Many students may decide to change to the new curriculum to take advantage of its flexibility. Don't worry! The courses you have completed in the old major will still be applicable to the new major and you won't have to take new courses that are equivalent to courses you've already completed.

If you have completed BIOL 100 (Concepts of Biology) and BIOL 301 (Ecology and Evolution) you will not be required to take the new courses that replace them, BIOL 141 (Foundations of Biology: Cells, Energy and Organisms) and BIOL 142 (Foundations of Biology: Ecology and Evolution). If you do not complete BIOL 301 by the last time it is offered in Summer 2011), you will be expected to enroll in BIOL 142 instead.

Another course for which you can receive equivalency is BIOL 303L. This laboratory will no longer be taught but much of the content of that course will be re-purposed in the new course BIOL 300L (Experimental Biology Laboratory). If you have already completed BIOL 303L you will not be required to take BIOL 300L.

A significant change in the programs is the increased emphasis on quantitative skills. The new BIOL B.A. will now require completion of either MATH 151 (Calculus & Analytical Geometry) or MATH 155 (Elementary Calculus I) in addition to completion of STAT 350. Students switching from the old B.S. degree will not require any additional MATH courses since that degree required both MATH 151 and STAT 350. Students switching from the old B.A. will have to complete the additional required course, MATH 151.

The new B.S. will require MATH 151 and STAT 350, as in the old B.S., but will require completion of one additional MATH, STAT or CMSC course. See the description of the new BIOL B.S. for details on that requirement.

You should note that the new BIOL B.A. no longer requires completion of a minor. This has been done to give students the freedom to assemble a set of classes from outside the BIOL degree that will prepare them for their post-graduate career choice.

The new major requires a new laboratory course, BIOL 300L. Because BIOL 300L is a redesign of the BIOL 303L course, whether you must take this course depends on which laboratories you have completed in the old major:

We are still working out with the Registrar's Office the exact mechanism for students to indicate that they would like to change to the new curriculum. For now do nothing, but plan your Fall 2010 classes accordingly. All students will be notified of the mechanism for changing by the start of the Fall 2010 term.