Notes

EFFECTIVE FALL 2013 ADMISSION:  PRE-BIOLOGY MAJOR

Policy:  Students will not be able to declare a Biology major until they have achieved a combined C+ average or better in their first two required Biology lecture courses at SUNY Geneseo.  Required lecture courses are:

• BIOL 117
• BIOL 119
• BIOL 203
• BIOL 222
• BIOL 300 

For most freshman students, the first two required courses would be BIOL 117 and BIOL 119.  For freshman students with a 5 on the AP Biology exam, it would be BIOL 203 and BIOL 222, unless they elect to retake BIOL 117 and BIOL 119 here.

This policy will apply to transfer students as well.  They may be further along in the required sequence (e.g. they could have credit for BIOL 117, BIOL 119, and BIOL 203), in which case the first two required courses would be BIOL 222 and BIOL 300.  If they already have credit for both BIOL 222 and BIOL 300, they would need to achieve a grade of C+ in BIOL 300 before they could be accepted as a Biology major.

A student may only repeat a required Biology course, or related requirement, once for major credit; the repeated course must be taken at the next offering of the class.

Students adversely affected by this policy may consider completing the Biology minor and should then take: 

• BIOL 117, BIOL 119, BIOL 116
• BIOL 203
• BIOL 207 or another Biology elective above the 100 level
  
• (BIOL 271* or BIOL 222)
• (BIOL 210, BIOL 235, BIOL 264, or another Biology elective above the 100 level).

*preferred for minors

Minimum Competence revised:

To graduate with a Biology major, students must attain a grade of C- or better in all required Biology courses (excluding Biology electives).  A grade of C- must be achieved in any course before it may be used as a prerequisite for another course.  A student may only repeat a required Biology course or related requirement once for major credit and the course must be taken at the next offering of the class (provided there are seats available).  If a student does not earn at least a C- on the second taking of the class, she/he will not be able to complete the Biology major.

REGISTRATION:

 

Prereqs/coreqs will be strictly enforced for BIOL courses.  These will again be checked at the beginning of the semester and students will be deregistered by the Dean's Office who do not have the required prereqs/coreqs.  Course maximums will be strictly enforced when we are also at the maximum number of people allowed in the room by the fire marshall.

Students wishing to take more than one BIOL 388 Experimental course must go to the Records Office, Erwin 102, as KnightWeb will not allow you to register for the same course number more than once.

Please remember that, in general, matters concerning the availability of free electives, courses in second majors, individual sections, work schedule conflicts, sports conflicts, and preferred instructors are not considered to be grounds for upholding an appeal by the Biology Chair or the Dean of the College.

advisement & pregraduation checks:

 

Please make an appointment with your assigned advisor during the registration period by signing up outside of their office.  Please do not email or call faculty to setup an appointment and please do not wait until it is time for you to register online for courses.  NOTE:  For those with required advisement (freshmen and transfers), only your assigned advisor, NOT the Biology Chair or secretary, will release the hold on your account so that you will be able to register on KnightWeb.  Only the Registrar's Office may release pregraduation check holds.

Graduation issues:

 

Please note that every year we typically have one or more students who are short on Biology elective credits (either a lab, a seminar, etc).  One student was able to still graduate by changing from a Biology BS to a BA degree and opted to do so versus having to take an additional course, but another student did not have that option.  As a result, we discourage students from taking the bare minimum of Biology electives required to graduate.  In order to easily avoid the stress, added burden, and expense of taking an additional course to finish your degree, it would be much easier to have completed an extra course or two so you will not have any worries.  In addition, be sure to complete your pregraduation check with your advisor, check  WebCAPP on your KnightWeb account annually and address issues promptly, and check with your advisor to ensure that you are on track.  Note that approved waiver forms for course substitutions, etc. will not alter or be reflected on your pregraduation check or WebCAPP; waivers are handled manually.  Also, WebCAPP is not an official record, but a useful tool; your completed and signed pregraduation check is the official 'contract.'  For courses that satisfy more than one requirement, WebCAPP is only able to count a course once for one requirement, but that doesn't mean that the other requirement is not fulfilled.

Biology BA/BS degrees revised: 

 

The removal of the "Diversity" and "Systems" requirements will allow students more flexibility in the Biology courses they select.  The number of required Biology courses has been reduced, but the number of elective Biology courses has been increased.  Also refer to 'Current Students, Forms.'

The removal of the "seminar" course (BIOL 380) or equivalent (BIOL 303, 304, 305, 306, etc.) will allow students more flexibility in the Biology courses they select as well.  Currently, students must submit a waiver to the Biology Chair for this program revision.

Course Related Notes: 

BIOL 210 Nutrition:  This course may be used as an elective for the Biology minor only, not the major.

BIOL 250 Biological Data Analysis and BIOL 340 Modeling Biological Systems:  These courses do not count as an elective Biology laboratory course.

BIOL 264 Human Physiology and BIOL 364 Animal Physiology may NOT both be counted as Biology elective credits; it's one or the other.

BIOL 271 Heredity:  This course may be used only for the Biology minor, not the major.

BIOL 288 Exp:  Biology 2nd Year Lab does count as an elective Biology laboratory course.

BIOL 288 Exp: Techniques in Microbial Sciences does count as an elective Biology laboratory course. 

Students may receive Biology elective credit for BIOL 304 DNA Biotechnology OR BIOL 322 Molecular Biology, but not both.

BIOL 342 Parasitology does not require a prereq of BIOL 215, 241, or 242; only BIOL 203 is required.  Please see Dr. Bandoni Muench for a prerequisite override.

BIOL 388 Exp: Biological Conservation (Fall 2013):  This course offered by Dr. Hannam will not count as an elective Biology laboratory course.

BIOL 388 Exp: Molecular Ecology (Spring 2009)/BIOL 327 (Fall 2010):  This course offered by Dr. Apple will satisfy the seminar/equivalent course requirement only if you complete and submit a Waiver form to the Biology Chair.

BIOL 388 Exp:  Developmental Cell Biology OR BIOL 388 Exp:  Neurobiology OR BIOL 388 Exp: Pharmacology (Spring 2010) may count as a Biochemistry elective.  For consideration, you must submit a waiver and a copy of the course syllabus to the Biochemistry Coordinator, Dr. Harold Hoops, Biology Department, in advance.

BIOL 388 Galapagos (Summer 2009) will satisfy the Diversity Requirement only with a completed and approved waiver form.

BIOL 399 Directed Study in a research lab does not count as a Biology laboratory course.

BIOL 399 Directed Study forms are manually entered by staff in the Records Office.  Therefore, your total credits hours may be below the 12 credit hour minimum.  Please allow  a minimum of three weeks for the course to show on your KnightWeb account.  In the interim, please register for a TEMP course on KnightWeb.

BIOL 100 has been replaced with BIOL 105/106
CHEM 103 ... with CHEM 104/105
GEOG 110 ... with GEOG 111/112
GSCI 101 .. with GSCI 130/131
GSCI 105 ... with GSCI 140/141
GSCI 107 ... with GSCI 150/151
GSCI 111 ... with GSCI 160/161
GSCI 112 ... with GSCI 170
PHYS 101 ... with PHYS 102/103
PHYS 105 ... with PHYS 106/107