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This is a summary, but for detailed requirements, go to the Degree and Certificate Requirements section in the Academic Catalog.
Briefly, you must complete:
- 120 semester hours with a cumulative GPA of 2.0
- At least 40 credit hours of upper division (3000-4000) courses
- Complete the General Studies Program
- Complete the Ethnic Studies & Social Justice (ESSJ) requirement (at least 3 credits)
- Complete the Senior Experience course (at least 3 credits)
- Fulfill the Major requirements and possibly minor requirements. (Minor requirements vary by catalog year; BIO majors on catalog year 2024-25 and forward are not required to have a minor.)
- File an Application for Graduation with the Office of the Registrar according to published dates in the Academic Calendar
- Satisfy academic residency requirements, which are classes taken at MSU Denver.
- Listed under “Academic Residency Requirements” under the Requirements for All Bachelors Degrees section in the Academic Catalog.
If you want to earn a degree, you must declare a major. You can take a few courses to broaden your education without declaring a major. But, to graduate, you must declare a major. It is advantageous for you to declare a major as soon as possible. Then you will receive advising specific to your needs and will be less likely to take unnecessary courses.
If you did not declare a major when you applied to MSU, use this Declaration of Major form.
You can check whether or not you have a declared major and minor by looking at your Degree Progress Report (DPR) on the Student Hub.
Yes, as long as it is before graduation. Use this Declaration of Major form.
Minors can be helpful for careers that are cross-disciplinary. If you have a BA, a minor would be helpful to complete your undergraduate credits.
You can use this Declaration of Minor form to declare your minor.
Please note as of the 2024-25 catalog year, a minor is no longer required by the university. Students enrolled in a previous catalog year who wish to opt out of the minor requirement will need to work with a Biology advisor to have their catalog year rolled forward to 2024-25.
Yes, however, before you consider declaring a double major, we strongly recommend that you consider the number of credit hours you must take to satisfy the requirements and consult with your Biology advisor.
Additional information regarding double majors can be found here.
Yes and no. After graduating you can come back and complete a second degree, but you can’t just take a few courses you have left from your first degree to complete a second major. You must satisfy the Second Degree Requirements as described in the Academic Catalog.
MSU Denver will not award degrees to students who have not completed a sufficient amount of course work at MSU Denver. Refer to the “Academic Residency Requirements” in the Degree and Certificate Requirements section of the Academic Catalog.
See the General Studies Program page for more details.
Check your Degree Progress Report (DPR) on the Student Hub to see what General Studies courses you have completed and what courses you still need to complete.
For a definition of a waitlist, plus how to get on a waitlist and what to do if a seat becomes available, refer to these Registration Information FAQs.
Starting with the 2024-25 catalog year a course can fulfill multiple requirements. However, those credits only count once toward the 120 credits needed to graduate.
For previous catalog years, please consult with your Biology advisor.
Yes. Meet with your advisor and refer to the Department of Biology ‘Academic Programs’ section in the Academic Catalog. A list of required courses will appear when you select the program you’re interested in. Examine your Degree Progress Report (DPR) to see any specific courses.
40 semester hours:
- BA
- BS for catalog years prior to 2024-25
46 semester hours:
- BS starting with catalog year 2024-25
Upper division courses are 3000- and 4000-level courses.
For the BA and the BS prior to catalog year 2024-25:
- At least 21 semester hours must be from the BIO 3000-4000 courses
- A total of 40 credit hours of upper division courses are required in order to graduate with your bachelor’s degree and Biology major.
For the BS starting with catalog year 2024-25:
- At least 27 semester hours must be from the BIO 3000-4000 courses
- A total of 39 credit hours of upper division courses are required in order to graduate with your bachelor’s degree and Biology major.
For your degree you must take at least 120 semester hours with a cumulative GPA of 2.0. Examine your Degree Progress Report to see how many upper division courses you have taken and how many more you still need.
It depends on the major. The Biology major requires specific Math and Chemistry courses. Check with an advisor and examine your Degree Progress Report.
Yes, there are required prerequisites to most of the Biology courses. You can find the prerequisites by going to the “Course Descriptions” section of the Academic Catalog. Enter the course that you wish to examine in the search bar (e.g. BIO 3520), then hit ‘Filter’. Click on the course from the search results and you can read the prerequisites.
Also, you can click on any course that you still need from your Degree Progress Report and a description and prerequisites will show up.
These courses have instructional activities that are outside of the classroom. The credit number can vary; however, a student may only take 1-2 credits for independent study/internships/practicum/undergraduate research in a single semester.
Students must have a faculty supervisor and the student needs to spend on average 3 times as much time/week on the course as the number of credits received (for example, if a student is doing an internship for 2 credit hours then they need to spend a minimum of 6 hours/week or 90 hours of work over the course of the semester for the internship).
A maximum of 4 credits of independent study/internships/practicum/undergraduate research may be applied toward a major or minor in Biology.
Effective as of the 2019-2020 Academic catalog, a grade of “C-” or better is required for each BIO prefix course to count toward the Biology Major (either B.A. or B.S.) or the Biology Minor.
Only specific courses are classified as Senior Experience Courses. These courses count for your Biology Major AND count for Senior Experience, although you only get the number of credits counted once.
The Biology Senior Experience Courses are:
- BIO 4050 – (3) Advanced Cell & Molecular Biology
- BIO 4230 – (3) Issues in Conservation Biology
- BIO 4271 – (4) Parasitology
- BIO 4300 – (3) Neurobiology
- BIO 4510 – (4) Microbial Ecology
- BIO 4540 – (4) Plant Ecology
- BIO 4550 – (4) Animal Ecology
- BIO 4820 – (4) Developmental Biology
- BIO 4850 – (3) Evolution
You can check whether or not you have a declared major and minor by looking at your Degree Progress Report (DPR) on the Student Hub.