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Requirements for
the B.S. Degree in the Biological SciencesThis program leads to the award of the B.S. degree in Biology from Cortland and the Master of Forestry or Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University.
The College Core courses are designed to insure that all students, regardless of their major, will possess basic writing skills and have an understanding of the fundamentals of a wide variety of fields. Accordingly, two "Composition" courses are required and selection of one course in each of seven General Education categories is required. The College Core includes a total of 27 credit hours.
| CPN 100 | Academic Writing I | (3) |
| CPN 101 | Academic Writing II | (3) |
| GE 1 | American State and Society | (3) |
| GE 2 | Prejudice and Discrimination | (3) |
| GE 3 | Contrasting Cultures | (3) |
| GE 4 | Fine Arts | (3) |
| GE 5 | History and the History of Ideas | (3) |
| GE 6 | Literature | (3) |
| GE 7 | Science, Technology and Human Affairs | (3) |
The Department of Biological Sciences requires students to take a specific group of courses generally referred to as the Biology Core Courses. The core courses are required because the department feels that the knowledge acquired in these courses is basic to any biology degree. While students will concentrate in their particular area of interest by taking elective courses, the core courses are designed to provide every student with a broad, comprehensive background in biology. The Biology Core includes a total of 43 credit hours.
The core courses are listed below with their course number and the number of credit hours each carries.
| BIO 201 | Biological Sciences I | (4) |
| BIO 202 | Biological Sciences II | (4) |
| BIO 210 | Cellular Biology | (4) |
| BIO 312 | Genetics | (4) |
| BIO 319 | Biological Literature | (1) |
| BIO 412 | Ecology | (4) |
| CHE 221 | General Chemistry I | (4) |
| CHE 222 | General Chemistry II | (4) |
| CHE 301 | Organic Chemistry I | (4) |
| MAT 121 | Calculus A | (3) |
| MAT 122 | Calculus B | (3) |
| PHY 105 | Elementary Mechanics, Heat and Matter | (4) |
| PHY 106 | Elementary Electricity and Sound | (4) |
or alternative physics sequence |
||
| PHY 201 | Principles of Physics I | (4) |
| PHY 202 | Principles of Physics II | (4) |
| MAT 201 BIO 403 |
Statistical Methods or alternative Biometry |
(3) |
| ECO 100 | Principles of Macroeconomics | (3) |
| ECO 101 | Principles of Microeconomics | (3) |
A minimum of 11-13 credit hours of biology electives is required to be taken at Cortland. If you would like to see a list of the biology electives offered click see the navigation bar to the left.
| Equivalent of BIO 412: General Ecology | (4) |
| Biology Electives | (6-8) |
| Additional Math or Science | (3) |
| Free Electives | (19) |
The College Core courses are designed to insure that all students, regardless of their major, will possess basic writing skills and have an understanding of the fundamentals of a wide variety of fields. Accordingly, two "Composition" courses are required and selection of one course in each of seven General Education categories is required. The College Core includes a total of 27 credit hours.
| CPN 100 | Academic Writing I | (3) |
| CPN 101 | Academic Writing II | (3) |
| GE 1 | American State and Society | (3) |
| GE 2 | Prejudice and Discrimination | (3) |
| GE 3 | Contrasting Cultures | (3) |
| GE 4 | Fine Arts | (3) |
| GE 5 | History and the History of Ideas | (3) |
| GE 6 | Literature | (3) |
| GE 7 | Science, Technology and Human Affairs | (3) |
The Department of Biological Sciences requires students to take a specific group of courses generally referred to as the Biology Core Courses. The core courses are required because the department feels that the knowledge acquired in these courses is basic to any biology degree. While students will concentrate in their particular area of interest by taking elective courses, the core courses are designed to provide every student with a broad, comprehensive background in biology. The Biology Core includes a total of 47 credit hours.
The core courses are listed below with their course number and the number of credit hours each carries.
| BIO 201 | Biological Sciences I | (4) |
| BIO 202 | Biological Sciences II | (4) |
| BIO 210 | Cellular Biology | (4) |
| BIO 312 | Genetics | (4) |
| BIO 319 | Biological Literature | (1) |
| BIO 412 | Ecology | (4) |
| CHE 221 | General Chemistry I | (4) |
| CHE 222 | General Chemistry II | (4) |
| CHE 301 | Organic Chemistry I | (4) |
| MAT 121 | Calculus A | (3) |
| MAT 122 | Calculus B | (3) |
| PHY 105 | Elementary Mechanics, Heat and Matter | (4) |
| PHY 106 | Elementary Electricity and Sound | (4) |
or alternative physics sequence |
||
| PHY 201 | Principles of Physics I | (4) |
| PHY 202 | Principles of Physics II | (4) |
| MAT 201 BIO 403 |
Statistical Methods or alternative Biometry |
(3) |
| ECO 100 | Principles of Macroeconomics | (3) |
| ECO 101 | Principles of Microeconomics | (3) |
A minimum of 15 credit hours of biology electives is required to be taken at Cortland. If you would like to see a list of the biology electives offered click see the navigation bar to the left.
Free electives are courses offered by any department. These give students the opportunity to explore areas about which they are curious or in which they would like to gain more knowledge. This category may include more biology courses to go beyond the minimum requirements for the degree. The number of free elective credits is 23 hours.
The minimum number of credit hours required for any degree at Cortland is 124, broken down, as one can see, in the categories above. Another way to get a sense of the requirements is to divide the total number of credits by the typical 8 semesters students are enrolled in college. This comes to 15.5 hours a semester. Obviously, this is an average and one can have some light semesters and other semesters with heavier loads. Also, students may take a course or two during the summers to reduce the load a bit during the normal academic year.