Academic Advising
Pre-professional Specialty Advising
The Department has specific advisors for pre-professional programs:
Pre-MedicalMs. Tailyn Walborn |
Pre-DentalInformation |
Pre-Physical TherapyInformation |
Pre-Physican AssistantInformation |
Pre-PharmacyInformation |
Pre-OptometryInformation |
Pre-VeterinaryInformation Dr. Paul Schaeffer |
Medical Lab ScienceInformation |
Area of Focus Within Biology
We offer an array of areas of focus that will assist you in the persuit of an advanced degree or ready you for your career after graduation.
Advising FAQs
Majors, minors, co-majors
Contact the main office of the Department of Biology (biology@MiamiOH.edu).
Contact the main office of the Department of Biology (biology@MiamiOH.edu).
The Department of Biology offers two different degrees, the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and the Bachelor of Science (B.S.), in each of the three majors. Either degree is appropriate for students who plan to go on to health-related professional schools.
In general, the B.A. degree is designed for students who desire more flexibility or wish to take more courses outside of the natural sciences. All Miami Plan Foundation (MPF) and College of Arts and Science (CAS) requirements apply to this degree. The Departmental requirements are more flexible for the B.A. than for the B.S. degree and leave more room for customizing your program; you can use that flexibility to focus more on certain subdisciplines within biology, to take more courses in other branches of science, or to take a variety of non-science electives. This flexibility is also helpful if students have transferred to Miami from other colleges or from non-science majors.
The B.S. degree has more specific requirements within the sciences, including more required biology courses and more total advanced hours in biology, plus more related science courses. All Miami Plan Foundation (MPF) requirements apply to this degree, but some of the College of Arts and Science (CAS) requirements do not. This degree is more suitable for students who plan to go on to graduate programs and pursue careers as professional scientists.
To get a general idea of which courses you might want to take given your interests, go to Area of Focus.
Students can run a “what if” DAR in BannerWeb--if a student is e.g. currently a BA, the “what if” DAR shows what their DAR would look like if they changed to a BS. This allows students to do a direct comparison of the classes they would need for each degree.
No. These are totally optional.
Learn more about the CAS Writing Requirement.
Miami Plan and CAS Requirements
The Miami Plan requires that you complete a set of related courses (totaling at least nine hours) in an approved thematic sequence (bulletin.miamioh.edu/liberal-education/thematic-sequence/) outside your department of major. This requirement can also be fulfilled by a second major or a minor that is at least partially outside the student’s department of major (i.e. is co-sponsored by another department in addition to the major department).
Contact the main office of the department offering the sequence.
If you have some experience in a foreign language (e.g. you took 4 years of French in high school), you should take an online placement exam in that language. Go to the website of the relevant department for information on how this works.
If you are fluent in a language that is not taught by any department at Miami (e.g. you are a native Estonian speaker), contact the CAS Advising Office (miamioh.edu/cas/academics/advising/index.html) to find out how to have this count towards your language requirement.
Yes, but it will count only as a regular class, not as a capstone. You would still need to take another capstone class once you have senior status.
No, students can take any capstone class for which they qualify--Biology does not have any specific departmental capstone requirements.
LDAs can waive or substitute classes for many of the major requirements. Exceptions to most MP or CAS rules (relating to thematic sequences, capstones, foreign languages, writing in the major, etc.) must be petitioned. Petitions and instructions are on the website of the Office of Liberal Education.
Other Topics
Yes, but it takes some planning. Students who are interested in ecology, marine biology, etc. should consider doing a semester in Australia or New Zealand. Universities there usually have lots of good courses in those areas that are taught in English. Students who are interested in the pre-health sciences, or those who specifically want to go to places like the Luxemburg campus, are unlikely to find many appropriate science courses abroad. They should try to do more science courses per semester here at Oxford, and “save up” their language and MP humanities requirements to finish during their semester abroad. Also, there are a number of summer and winter term study abroad programs that are easier to fit into your schedule than programs during fall or spring terms.
Yes, cross-listed BIO courses automatically count towards the major regardless of whether students register under ATH or BIO.
Yes. Bio 491 can be taken twice for credit. Also, up to 3 credits of Bio 177/277/377/477/320 independent study can count towards the major.
Usually 3 credits of these summer field classes can be used towards advanced biology or zoology hours IF the student’s class project is on an appropriate topic. Students need to contact the LDA to see if this credit can count towards their major.
The Department of Biology offers opportunities for students to pursue independent research studies on a one-to-one basis with a member of the faculty. The independent study may involve fieldwork, laboratory experimentation, or intensive library research. We recommend that students interested in pursuing graduate studies or other research-oriented careers get some research experience as early as possible in their undergraduate years.
If you are interested, the first step is to choose an area in biology that appeals to you--look over the faculty research information (https://www.miamioh.edu/cas/academics/departments/biology/about/faculty/) on the departmental website to see which labs are doing research that you find interesting. Then talk to those faculty members and see what openings are available in their labs. If you and a faculty member reach an agreement, you can join their research team in one of three ways.
- Shadow another student for a few hours a week to learn how research is done in that lab--this is a good way to get your foot in the door and to see if you like doing research.
- Paid work is available in some labs; ask the faculty member if there are funds for this
- Academic credit may be earned for on-campus research work by enrolling in one or more of the following independent study courses: BIO 320 (Research in Biology, 1-3 credits per semester, graded); BIO 177R, 277R, 377R, or 477R (Independent Study, 1-5 credits per semester, credit/no credit); and, for seniors only, BIO 419R (Independent Research Capstone, 3 credits, graded). Usually, 3-4 research hours each week during the semester is worth one credit. To enroll for credit, complete an Independent Study Permit (https://miamioh.edu/onestop/_files/documents/last-13/Independent_Study_508.pdf) with your faculty sponsor, and return it to the Department of Biology office.
It means that the class does not closely match a biology class here, so it did not transfer as equal to a specific class. These credits might count towards hours in the major, but they will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Students need to send the Biology LDA information on the course content from the class they took, preferably the class syllabus.
Department of Biology
Students in undergraduate and graduate programs learn biological concepts taught by dedicated faculty and gain hands-on research experiences in the laboratory and field using first-class equipment, centers, and facilities. Our graduates pursue a wide variety of career paths in health, biotechnology, the environment, and plant science.
