A candidate for honors should consult his or her academic adviser or department chair during the spring semester of the junior year. The student must have completed at least 75 credits of coursework with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 and demonstrated an aptitude for original research. Once admitted, the candidate must enroll in 50:120:491,492 Special Problems in Biology (4 credits in each semester of the senior year), where he or she will carry out a research project under guidance of a biology faculty member and write an honors paper that must be accepted by three faculty members of the biology department who constitute an Honors Committee. The candidate must maintain the requisite grade-point average until the end of the senior year and take a comprehensive examination (oral and/or written, prepared by the Honors Committee) during the last week of classes of the final semester. The Honors Committee will determine whether the student's work merits honors, high honors, or no honors.
Internships for Biology Major Credit
The biology department encourages students to participate in internships. Biology majors wishing to undertake an internship for biology elective credit must (1) receive approval from a biology department faculty member and (2) register for 3 or more credits of Special Problems in Biology (50:120:491,492) or another approved course via that faculty member, who will serve as the internship supervisor.
The biology department also encourages students to participate in the college's internship program administered by the Career Center, but the credits received after completing that program cannot be used to fulfill any part of the biology major.
