Any student who qualifies for admission to the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences at Ohio State is admissible to any one of the seven majors in the College of Biological Sciences. In general, this means that any Ohio State student who is ready for college algebra or calculus and is at least eligible to take freshman English is welcome to be a biology major. The other six majors in biological sciences are biochemistry, molecular genetics, microbiology, zoology, entomology, and plant biology. A student not already enrolled in the arts and sciences must visit the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, Denney Hall, in order to declare a biological sciences major. The GEC is a body of courses designed to ensure that each student becomes acquainted with the basic areas of academic study.
Some majors also require completion of a foreign language requirement.
These courses are normally College of Biological Sciences courses which also qualify as major courses in the department in which they are offered. Five of the courses must be laboratory courses. Not included in the biology major, but required by it, are courses that yield a basic understanding of the sciences upon which biological sciences are built. All biology majors start off their studies with math through Calculus I or II, one year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry, one year of general physics, and two terms of general biology. In sum, biology majors are among the most broadly educated in the sciences.