Undergraduate FAQ

The BS and BA majors differ mainly with regards to the non-biology STEM requirements. The BS requires more advanced classes in chemistry, math, and physics. There are also a few more requirements for the BS as far as the biology courses are concerned (see website).

First and foremost, the title of your degree does not mean a lot for future professional schools or employers. Medical schools do not care whether you are a biology BS major, a BA major, or a History major. Granted, a science-related career (including professional schools) would appreciate a rich background in science courses, and indeed, the majority of the biology majors follow the BS path. However, if following the biology BS hurts your performance in STEM classes or prevents you from following other paths of interest, you are not doing yourself a favor by sticking to the BS. While 93% of the incoming biology first years start with a BS track, only 75% of our graduating seniors follow the BS. Thus, almost 20% of the majors changed their path during their tenure. It is also noteworthy that some paths (especially pre-PA) might work better with a bio BA route. Feel free to discuss the major decisions with your advisor.

The Quantitative biology (QBIOL) track is a special track in the biology BS major, geared towards students who would like to combine their passion for biology with an interest in computer science, math, and statistics. You can find more details about the requirements here. Since some of our QBIOL electives are not offered every year, we strongly recommend that you meet with Dr. Shemer for long-term course planning before Junior year.

We strongly recommend completing the fundamental courses (103, 104, 105L) during your first 3 semesters. Also, 103 and 104 are prerequisite to all of our 400-level bio classes (105L will also be a prerequisite to the 400-level classes starting spring 26). We recommend focusing on your intermediate core classes in your sophomore year (unless you are a Jr transfer student) alongside your other STEM requirements, starting with 2 STEM per semester, if possible (e.g., BIOL 220 and CHEM 261). Jr and Sr years will be a good time to take your biology electives.

No. There is no specific order you should follow when taking  the 3 fundamentals: 103, 104, 105L. Note that specific 200-level intermediate core classes require either 103 or 104 as a prerequisite.

It depends. If you plan to take BIOL 220 or BIOL 240 later on (both require 103 as a prerequisite), we strongly (really strongly) recommend to first retake BIOL 103 at UNC-CH. Our data shows that students who have taken the equivalent of 103 in other universities typically struggle with 220 and 240 and on average receive 2-3 letter grades lower than their peers. If you are not planning to take 220 or 240, you’re good to go.

In the BA and the regular BS majors, you are required to complete 2 intermediate core classes, to be chosen from a pool of 5 (the Quantitative biology track requires only 1 intermediate core class). Those 2 cannot count as biology electives (you cannot “double dip”). However, if you choose a third or more courses from that intermediate core pool, then the additional courses you chose could count as biology electives. For example, if you had completed 220, 240, and 260, then 220 and 240 would count as your intermediate core and 260 could count as one of your bio electives.

No. You need to take a number of fundamentals, intermediate core, and biology electives. Among all of these classes, some need to be 400-level or higher (2 for the BS, 1 for the BA), and some need to be taken with lab (2 for the BS, 1 for the BA, not including 105L). Those with the labs do not necessarily need to be at the 400-level.

All the biology majors require a set of allied sciences in addition to the core and non-core requirements (4 allied science courses for the BA and 2 for the BS). These allied sciences (science and science-related courses) are not the same thing as the required biology electives. They need to be chosen from a pool of courses detailed in the UNC catalog (Check here and scroll down to the bottom to click on the “Allied sciences” hyperlink).

You cannot “double dip” and take a class that will count towards your non-allied requirement and count it as an allied science as well. For example, CHEM 261 is required for the Bio BS major so it cannot be used as an allied science towards the Bio BS, but the BA does not require CHEM 261, so that course can fulfill an allied science requirement in the BA.

Only a few classes in biology require a specific letter grade in a prerequisite (beyond passing the latter). You can find the requirement of each class either through the catalog or by checking the class details on Connect Carolina. As in all other UNC majors, you need to complete the entire biology major core courses (i.e., fundamentals, intermediate, and electives) with a GPA of 2.0 or above in order to graduate. The major GPA does not include BIOL 101/L and any of the other  non-bio STEM requirements (e.g., CHEM 102).

Cross-listed classes are offered by non-biology departments but can count towards the biology major. It doesn’t matter which specific section of the course you are taking. As long as the course is cross-listed with biology, it will count for biology. For example, CHEM 430 or BIOL 430 are exactly the same course: Biochemistry. Whether you take this class as CHEM 430 or BIOL 430, it will count as a biology elective above 400.

Note that the number of the course in biology will determine what it could count for. e.g., EMES 401- Oceanography, is cross-listed as BIOL 350. Although it is a 400-level EMES class, it is a 300-level in biology and therefore, will count as a biology elective but not at the 400-level.

To find whether a course is cross-listed as a biology class, you can either write the name of the class on the search window in the Catalog or check the biology course offering list.

