Biological Sciences B.A.: Pre-Health Profession Emphasis

This degree is designed for students wishing to pursue careers in professions such as Dentistry, Optometry, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician’s Assistant, etc. Requirements and electives are meant to meet the prerequisites for these professional programs, and students should be mindful of those requirements when choosing the elective courses. Additional courses to the major (such as a second semester of physics) and completion of service hours in the career may also be required for admission into these advanced degree programs. For students wishing to attend medical school, please see our B.S. Biology degree.

Required Courses

Core Courses

BIO 1	Biological Dynamics	4
BIO 1L	Biological Dynamics Laboratory	1
	or
BIO 1LH	Honors Biological Dynamics Lab	1
BIO 2	Biological Dynamics	3
BIO 2L	Biological Dynamics Laboratory	1
	or
BIO 2LH	Honors Biological Dynamics Lab	1
CHE 1A	General Chemistry	4
CHE 1AL	General Chemistry Laboratory	1
CHE 1B	General Chemistry	4
CHE 1BL	General Chemistry Laboratory	1
CHE 6A	Organic Chemistry	4
CHE 6AL	Organic Chemistry Laboratory	1
CHE 6B	Organic Chemistry	4
CHE 6BL	Organic Chemistry Laboratory	1
MTH 38	Elements of Probability and Statistics	3
	or
PSY 40	Basic Statistical Methods	3
MTH 5A	Calculus I	4
PHY 1A	Introductory Physics IA	4
	or
PHY 11A	Mechanics	4
BIO 50A	Human Anatomy	3
BIO 50AL	Human Anatomy Laboratory	1
BIO 151	Medical Physiology	3
	and
BIO 151L	Medical Physiology Laboratory	1
	or
BIO 50B	Human Physiology	3
	and
BIO 50BL	Human Physiology Laboratory	1
CHE 107	Biochemistry	3
CHE 107L	Biochemistry Laboratory	1
BIO 130	Genetics	3
BIO 130L	Genetics Laboratory	1
BIO 135	Molecular Biology	3
BIO 135L	Molecular Biology Laboratory	1
BIO 195	Senior Seminar in Biology	3

Elective Requirements

BIO 50A	Human Anatomy	3
BIO 50AL	Human Anatomy Laboratory	1
	and
BIO 151	Medical Physiology	3
BIO 151L	Medical Physiology Laboratory	1
	or
BIO 50B	Human Physiology	3
BIO 50BL	Human Physiology Laboratory	1

Upper Division Elective Requirements

7 units in upper-division Biology courses from the following list, including at least one lab course

BIO 103	Microbiology	4
BIO 103L	Microbiology Laboratory	0
BIO 105	Immunology	3
BIO 141	Cancer Biology	3
BIO 141L	Cancer Biology Laboratory	1
BIO 152	Cellular Biology	3
BIO 152L	Cellular Biology Laboratory	1
BIO 157	Advanced Topics in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology	3
BIO 157L	Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory	1
BIO 158L	Stem Cell Research Techniques Laboratory	1
BIO 160	Neurobiology	3
CHE 109	Advanced Biochemistry	3

Seminar / Research Requirements

Either

BIO 196

Seminar Readings

2

Or two courses in

BIO 197

Research Readings

1,1

Minimum total units required for B.A in Biological Sciences with a Pre-Health Profession emphasis: 72-74.

Plus 42 units of the LACE General Education requirements, including the Language requirement. Overall, students must complete a total of 124 semester units, with at least 45 upper-division units, to fulfill all requirements for a B.A. degree at MSMU.

*BIO 195 fulfills the capstone requirement for Biology.