Registration

Course Restrictions/Access 

Undergraduate Course Restrictions and Access

All upper-division (300/400 level) biology courses are only available to students that have been admitted into the biology major or minor and students that are declared in other approved majors for which the course is a requirement.

Students may view current restrictions on individual courses by clicking the title of the course and navigating to the "Restrictions" tab within Browse Classes. It is common for course restrictions to broaden to other majors as registration progresses, so the section specific information available under the "Course Description" tab should also be reviewed.

Biology pre-majors (with or without an application currently under review) are not permitted to register for upper level biology courses. It is strongly recommended that pre-majors apply for entry into the major at the beginning of the quarter in which they are enrolled in BIOL 206 and/or CHEM 163/225 so that registration access to upper-level biology courses is not delayed.

Course Access for Pre-health Students

If you are a student with a Pre-Health interest but are not declared in a major that has access to a specific course, you will need to request permission to register for the course via Instructor Override.  Access to courses cannot be guaranteed, but special consideration will be made for Pre-Health students who may need the following courses to prepare for professional schools: BIOL 245, 321, 322, 345, 346, 348 and 349. Please contact the instructor directly with your request using the Override Request Web form (see below).

Course Access for Biology Minors

Students who have been admitted into the biology minor will have the same registration access as students in the Biology – General Emphasis major during the first phase of registration as long as those courses are not already restricted to specific emphases within the biology major (e.g., marine biology). If the course is restricted, biology minors must wait until the course opens to all biology majors (or to Biology – General Emphasis majors) before they may attempt to register or waitlist.

Override Requests

The Override Request Form is for students who are not in a major with course access yet would like to be considered for enrollment in an upper-division biology course that is major restricted. Prior to submitting an OV request to the instructor, you should refer to the course restrictions listed on Classfinder to review all course prerequisites and major restrictions.  Instructor overrides allow a student to register for a course if space is available or to add their name to the waitlist if the course is already full.  An instructor override does not guarantee that a student will be able to enroll in the course.  Any questions regarding the University retake policy and retake overrides should be directed to the Registrar’s Office. You may view their Retake Policy FAQs, here.