Per UNC-CH academic rules, you can declare one single biology course in your major as a pass/fail. This applies only to the core BIOL classes (i.e., fundamentals, intermediate, and electives) and not to BIOL 101/L gateway course or to the non-biology STEM requirements (e.g. physics). If you receive a low-pass (LC) grade, this will not count and you will need to repeat this course. Remember that there is a deadline to declare P/F (around the eighth week of the semester) and that you cannot regret your P/F decision later.

Details on which requirement each of the biology tracks has can be found on this website. The BIO BS page on that website also includes sample 4-year planning scenarios. In addition, you can check our biology advising website and click on the link at the top of the page to watch a recording of an info session about the biology majors and course planning. Beyond the website, schedule a meeting or drop-in for a meeting with Dr. Shemer, the biology faculty advisor (see below for details).

The Biology faculty advisor for the biology majors is Dr. Gidi Shemer. We encourage you to contact him either through email or to meet him in-person/virtual. Note that Dr. Shemer cannot help with general education related questions, but with anything else germane to the biology major. Make sure to add your PID number to your email.

For questions about study abroad and biology, contact Dr. Elaine Yeh.

To correct errors in your Tar Heel Tracker, regarding the major, contact Dr. Steve Rogers, the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) in biology. Make sure to add your PID number to your email.

To try enrolling in a biology class that is already full, contact the instructor of the class. No one else would be able to add you.

You can schedule a meeting with Dr. Shemer through the UNC advising website (click on the Appointment scheduler key at the top of the page). Scheduling meetings can be done only a couple of weeks ahead of time, so if he is not available you might want to try scheduling later or simply use his drop-in hours (see details).

While the Biology BS degree requirements overlap with many of the premed requirements, there are additional requirements for medical school that are not required for biology majors (mainly advanced chemistry classes). Therefore, as a premed (and especially if you plan to take the MCAT right after junior year), careful academic planning is a must. Meet with your general education advisor and/or Dr. Shemer sooner rather than later to make sure you are not missing requirements or overwhelming yourself in a way that would hurt your chances to get into medical school.

In addition to regular and departmental advisors, Health Professions Advising serves as the main resource for premeds as well as other pre-health students, with advice on MCAT, applications, extracurriculars and more.

Transferring classes from early colleges or community colleges can give you more flexibility as well as helping you with registration to classes (your registration status will benefit from TR credits). Having said that, there are also some points that you should consider when pursuing your biology major in that status, mainly the length of time you plan to study at UNC-CH. For some students, graduating in 4 semesters (after they completed a full associate degree prior) is realistic, but for many others (especially pre-meds and pre-dentistry), trying to complete all the STEM requirements in such a short time, is a recipe for frustration and subpar performance. Don’t jump into the upper-level STEM courses and don’t take too many of those in your first semester. Meet with the biology advisor and the gen ed advisors for short- and long-term planning. You can use your early college experience as a leverage, or you can use it as a burden. Let it be the former.

While the UNC catalog shows all the courses offered in biology, some of these classes are not necessarily offered every semester/year or may not even planned to be offered in the near future.

To find more details about future course offerings, go to the biology course offering website. You can find on that page user-friendly lists of courses that are planned to be offered in the coming semester/summer session. These lists break down the course offering by fields of interest and include details about requirements each course fulfills. You can also find there a 4-year plan and finally, sample syllabi of most of our courses.  Note that these lists are tentative, and Connect Carolina is the formal updated website.

First, be aware that in certain courses, the biology department prioritizes enrollment of biology majors and particularly biology seniors. In many cases, we restrict such classes to biology seniors/majors during the first registration wave and lift the restriction before the second registration wave.

Instructors are the only ones in Biology to add students to an already full class. They are also the only ones to wave a prerequisite in special cases. If you were not able to enroll in a class, do the following: first, join the waitlist during the second registration wave. Second, contact the instructor and see if it’s okay for you to sit-in during the first week of the semester. Finally, come to the class during the first week. Most instructors will have signup forms (physical or virtual) and will accommodate students based on seat availability and their (and the department’s) set of priorities. Do not contact advisors, the department chair, or our student service manager with requests to get in. This is only up to the instructors.

There are multiple ways to pursue research for credit and not for credit. Visit our Undergraduate biology research website to find details about each and every research-related credit course that you can take. Note that each credit requires a few prerequisites. At the top of that page you can also find a link to an info session about undergraduate research, what it entails, what are the different credits and how to find a lab.

If you want to pursue research for credit in-campus, but to do it outside the biology department, you also need to find a biology faculty sponsor for your research (see details in the 395 tab on the link above).

Research for credit in Biology is restricted to biology majors only.

Yes, you might be eligible to receive BIOL 293 credit. While 293 does not count towards the major, it counts towards one of the gen ed requirements. To check your eligibility and to apply, visit this website.

Biology seniors who have completed at least one semester of BIOL 395, fulfilled certain GPA requirements, and have enough quality data can pursue an Honors thesis (BIOL 692H) during one of the two final semesters. For more details, check our BIOL 692H site.

There is no need to be part of the Honors program in order to take BIOL 692H. Stduents do need to take 692H to complete an Honors thesis in Biology.