Course Requirements

UR Course Schedules

Beginning in Fall 2011, the department will no longer be offering its own statistics course (the old BCS 200). Students will fulfill the statistics requirement for the major by taking STT 212. Multiple sections of that class are offered in both Fall and Spring semesters.

B.S. in Biological Sciences: Neuroscience

Introductory Biology Courses

Three Courses*

BIO 110 Principles of Biology I or BIO 112 Biology Perspectives I
BIO 111/L Principles of Biology II w/111 Lab or BIO 113/L Biology Perspectives II w/111 Lab
- Beginning with the Class of 2009, the College will only grant general college credit for BIO AP scores = 4 or 5.
- Students in the class of 2008 or earlier who have BIO AP scores of 4 or 5 can use that in lieu of BIO 111 (not recommended) but should complete BIO 110 and either BIO 198, BIO 199, or BIO 250. Students who have BIO AP scores of 4 or 5 AND have completed BIO 115 need choose only one additional intro course from BIO 111 or BIO 199 or BIO 250. If BIO 115 is completed, students cannot take BIO 110 or BIO 198 without losing AP credit.

Plus one of these:
BIO 198 Principles of Genetics (Fall) — Students who have taken BIO 115 cannot take BIO 198
BIO 210 Molecular Cell Biology (Fall, Juniors and Seniors only)
BIO 250 Biochemistry (Spring)

Note: Both BIO 198 and BIO 250 have associated labs, (BIO 198L and BIO 151). These are recommended but NOT required.

Biology Electives/Diversification

Two Courses*

These courses must be chosen from within the biological sciences, but from outside the Neuroscience curriculum. A list of available Biology Elective Courses is in the Undergraduate Neuroscience Handbook and on the Biology department's web pages. A few important notes to keep in mind are:

BIO 203 is recommended but NOT required for those who wish to take BIO 204
Students can also register for BIO 201 instead of BIO 204
PHP 407, "Introduction to Physiology," is recommended only for SENIORS

Neuroscience Core Courses

Three Courses

NSC 201/BCS 240 Basic Neurobiology
NSC 203/BCS 203** Laboratory in Neurobiology
NSC 301 or NSC 302 Senior Seminar in Neuroscience (2 credits)

**NSC 201, NSC 201 Lab, and STT 212 must be taken BEFORE the laboratory course

Neuroscience Electives

Three Courses
Of these three courses:

one course must be from Group A and
one must be from Group B
The third elective can be taken from any of the groups (A, B, or C)
Note: Courses at the 400 and 500 level are available to SENIORS ONLY and ONLY with Advisor approval and PERMISSION of INSTRUCTOR(S). 400-500 level courses may not be available every year

Group A:

NSC 243/BCS 243 Neurochemical Foundations of Behavior (Fall)
NSC 249/BCS 249 Developmental Neurobiology (Spring)
IND 447 Signal Transduction (Spring)

Group B:

NSC 244/BCS 244 Neuroethology (Spring - not available 2011)
NSC 245/BCS 245 Sensory and Motor Neuroscience (Spring)

Group C:

NSC 242/BCS 242 Neuropsychology (Spring - after 2007)
NSC 246/BCS 246 The Biology of Mental Disorders (Fall)
BCS 508 Neural Plasticity in Learning and Development (Spring; even-numbered years)
BCS 547 Introduction to Computational Neuroscience (Spring; even-numbered years)

Allied Fields

Nine Courses Required

Two semesters of general chemistry with lab (CHM 131/P - /CHM 132/P or CHM 151/P - CHM 152/P)
Two semesters of organic chemistry with lab (CHM 203/ 207, & CHM 204/ 208 or CHM 205/ 209 & CHM 206/ 210)
Two semesters of calculus-based physics with lab (PHY 113/PHY 114 or PHY 121/PHY 122)
Two semesters of calculus (MTH 161/MTH 162 or MTH 141/MTH 142)
Applied Statistics for the Biological and Physical Sciences I* (STT 212) replaces BCS 200 in Fall 2011

Upper Level Writing Requirement

This College requirement is satisfied by the successful completion of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Concentration

University of ROCHESTER Undergraduate Neuroscience