To graduate with a BS degree in the College of Science, undergraduate students must fulfill the following requirements:
Some departments also grant a BA degree that requires a full year of a college-level (200-level or above) foreign language andat least 9 credits of College of Liberal Arts electives in addition to credits required for the baccalaureate core. See the department listings for specific requirements.
A minimum 2.00 GPA is required in College of Science majors and minors; (S/U grading is not allowed in science majors or minors).
The curricula are shown for each major; some substitutions can be made with department and college approval. Unless otherwise indicated, the conditions and credits for research, thesis, reading and conference, and seminar are to be arranged with the instructor involved.
Major Requirements
Requests for exceptions to department (major) requirements are approved and entered into the student’s record by the Lead Advisor (or designee) in that unit.
COS & Bacc Core Requirements
Requests for exceptions to the COS requirements and University Bacc Core requirements are approved by the COS Head Advisor (or designee).
Clarification of COS Requirements
506 - Biochemistry and Biophysics - Corvallis
927 - Advanced Biophysics
926 - Neuroscience
928 - Pre-Medicine
509 - Biology - Corvallis, OSU-Cascades
715 - Ecology
517 - Genetics
572 - Marine Biology
743 - Physiology & Behavior
713 - Pre-Dentistry
226 - Pre-Education
714 - Pre-Medicine
584 - Pre-Veterinary Medicine
520 - Chemistry - Corvallis
519 - Advanced Biochemistry
521 - Advanced Chemistry
518 - Biochemistry Option
523 - Business Option
516 - Chemistry Education
303 - Chemical Engineering
504 - Environmental Chemistry
505 - Forensic Science
522 - Materials Science
690 - Pre-Medicine
560 - Mathematics - Corvallis
692 - Applied and Computational Mathematics
737 - Mathematical Biology
234 - Secondary Teaching Emphasis
658 - Statistics
570 - Microbiology - Corvallis
736 - Aquatic Microbiology
607 - Pre-Medicine
590 - Physics - Corvallis
589 - Applied Physics
586 - Biological Physics
588 - Chemical Physics
592 - Computational Physics
593 - Geophysics
587 - Mathematical Physics
594 - Optical Physics
777 - Physics Teaching
606 - BioHealth Sciences - Corvallis
576 - Pre-Clinical Laboratory Science
595 - Pre-Dentistry
775 - Pre-Medicine/Pre-Podiatry
603 - Pre-Optometry
583 - Pre-Pharmacy
585 - Pre-Physical Therapy
597 - Pre-Physician Assistant
620 - Zoology - Corvallis, Ecampus
971 - Biochemistry & Molecular Biology - Corvallis
972 - Advanced Molecular Biology
973 - Computational Molecular Biology
974 - Pre-Medicine
For COS core requirements and bacc core exceptions please see the College of Science Head Advisor
For major requirement exceptions, the student should meet with their primary academic advisor first.
For MyDegrees exceptions, the department lead advisors are responsible for inputting degree exceptions.
For advisors who are assisting students prior to the process below, it is important to reference the Bacc Core Learning Outcomes website. Students must be able to explain how transfer courses meet the specific learning outcomesfor the bacc core category they wish to fulfill.
For students who would like to have transfer courses applied to bacc core requirements, their primary academic College is responsible for managing these requests. For most colleges, these requests are approved by the College’s Head Advisor.
COS students may submit a request for transfer courses to be considered for bacc core requirements, by completing this Qualtrics survey.
There is currently a committee of folks working on a standard practice for bacc core expectations across the university. We are still a ways away from implementing a new process so for the time being, we will continue to use the survey above. More information to come.
Colleges do not approve transfer courses for DPD or WIC exceptions. Requests for these exceptions are approved by the directors of the DPD and WIC programs respectively:
COS advisors and/or students may complete the COS bacc core exception survey for DPD or WIC course.
Advisors may complete the change of program workflow request to change a student's catalog year.
This document contains several examples for common transactions, but the list of examples is not exhaustive.
At the time of graduation, all students, including transfer students, must use a catalog that is not more than ten years old. A student may petition to the Head Advisor of their College for any extension of a catalog greater than ten years from their expected graduation term.
The Catalog Term of the Curriculum record governs the catalog year used to evaluate baccalaureate core and university degree requirements in MyDegrees. The term here should reflect the term of the student’s admission & matriculation at a particular student level or their term of readmission at a particular student level. For Degree Partnership Program students, the first term the student is admitted to OSU will be the matriculation date and will determine the catalog year for institutional and baccalaureate core requirements.
The Catalog designator in the Field of Study tab determines what catalog year requirements the associated field of study (major/minor/option etc...) will be evaluated under. These items can carry different catalog terms from one another and from the curriculum catalog term. Generally, the field of study catalog is determined by the term in which that particular field of studywas officially declared by the student and entered in Banner. However, if the student is pursuing a major and option, the major and the 1stoption associated with that major must have the same catalog. The catalog of the linked major and option is set by which was declared most recently. Subsequent majors/minors/options will be assigned a catalog based on the term they were declared.
Also, a student in consultation with their advisor can choose to move their field of study catalog year forward. This is accomplished by submitting a signed Catalog Declaration form with the appropriate catalog term designation. Catalog terms can be moved forwards but not backwards in time.
Example 1 (Initial Major declaration): A student matriculates to the university in 201001 therefore their curriculum catalog term is 201001. In 201101 the student declares a new major. At that time the curriculum catalog term remains their term of matriculation (201001), but the field of study major catalog would be set to 201101.
Example 2 (Option Declaration): A student matriculates to the university in 201001. In 201101 the student declares a new major. At that time the curriculum catalog term remains their term of matriculation (201001), but the field of study major catalog would be set to 201101. However, in 201102 the student declares an option to accompany their major. Still the curriculum catalog term remains their term of matriculation (201001), but the declaration of the option requires that their major and option catalogs be the same. The most recently declared dictates what the catalog will be; so in this case the curriculum catalog is 201001 & both the major and option would be assigned a catalog of 201102.
Example 3 (Minor Declaration): A student matriculates to the university in 201001. In 201101 the student declares a new major; at which time their major catalog becomes 201101. In 201103 this student declares a minor. The minor catalog stands alone and is determined by when it is declared. So in this example, the curriculum catalog is 201001, the major catalog is 201101, and the minor catalog is 201103.
Example 4 (Additional Options): A student matriculates to the university in 201001. In 201101 the student declares a new major; at which time their major catalog becomes 201101. In 201102 the student declares an option to accompany their major, and the major and options are assigned catalog 201102. Now, in 201103 this student declares an additional option. The catalogs of subsequent options are determined by when they are declared. So in this example, the curriculum catalog is 201001, the major & option catalog is 201102, and the subsequent option catalog is 201103.
Example 5 (Multiple Degrees): A student matriculates to the university in 201001 therefore their curriculum catalog term is 201001. In 201101 the student declares a new major. At that time the curriculum catalog term remains their term of matriculation (201001), but the field of study major catalog would be set to 201101. In 201103 the student declares that they will be seeking a second degree and major. The curriculum catalog term and major catalog of the second degree & major will both be set to the term of declaration (201103 in this example).
For high school transcript or proficiency exam: Office of Admissions
For other Deficient Foreign Language questions: Office of the Registrar
*See specific contacts in the Advisor Contacts page
Writing Intensive Course Requirement for Double Degree and Dual Major