If you intend to be a biology major, you should select biology or any science on the CSU application. You may declare biology as your major as soon as you enter CSUMB. If you are a CSUMB student who wishes to become a biology student, you should request a change of major by seeing an advisor. See the contact information below.
Whether simply interested or already a declared biology major, you should consult a biology advisor as soon as possible. We welcome inquiries from both current and prospective students. While you are a freshman or sophomore, your biology advisor will guide you through your General Education Requirements and the lower-division biology prerequisites in MLO 1 and MLO 2. In your junior year, when you take BIO 300: Issues & Ethics in Biology, you will select a faculty advisor to help you plan your final semesters at CSUMB based on your strengths and goals.
You are strongly encouraged to meet in person with your biology advisor each semester. Your advisor will help you plan your CSUMB courses using a biology Individual Learning Plan. The ILP is a form that allows you to list the classes you will take to fulfill each Biology Major Learning Outcome and the CSUMB General Education Requirements.
Contact
To contact a biology advisor, visit the SEP office in the Chapman Science Academic Center, S314; email SEP_Office@csumb.edu; or call 831-582-4739.
Using the pathways
In addition to meeting regularly with your advisor, you can consult the course pathways as general guides to planning your coursework to complete the biology requirements. We have developed sample pathways (semester-by-semester course recommendations) to help you navigate a timely route to graduation. For biology majors who enter CSUMB as freshmen, this involves completing some of your General Education Requirements (GE) by taking courses that count for for both an area of GE and a biology Major Learning Outcome (MLO). Each of the following course pathways provides just one example of a course sequence you might follow to satisfy your General Education Requirements, and MLOs as a biology major, and assumes that you have already completed the coursework identified on the Preparation page.
These pathways are only examples and assume a certain level of mathematics proficiency at the beginning of your CSUMB career. Other pathways will also work, and you may start at a different level of mathematics than is shown in the pathways. However, most science courses have prerequisites that must be completed before you can enroll, so you'll need to consult either the course descriptions or a science advisor to make sure that you will be fulfilling all the prerequisites if you plan an alternate pathway. The best way to design a pathway that works for you is to meet with a science advisor to discuss your goals and any scheduling constraints you may have due to employment, family care obligations or other issues. When you meet with your advisor you will develop an Individual Learning Plan and a pathway that specifies which courses you will take to fulfill each graduation requirement while meeting your academic goals.
Before enrolling, you can use the pathways (along with the requirements for specific biology concentrations) to get a feel for the courses you'll take in this program. After enrolling, you and your advisors can use them as a starting point for building your Individual Learning Plan.
If you work or participate extensively in extracurricular activities, we advise that you adjust your schedule to not take more than 14-16 units in any one semester. Please consult a BIO/ENVS advisor or the web schedule for course scheduling details.
If you enter CSUMB as a freshman, the recommended sample pathway will depend upon which math course you are prepared to take when you enroll. The pathways shown for transfer students assume that you have completed all of the recommended lower-division calculus, chemistry and biology, as well as your general education. Transfer students who have not completed the recommended transfer preparation should consult an advisor to map out a pathway to graduation.