Degree Pathway for the Bachelor of Science in Biology - Pre-Medical/Pre-Health Option - 2023

For students who entered fall 2023 and beyond.

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

Total Minimum Credits = 120.

¹The Arts and Humanities (AH) and Social Sciences (SS) perspectives are subsets of the Breadth of Knowledge (BOK) requirements in the Core Curriculum. No more than two BOK courses can be taken with the same four-letter prefix.

The Core Curriculum also includes seven Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs). The Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA) and Social Responsibility and Ethics (SRE) are met outside the major requirements. See the DCA course listing and the SRE course listing for a full list of classes that fulfill these requirements.

The Class Search tool can be used to identify AH and SS courses that simultaneously satisfy the DCA or SRE requirement.

The Core Curriculum courses may be taken in any sequence. Refer to the Core Curriculum policy for further details. You should meet with your college-based professional advisor and/or faculty advisor to determine how best to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirements.

Note: It’s highly recommended for students in the Pre-Medical/Pre-Health option to take PHIL.2030 Introduction to Ethics (AH) for one of their Arts and Humanities Electives.

²Students are required to take one course from the “Organisms, Evolution, and Environment” (OEE) category and one from the “Cell and Tissue” (CT) category to ensure they have adequate Breadth of Knowledge at the sophomore level. Courses are selected from approved lists, and each course can only be counted towards one category. Students should consult with their advisor regarding course selection to satisfy the OEE and CT elective requirements.

• Organisms, Evolution, and Environment Electives
  • BIOL.2400 Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation
  • BIOL.2055 Introduction to Bioinformatics
• Cell and Tissue Electives
  • BIOL.2200 Principles of Cellular Biology
  • BIOL.2520 Physiology

³Students must complete four (4) Pre-Med/Health electives of which two (2) must be taken with their corresponding labs. Labs can be taken as a 3-credit lecture with a 1-credit lab or both combined into a 4-credit class. In addition, some lab courses have a 3-credit lecture with 2-credit lab for a total of 5-credits. Courses can be taken at the graduate level with permission of the instructor.

Choose from the following:

• Microbiology
  • BIOL.3010L Microbiology
  • BIOL.3030L Microbiology Laboratory
• Cell Biology and Biochemistry
  • BIOL.4420 Advanced Cell Biology
  • BIOL.4600 Stem Cell Biology
  • BIOL.4760 Cell Culture
  • BIOL.4200 Biochemistry II
  • BIOL.4225 Advanced Topics in Biochemistry
  • BIOL.4380 Advanced Genetic Analysis
• Physiology and Developmental Biology
  • BIOL.4480 Form Feeds Function in Vertebrate Evolution
  • BIOL.4490L Biology of Muscle
  • BIOL.4620 Cardiovascular Physiology
  • BIOL.4630L Cardiovascular Physiology Lab
  • BIOL.4800 Developmental Biology
  • BIOL.4810L Developmental Biology Lab
  • BIOL.4840 Comparative Vertebrate Embryology
  • BIOL.4900 Human Neurobiology
• Biology of Disease and Host Defenses
  
  • BIOL.4820 Cancer Biology
  • BIOL.4570 Metazoan Parasitology
  • BIOL.4590L Metazoan Parasitology Laboratory
  • BIOL.4720 Virology
  • BIOL.4930 Immunology
  • BIOL.4950L Immunology Laboratory
  • BIOL.4940 Immunology II, Current Topics
  • BIOL.4945 Host-Pathogen Interactions

⁴In addition to the four Pre-Med/Health elective courses, students must complete at least one additional upper-level biology elective. This can be any 3-credit BIOL course at the 3000/4000-level not used as a Pre-Med/Health elective. This course can be taken at the graduate level with permission of the instructor.

⁵Free electives can be satisfied by any UML course xxxx.1010 or above, with the following exceptions:

• Math courses must be above the level of calculus with the exception that you may apply 1 pre-calculus course equivalent to MATH.1200, MATH.1225 or MATH.1230 (up to 4 credits).
• Courses with the LIFE prefix may NOT be used.
• Additional biology courses can be used, but NO MORE than 60 credits of BIOL coursework may be applied towards the minimum 120 credits requirement to graduate.
• Pre-Medical/Pre-Health students are strongly encouraged to include public health courses for some of their free electives.
• Students who intend on applying to physician assistant programs and some dental schools will need to take HSCI.1010 / HSCI.1030L (Anatomy and Physiology I) and HSCI.1020 / HSCI.1040L (Anatomy and Physiology II) as two of their free electives.

⁶Students only need to complete enough free elective credits to reach the minimum 120 credits required to graduate.

• For example, if a student completes no more than two 1-credit elective labs (whether the lab is a separate course or combined with the lecture into a 4-credit class), then at least 2 additional credits of free elective, beyond those already listed, will be needed to reach the minimum 120 required to graduate.
• Completion of additional labs can result in further reduction of required free elective credits – so long as no more than 60 BIOL credits are counted in the 120-credit total.

⁷Course may be taken in either semester of the year listed.

Current UMass Lowell students should use their Advisement Report ins SIS. If you need assistance, please contact your advisor.

Restriction on off-campus study:

Be advised that any course taken at another institution must be formally approved prior to enrollment. See the catalog policy for details.