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Requirements

Biochemistry Major

A minimum of eleven courses from among the required and elective biochemistry courses must be completed for the major. Students placing into �Ѵ��ձ���1800 Multivariate Calculus or higher must take �Ѵ��ձ���1300 Introduction to Statistics and Computation, �Ѵ��ձ���1756 Data Science, or one math course at the 1800-level or above.

Students placing out of ����������1109 Scientific Reasoning in Biology, ��ᷡ����1109 General Chemistry, �ʱ�۳���1130 Introductory Physics I, or �ʱ�۳���1140 Introductory Physics II must still complete a minimum of eleven courses related to biochemistry.

Additional Information and Program Policies

• Only one D grade is allowed in courses required for the major. This D must be offset by a grade of B or higher in another course also required for the major.
• Students may not count courses taken Credit/D/Fail toward the major.
• Advanced placement exams are used for placement in courses for the biochemistry major, but do not count toward the eleven courses required for the major.
• Biochemistry majors cannot minor or major in biology, chemistry, or neuroscience and may only double-count courses to a second major or a minor with permission of the Biochemistry Program, beyond the one course allowed by college policy.
• 91���� does not offer a minor in biochemistry.
• Students may request transfer credit by talking with the program director the semester prior to enrolling in a course.
• Students may engage in independent study at the advanced (4000–4051) level. Majors pursuing honors in biochemistry are required to register for BIOC 4050 during the first semester of their senior year and BIOC 4051 during the second semester of their senior year.
• Biology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry courses taken during study away may count as electives for the Biochemistry major, but they must be approved in advance. Study away credits may not be used to replace required non-elective courses at the 2000-level or above – these courses must be taken at 91����.
• In planning your Biochemistry major, check the course catalogue or Workday for prerequisites for required and elective courses.
• Upper-level (3000 or higher) elective courses are not necessarily offered every year. If you intend to use a course as a Biochemistry elective, we recommend that you check with the professor to determine when the course will be offered.
• Intermediate independent studies, advanced independent studies, and honors projects do not count as electives, but may be applied to towards the total number of credits required to complete the major. 
• Many research advisors require that students perform summer research in their laboratory prior to registering for advanced independent study, so interested students should aim to finalize such plans with their prospective research advisor in the first semester of their junior year.

Information for Incoming Students

The Biochemistry major requires a firm foundation in both chemistry and biology, prior to enrollment in the core 2000-level biochemistry courses. First-year students considering biochemistry should reflect on how they can complete introductory chemistry coursework (��ᷡ����1091 Introductory Chemistry and Quantitative Reasoning I, ��ᷡ����1092 Introductory Chemistry and Quantitative Reasoning II, ��ᷡ����1101 Introductory Chemistry I, ��ᷡ����1102 Introductory Chemistry II �ǰ�����ᷡ����1109 General Chemistry) and introductory biology coursework (����������1101 Biological Principles I, ����������1102 Biological Principles II or ����������1109 Scientific Reasoning in Biology) in a timely but manageable fashion. Please consult the and  sections of the Catalogue for information about introductory course sequences and proper placement.

We recommend that students placed in a two-semester introductory chemistry sequence begin with introductory chemistry in their first semester. If the two-semester introductory biology sequence is also required, one option is to complete these courses in the sophomore year, in parallel with the organic chemistry sequence; please consult with a member of the biochemistry program for suggestions about timing. The most important planning step is to ensure that ��ᷡ����1092 Introductory Chemistry and Quantitative Reasoning II, or ��ᷡ����1102 Introductory Chemistry II, or ��ᷡ����1109 General Chemistry is completed during the first year to enable enrollment in the two-semester organic chemistry sequence in the sophomore year. Students placed into 2000-level chemistry may elect to take organic chemistry in the first year as a viable option that can provide flexibility in the major. We strongly recommend completing the Organic Chemistry two-semester sequence by the end of the sophomore year if you intend to major in Biochemistry. Please contact a member of the biochemistry program if you have any questions. 

Note that completing the biochemistry major requires, in most cases, that students take a math and a lab-science course, or take two lab-science classes, at the same time at some point in their first year. This is most often during the second semester; for example, a student placed in ��ᷡ����1101 Introductory Chemistry I/��ᷡ����1102 Introductory Chemistry II and ����������1109 Scientific Reasoning in Biology may choose to enroll in ��ᷡ����1102 Introductory Chemistry II and ����������1109 Scientific Reasoning in Biology in their second semester of their first year. Taking more than one math/lab-science course in the same semester of the first year can be challenging, so students are encouraged to speak with their academic advisors about designing a feasible course schedule if they are considering future study in biochemistry.

Additional information: For a flow diagram of courses required for the biochemistry major, please visit the “Navigating the Major” page of the biochemistry program's website.