Biology Admissions
This page contains information on applying to the Bachelor of Science in Biology.
Application dates
The Biology major admits students for entry in autumn, winter, and spring quarters. Visit the UW Bothell Application Dates & Deadlines page for information on application deadlines.
How to apply
Submit an internal application if you are:
- A pre-major student at UW Bothell campus
- Already in a major at UW Bothell and you want to switch majors or double major
Submit a transfer application if you are:
- A current student at UW Seattle or UW Tacoma campus
- Transferring from another college or university outside of the UW system
Program prerequisites
- A one-year Introductory Biology series
- Must cover content equivalent to BBIO 180, 200, 220 series (3 quarters or 2 semesters)
- Must be intended for science majors
- Must include labs
- Each course must be completed with a grade of 2.0 or higher for consideration
- A one-year General Chemistry series
- Must cover content equivalent to the BCHEM 143+144, 153+154, 163+164 series (3 quarters or 2 semesters)
- Must be intended for science majors
- Must include labs
- The average grade of the series must be 2.0 or higher for consideration
The University of Washington operates on a quarter system. Please note that a 3-quarter series and a 2-semester series are usually considered equivalent.
You may submit an application while you have your final Intro Biology and/or General Chemistry course in progress, but these courses must be completed before you begin your first quarter in the Biology major.
Transfer courses
To determine how most courses from a 2-year institution in Washington state transfer to the University of Washington Bothell, visit our transfer equivalency guide.
Certain coursework from Washington colleges will not count for similarly named requirements of the UW Bothell Biology degree. These include:
Incomplete Biology, Chemistry, or Physics series
Sequences of coursework often differ between institutions in terms of exact content and what order key concepts are taught. Because of this, single courses from other institutions may not be directly equivalent to single courses in our series, even if the series is equivalent as a whole. We strongly recommend that you take all courses in these series before transferring to UW Bothell, or wait until after you transfer to start the first class in a series.
Microbiology
The Cell Biology and Biology Elective requirements of the degree must be fulfilled using upper level coursework. This coursework should itself require introductory-level biology as a prerequisite, and should be comprehensive in nature (not just pathology-specific). Because of this, the following courses are not accepted for the requirement:
- MICROM 301, 302 (General Microbiology) at the UW Seattle Campus
- BIOL& 260 (Microbiology) at Washington colleges
- Other microbiology coursework without introductory biology as a prerequisite
Anatomy & Physiology
The Physiology and Biology Electives requirements of the degree must be fulfilled using upper level coursework. This coursework should itself require introductory-level biology as a prerequisite, and should be comprehensive in nature (not just human-specific). Because of this, the following courses are not accepted for the requirement:
- B STR 301, 118, 119 (Human Anatomy, Survey of Physiology) at the UW Seattle Campus
- BIOL& 231, 232 (Human Anatomy, Human Physiology) at Washington colleges
- BIOL& 241, 242 (Human A&P I, II) at Washington colleges
- BIOL& 251, 252, 253 (Human A&P I, II, III) at Washington colleges
- Other physiology coursework without introductory biology as a prerequisite