BS in Biology

The Biology major offers interdisciplinary learning and foundational skills that students carry with them beyond Tufts. It attracts students interested in career areas that include medicine, biotechnology, conservation, education, consulting, law, basic and applied research. We engage students and faculty in evaluating and interpreting scientific progress. The learning objectives of our undergraduate Biology program are active, as we work with students to do the following:

-be exposed to trends in evolution, cell biology, information and nutrient flow at the level of cells, organisms, and ecosystems.

-predict and identify interconnections between diverse life forms

-develop technical experience with laboratory protocols

-define problems, and design experiments to solve them

-generate, analyze, and communicate data, in oral and written formats

-evaluate professional literature and relate published data to their own topic

-manage and analyze large data sets

-identify ethical considerations and societal outcomes in research and technical advancement

Program Requirements and Policies

• All biology courses for the major must be numbered 13 or higher and must be 3 SHUs or more (including related field courses).
• Twelve courses are required to complete the major, including ten courses in biology numbered 13 or higher (with the exception of Biology 91, 93, and 94), and either two courses in chemistry or two courses in physics. Course requirements are outlines below.
• At least five of the ten biology courses must be taken at Tufts, and at least seven must be completed with a grade of C- or better. It is recommended that students take at least one seminar course. In addition, at least two courses in biology must include laboratory study, and one of these must be above the level of Biology 15. In fulfilling this laboratory requirement, students may choose from among those laboratory courses for which laboratory is specified in the course description, with the following exceptions: Biology 93 and 94.
• Biology 193 or 194 normally may be used as only one of the ten biology courses for completion of the concentration requirements; on approval of a petition to the department, a maximum of two such courses may be applied toward the major.
• For more information on Bio 93, 94, 193, 194, and 199, please see our information on Research Courses.
• No major course may be taken Pass/Fail.
• Only one introductory statistics course can be used for the biology major (Intro Stats Courses: Bio 132, Math 21, CH 31, CSHD 140, CEE 6, and CEE 156).
• If you have more than one major, please see the The Bulletin for rules on double-counting courses across majors.

Course Requirements

Specific courses which satisfy the biology major requirements, are as follows:

Note: As of Fall 2023, A&S students taking Biology 13 must take both BIO 13 (lecture) and BIO 15 (lab) in the same semester, as they are linked courses. A&S students must add both courses to their SIS cart when enrolling in BIO 13 + 15. Students who took BIO 13 before 2023 already have lab automatically included in Bio 13.  Engineering students should note that the requirement to take the lab differs by major.

Note: Any biology course taken can only satisfy one group requirement (A, B, C, or Q.)

• Bio 152: Biochemistry & Cellular Metabolism- will not be offered in spring 2026; instead it will move to fall starting in 2026 and subsequent years.

Note: Any biology course taken can only satisfy one group requirement (A, B, C, or Q.)

Note: Any biology course taken can only satisfy one group requirement (A, B, C, or Q.)

Notes:

• Any biology course taken can only satisfy one group requirement (A, B, C, or Q.)
• Only one introductory statistics course can be used to fulfill the biology major (noted with †.)

Notes:

• Beginning with the Class of 2022, only courses taught in biology or cross-listed in biology will count as electives, even if they are listed on this document (with two exceptions: Chem 171 and Chem 172 can count as electives).
• Advanced laboratory courses (any labs above Bio 15) can count as electives, whether or not they are used to fulfill the advanced lab requirement, as long as the advanced laboratory course(s) was (were) not also used to satisfy a group A, B, C, or Q requirement.
• Only one introductory statistics course (noted with † in Section V) can be used to fulfill the biology major.
• Bio 193 or Bio 194 (but not both) may be used as one of the two electives for the Biology major. A student can take Bio 193 and count it as an advanced lab and then take Bio 194 and have it count as an elective.
• Bio 195 and 196: Not all selected topics courses can contribute to major requirements and/or distribution requirements. Please ask the instructor for further information.
• Bio 199 may be used as one of the two electives for the biology major.

Note: An advanced laboratory must be a letter graded course numbered higher than Bio 15.

Note: If a course is eligible to fulfill one or more of the Groups required for the major, that information will be listed at the end of the course description. A student may choose to count a course for only one Group. If no group designation is listed, the course cannot be used to fulfill any Group of the major’s distribution requirement although the courses are applicable toward the total required for a major.