Apr 01, 2025  
2024-2025 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog 
    
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2024-2025 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog

Marine Biology, B.S.

(120 units)

This degree is approved for distance education by the WSCUC.

Marine biology is the study of the biology and ecology of organisms found in the ocean. This degree provides a base to pursue graduate school, along with a variety of careers in environmental consulting, government, teaching, and public aquaria. This major requires approximately 79-86 units in the major, of which 39-45 are in lower division courses and 41 are in upper division courses. All students must achieve at least a 2.0 grade-point average in each of the following: 1. the entire college record, 2. all units attempted at CSULB, and 3. all courses in the major. In addition, students must receive a “C” or better in all upper division major courses.

Admission Under Impaction

Refer to the following website for additional impaction criteria: http://www.csulb.edu/admissions/major-specific-requirements-transfer-students

Degree Progress

Pre-Marine Biology majors must complete the following requirements within the specified time of declaring the pre-major.  Some students may need to take courses during Summer Session to meet these requirements. Students who have not met the requirements by the required semester must either declare another major or meet with an Academic Advisor to determine if the student’s performance in the courses merits an additional semester to complete.

 

Pre-Majors:

A grade “C” or better must be achieved within one calendar year. 

A grade “C” or better must be achieved within three semesters. 

Lower Division:

Take all of the following courses:

Note(s):

BIOL 111, BIOL 111L, BIOL 212 , BIOL 212L , BIOL 213 , BIOL 213L  are required if courses were taken prior to catalog year 2010-11. CHEM 112A  and CHEM 112B  may be substituted for CHEM 111A  and CHEM 111B  with advisor substitution request.

Take one of the following courses:

Take one of the following courses:

These courses do not meet any specific or elective requirements for this major:

Take either:

or all four of the following courses lower-division courses:

Upper Division:

Take all of the following courses:

Take a minimum of four courses totaling at least 12 elective units from the following:

3 units of:

These courses do not meet any specific or elective requirements for this major:

Prerequisites

To meet prerequisite standards for courses in this program’s requirements, a “C” or better is necessary in the following:

Note:

Few, if any, health-related professional schools (e.g., veterinary medicine) will accept CHEM 227 . Some graduate programs with master’s or doctorates in biology and/or marine biology may also not accept CHEM 227 . Students interested in these programs might consider taking PHYS 100B  or PHYS 152 ; MATH 122 ; CHEM 220A , CHEM 220B  and CHEM 223A ,CHEM 223B . CHEM 227  is not acceptable as a prerequisite for CHEM 441A . CHEM 227  is acceptable toward the Minor in Chemistry.