS 1208L Organismal Biology Project Lab or 1108L Organismal Biology Lab (credit also accepted for BIOS 1108L)
BIOS 2300 or 2310 Ecology or Problem-Based Ecology
BIOS 2600 or 2610 Genetics or Integrative Genetics
BIOS 3450  Cell and Molecular Biology
BIOS 3600 Evolutionary Biology
BIOS 4460 Communicating Biological Research
Two of these three lab categories: Ecology or Problem-Based Ecology Lab (BIOS 2301 or 2311); Genetics or Integrative Genetics Lab (BIOS 2601 or 2611); Cell and Molecular Biology Lab (BIOS 3451). Each lab should be taken concurrently with the associated lecture course when possible. If you choose to take all three lab courses, then the 3000-level course may count toward Biology Electives instead of the Core Lab requirement.

Quantitative Biology Requirement

One of the following:
BIOS 3400 Mathematical Models in Biology
BIOS 4150 Genomics & Applied Bioinformatics
BIOS 4401 Experimental Design & Statistical Methods
If you choose to take more than one of the courses above, then the other course(s) may be used to fulfill Biology Elective credits instead of the Quantitative Biology requirement

Senior Research Experience Requirement

One of the following:
BIOS 4590  Research Project Lab
BIOS 4690 Independent Research Project

More information on how and when to complete the Senior Research Experience

Biology Electives

Students complete 21 credits of Biology electives defined as follows: 12 "depth" credit hours must be courses with a “BIOS” prefix, excluding BIOS 4694-BIOS 4699. Biology Elective courses that are cross-listed with other departments are included in these 12 depth credit hours. The remaining 9 "breadth" credit hours can be selected from: other BIOS 3000-level and higher courses, BIOS 4695, BIOS 4697, BIOS 4699, 3000 or 4000-level VIP courses with a Biological Sciences instructor, and a list of approved courses offered in the other departments.

• 12 credits of Biology Depth Electives: Depth electives allow you to gain deeper understanding in specific biological areas of your choice. Depth electives must have a "BIOS" prefix (or be cross-listed with a BIOS prefix). Biology internships, teaching, or research (BIOS 4695, 4697, 4699) cannot count toward Depth electives. A list of Biology Depth elective courses is available at the Courses and Syllabi page.
• 9 credits of Biology Breadth Electives: Breadth electives provide the opportunity to add a wider base of experience and knowledge to your Biology degree. Breadth electives can be selected from:
  • Biology Depth Electives (most BIOS 3000 and 4000 level courses)
  • Biology internships, teaching, or research (BIOL 4695, 4697, 4699) or 3000 or 4000-level VIP courses taught by a faculty member from the School of Biological Sciences. A maximum of 6 credits can be applied to the 9 breadth credits from each of BIOS 4695, 4697, 4699, or 3000 or 4000-level VIP courses.​ Any additional credits of BIOS 4695, 4697, 4699, or VIP coursework can be applied to Free Electives
  • A list of approved courses offered in other Schools (see below). For Business Option students, a maximum of 6 credits of Business Option electives can be applied to the 9 breadth credits. For Research Option students, a maximum of 2 credits of LMC 4701 and 4702 can be applied to the 9 breadth credits.

Suggested plan of study (4 year plan)

The suggested plan of study (4 year plan) proposed here helps you balance the Biology major requirements over four academic years without taking summer classes. Please consult with your academic advisor for questions about taking courses in a different order than suggested here.

Bachelor of Science in Biology 2022-2023 degree requirements

Important notes

​Pass-fail allowed for Free Electives only. Refer to the Institute rules for maximum pass-fail credits allowed.

1. ¹BIOS 1107 and 1107L may be substituted for BIOS 1207 and 1207L; BIOS 1108 and 1108L may be substituted for BIOS 1208 and 1208L
2. ²Four credit hours of Biology elective may be substituted for BIOS 1208 and 1208L if a score of 5 was achieved on the AP Biology test. A maximum of 1 of these credits may be BIOS 4697 or BIOS 4699. Please discuss this option with your advisor. It is important to note that substituting for BIOS 1208 and 1208L often results in a student needing to take more than a single Biology elective class, because most Biology electives are only 3 credit hours.
3. ³Biology lab courses: Ecology, Genetics, and Cell & Molecular Biology each have an associated laboratory course. You must take two of these three labs, each of which must be taken concurrently with the corresponding lecture course: Ecology Lab (BIOS 2301/2311), Genetics Lab (BIOS 2601/2611), or Cell and Molecular Biology Lab (BIOS 3451). Be aware that 3451 is typically only offered in the Spring semester; students who take 3450 in the Fall are eligible to take 3451 the following spring.
4. ⁴The four Constitution and History Requirements must be completed before 90 credit hours and are fulfilled as follows: US HISTORY fulfilled by HIST 2111, HIST 2112, equivalent transfer/AP/IB credit, or passing the United States History Module Examination*; US CONSTITUTION fulfilled by INTA 1200, POL 1101, PUBP 3000, equivalent transfer/AP/IB credit, equivalent transfer/AP/IB credit, or passing the United States Constitution Module Examination*; GA HISTORY fulfilled by passing the Georgia History Module Examination; GA CONSTITUTION fulfilled by passing the Constitution of Georgia Module Examination*. HIST 2111 or HIST 2112 may be used to fulfill both the US History requirement and count toward Social Science requirements. INTA 1200, POL 1101, or PUBP 3000 may be used to fulfill both the US Constitution requirement and count toward Social Science requirements. Note that all students must take at least one of these five courses (HIST 2111, HIST 2212, INTA 1200, POL 1101, or PUBP 3000) to fulfill Core Area E requirements; courses may be completed at GT or via AP/IB/Transfer credit. *Note that the Module Examinations do not carry any academic credit.
5. ⁵The following courses meet the Quantitative Biology Course requirement (Note that MATH 1551 and MATH 1553 are pre-requisites for most of the Quantitative Requirement courses): BIOS 3400 Mathematical Models in Biology, BIOS 4150 Genomics, BIOS 4401 Experimental Design & Biostatistics (meets MCAT statistics requirement).
6. ⁶The prerequisite for BIOS 3600 is either BIOS 2300, BIOS 2310, BIOS 2600, or BIOS 2610.
7. ⁷The Senior Research Experience can be met with any of the following during the fourth year fall or spring semesters: BIOS 4590 Research Project Lab, BIOS 4690 Independent Research Project (requires at least one previous semester of BIOS 4699/2699).
8. ⁸A minimum of 39 hours of upper division coursework (3000-level or higher) is required for all Georgia Tech undergraduate degrees. The 39 hours of upper division coursework can fulfill any category of degree requirements, including free electives and "fall-through" courses.

Biology degree checklist

The Biology degree checklist provides a convenient way to keep track of your progress toward your degree.  You can also refer to Degreeworks (available in Buzzport) to review your progress.

More information on Biology courses:

• Biology course descriptions
• ​Biology course syllabi
• BIOS-BIOL-APPH course conversion table
• Biology 2-year teaching plan
• The Undergraduate Handbook has more information about customizing your Biology degree and the answer to almost any question you can think of!
• See the Georgia Tech Catalog for more information about core curriculum requirements