Required Undergraduate Electives

MCDB majors must also complete a minimum of 11 hours of MCDB upper-division electives.

• Lecture courses: At least two of the elective courses (6 hours) must be lecture courses, as opposed to seminars, independent study, etc.


• Students who have used transfer courses with lesser credit in place of required MCDB courses must take additional electives to bring total MCDB credits to 30 hours.


• There is no upper limit on MCDB electives, but A&S will not count more than 45 hours (51 hours for Honors students) from any one department toward the 120 hours needed for graduation.


• Independent study: Six hours of MCDB upper-division independent study (MCDB 4840) Honors research(MCDB4980) or Honors thesis (MCDB4990) may be counted as one of the elective courses.


• Additional independent study, up to a total of 8 hours in any one department, (16 hours in all departments) can be counted toward the 120 hours for graduation.


• MCDB majors are encouraged to do independent study research, which together with a grade point average of 3.3 or better can lead to graduation with Honors.


• Electives from other departments: All electives used toward the MCDB major must be MCDB courses, subject to the following exceptions


• Two courses from the approved list may be used as MCDB electives without petitioning.
  
• Approved independent study in another department may be counted as an MCDB elective if the project is closely related to MCD Biology. Approval must be obtained in advance from the MCDB Coordinator of Independent Study. In some cases, it may be possible to count the project as an MCDB course by registering for MCDB 4840. (See Research)


• Students may petition the Undergraduate Committee in advance to have one course (of up to three credits) not on the list, from another department count as an MCDB elective.