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While every effort is made to insure that information on these web pages is accurate, the official policies are those stated in the Biology section of the official Pomona course catalog .

Biology Major Requirements:

All courses for the Biology major must be taken for a letter-grade.

Introductory Biology

• Biology 40: Introductory Genetics
• Biology 41C: Introductory Cell Chemistry and Cell Biology with Laboratory
• Biology 41E: Introductory Ecological and Evolutionary Biology with Laboratory

Chemistry

• Chemistry 1A,B: General Chemistry
  (or Chemistry 51: General Chemistry [accelerated])
• Chemistry 110A,B: Organic Chemistry

Mathematics

• Mathematics 30: Calculus I
• Either:
  • Mathematics 31: Calculus II, or
  • An approved statistics course such as:
    • Mathematics 58: Introduction to Statistics,
    • Psychology 158: Introductory Statistics for Psychology, or
    • Biology 153 HM: Biostatistics (at Harvey Mudd College)
  • Students who place out of Math 31 must take either:
    • Mathematics 32: Calculus III,
    • Mathematics 36: Mathematical and Computational Methods in the Life Sciences, or
    • An approved statistics course

Upper-division Biology Courses

• One upper-division laboratory or field course in organismal biology. These courses are:
  • Biology 125: Animal Behavior with Laboratory
  • Biology 131: Invertebrate Biology with Laboratory
  • Biology 132: Vertebrate Biology with Laboratory
  • Biology 140: Animal Physiology with Laboratory
  • Biology 166: Plant Physiology with Laboratory
  • Biology 169: Developmental Biology with Laboratory
• Four additional upper-division biology courses, three of which must be laboratory or field courses.
• The following courses may be substituted for upper-division biology courses:
  • Chemistry 115: Biochemistry
  • Neuroscience 102: Neuroethology: Mechanisms of Behavior
  • Neuroscience 103: Neuropharmacology
  • Neuroscience 130: Vertebrate Sensory Systems with Laboratory

Students whose elective biology courses reflect a strong interest in ecology, evolution and/or organismal biology are strongly encouraged to take a course in statistics before beginning the Senior Exercise.

No more than one course credit from any combination of half-credit courses may be applied to the major.

Biology courses taken at the other Claremont Colleges may be eligible for major credit with prior written permission from the department chair.

With prior written permission from the department chair, one course credit may be obtained for appropriate upper-division biology coursework undertaken in a Study Abroad program.

Senior Exercise

• Either:
  • Biology 191: Senior Library Thesis, or
  • Biology 194A,B: Senior Experimental Thesis

Seniors are required either to present a satisfactory research paper based on original research in the laboratory or the field, completed over two semesters (Biology 194A,B), or to present a senior thesis in grant proposal format based on library research (Biology 191).

Additional Recommendations

Students who wish to pursue advanced study in biology should take both a year of calculus and a year of physics in addition to departmental requirements because most graduate and professional schools require these for admission.

Early consultation with an academic adviser from the members of the Biology faculty will ensure that the student’s program of study satisfies departmental requirements and provides adequate preparation for career goals.