Biology Minor

Declaring a Biology Minor
 

Visit the "How to Declare" page once you are ready to declare the minor.  Students may declare a minor only once they have already delcared their major and it appears in SIS, and the deadline to declare the minor is anytime before the start of their last semester.

Requirements for the Biology Minor:

Biology Lower-level STEM requirements

Biology Lower-level STEM requirements

Although there are no specific requirements for introductory biology (or chemistry) courses for the Biology Minor, one or more of these preparatory courses are required prerequisites for all 3000-level and above biology courses.

Biology “Core” Course Requirement

Biology “Core” Course Requirement

Students must complete at least two of the Biology core courses (BIOL 3000, 3010, or 3020). Students who complete all three core courses may apply the third towards the Biology Upper-Level Course requirement.

Upper-Level Biology Course Requirements

Upper-Level Biology Course Requirements

Biology minors are required to complete a total of 15 hours of upper-level (3000 or above) required + elective courses. Two core courses are included in these minimum 15 hours. The remaining elective courses may consist of any combination of Biology lecture and laboratory courses, taught either at UVA or at Mountain Lake Biological Station. Two semesters of Independent Research (BIOL 4910/4920, 4911-4918) conducted in one laboratory may be included in the credit hours for the minor.  Only EVSC or NESC courses that are cross-listed with Biology (e.g. BIOL/EVSC 4100) may be counted toward minor credit.  CHEM 4410 and 4420 may not be used to fulfill Biology Minor credits. In addition, BIOL 3420 may not be applied towards Biology Minor credits.

Grade Point Average

Grade Point Average

The overall GPA for courses presented for the minor must be at least 2.000. These courses include two core courses and enough additional 3000 level or higher elective BIOL courses to complete a total of 15 credit hours.

Restrictions

Restrictions

  1. Effective 13 Aug., 2019, College students may have two minors. One minor must be in the College (both can be in the College, but both cannot be minors from other schools.
  2. A minor consists of no fewer than 15 and no more than 24 credits of graded work in a program in a program of studies approved by the sponsoring department. Courses taken credit/no credit may not be applied towards the Biology minor. 
  3. Courses applied towards a minor may not also count toward completion of a major or a second minor.
  4. Students who declared an interdisciplinary minor prior to fall 2019 may still share up to three courses with a major, when both departments or programs approve, unless they declare a second minor.
  5. Students who add a second minor may not share any minor courses with a major, regardless of when they declared the first minor.
  6. BIOL 3420, CHEM 4400, CHEM 4410 and 4420 may not be used to fulfill Biology Minor credits.

Minor Advising

Minor Advising

Students who declare a minor in Biology are not officially assigned Biology advisors. Biology minor students may consult any Biology faculty member or the Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the Biology Department Office to discuss their choice of courses.