Program Overview

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Northwestern University Academic Catalog

Undergraduate Programs

The undergraduate programs at Northwestern University are designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in their chosen field of study. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate programs, including:

• Biological Sciences
• Communication Studies
• Economics
• English
• Environmental Policy and Culture
• Environmental Sciences
• Ethics and Civic Life
• French and Italian
• Gender and Sexuality Studies
• General Liberal Arts
• German
• Global Health Studies
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Historical Studies
• History
• Humanities
• Integrated Science
• International Studies
• Italian
• Japanese
• Jewish Studies
• Korean
• Latin
• Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• Latina and Latino Studies
• Legal Studies
• Linguistics
• Literature and Arts
• Materials Science
• Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences
• Mathematics
• Middle East and North African Languages
• Middle East and North African Studies
• Molecular Biosciences
• Native American and Indigenous Studies
• Natural Sciences
• Neurobiology
• Neuroscience
• Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
• Philosophy
• Physics and Astronomy
• Political Science
• Portuguese
• Psychology
• Religious Studies
• Russian
• Science in Human Culture
• Slavic Languages and Literatures
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Sociology
• Spanish & Portuguese
• Statistics and Data Science
• Swahili
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Writing Program

School of Communication

The School of Communication at Northwestern University offers undergraduate programs in:

• Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Communication Studies
• Dance
• Human Communication Sciences
• Interdepartmental Communication Options
• Performance Studies
• Radio/Television/Film
• Theatre

School of Education and Social Policy

The School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University offers undergraduate programs in:

• Elementary Teaching
• Human Development in Context
• Learning and Organizational Change
• Learning Sciences
• Secondary Teaching
• Social Policy

Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

The Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University offers undergraduate programs in:

• Applied Mathematics
• Architectural Engineering and Design
• Artificial Intelligence
• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Computer Science
• Curious Life Certificate
• Design Engineering (Engineering Design)
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
• Environmental Engineering
• Farley Center for Entrepreneurship
• General Engineering
• Human Computer Interaction
• Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
• Machine Learning and Data Science
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Segal Design Institute
• Robotics

Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University offers undergraduate programs in:

• Integrated Marketing Communications
• Journalism

Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

The Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University offers undergraduate programs in:

• Advanced Expression
• African Studies
• American Studies
• Anthropology
• Arabic
• Art History
• Art Theory and Practice
• Asian American Studies
• Asian Languages and Cultures
• Astronomy
• Biological Sciences
• Black Studies
• Business Institutions
• Catholic Studies
• Chemistry
• Chicago Field Studies
• Chinese
• Classics
• Cognitive Science
• Comparative Literary Studies
• Computer Science
• Critical Theory
• Data Science
• Earth and Planetary Sciences
• Economics
• Empirical and Deductive Reasoning
• English
• Environmental Policy and Culture
• Environmental Sciences
• Ethical and Evaluative Thinking
• Ethics and Civic Life
• French and Italian
• Gender and Sexuality Studies
• General Liberal Arts
• German
• Global Health Studies
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Historical Studies
• History
• Humanities
• Integrated Science
• International Studies
• Italian
• Japanese
• Jewish Studies
• Korean
• Latin
• Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• Latina and Latino Studies
• Legal Studies
• Linguistics
• Literature and Arts
• Materials Science
• Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences
• Mathematics
• Middle East and North African Languages
• Middle East and North African Studies
• Molecular Biosciences
• Native American and Indigenous Studies
• Natural Sciences
• Neurobiology
• Neuroscience
• Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
• Philosophy
• Physics and Astronomy
• Political Science
• Portuguese
• Psychology
• Religious Studies
• Russian
• Science in Human Culture
• Slavic Languages and Literatures
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Sociology
• Spanish & Portuguese
• Statistics and Data Science
• Swahili
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Writing Program

Biological Sciences Major

The Biological Sciences major at Northwestern University requires students to complete a minimum of 10.02 units of coursework, including:

• 7 core courses (5.02 units)
• 2 300-level BIOL SCI Electives
• 3 courses from one of the concentration areas:
  • Molecular Genetics and Genomics
  • Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Human Health and Disease
  • Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology
  • Biochemistry and Biophysics
  • Computational and Systems Biology
  • Molecular Neurobiology
  • Interdisciplinary Biology
• Related courses, including:
  • CHEM 110-0, CHEM 131-0, and CHEM 132-0
  • CHEM 215-1 and CHEM 215-2
  • MATH 218-3 or MATH 220-2
  • 1 statistics course (BIOL_SCI 337-0 or STAT 202-0)
  • PHYSICS 130-1 and PHYSICS 130-2

Concentration Courses

The Biological Sciences major at Northwestern University offers several concentration areas, including:

Molecular Genetics and Genomics

• BIOL_SCI 332-0: Conservation Genetics
• BIOL_SCI 341-0: Population Genetics
• BIOL_SCI 354-0: Systems Biology
• BIOL_SCI 378-0: Functional Genomics
• BIOL_SCI 390-0: Molecular Biology of Genome Editing and Engineering
• BIOL_SCI 391-0: Developmental Biology
• BIOL_SCI 392-0: Morphogenesis
• BIOL_SCI 393-0: Human Genomics
• BIOL_SCI 395-0: Molecular Genetics
• BIOL_SCI 396-0: Evolution and Diversity: Mushroom Genetics and Genomics

Cell and Developmental Biology

• BIOL_SCI 310-0: Human Physiology
• BIOL_SCI 315-0: Advanced Cell Biology
• BIOL_SCI 319-0: Virology and Antiviral Immunity
• BIOL_SCI 327-0: Biology of Aging
• BIOL_SCI 328-0: Microbiology
• BIOL_SCI 355-0: Immunobiology
• BIOL_SCI 360-0: Principles of Cell Signaling
• BIOL_SCI 377-0: The Human Microbiome
• BIOL_SCI 379-0: Proteomics and Disease
• BIOL_SCI 380-0: Biology of Cancer
• BIOL_SCI 381-0: Stem Cells and Regeneration
• BIOL_SCI 390-0: Molecular Biology of Genome Editing and Engineering
• BIOL_SCI 391-0: Developmental Biology
• BIOL_SCI 392-0: Morphogenesis

Human Health and Disease

• BIOL_SCI 302-0: Fundamentals of Neurobiology
• BIOL_SCI 310-0: Human Physiology
• BIOL_SCI 319-0: Virology and Antiviral Immunity
• BIOL_SCI 325-0: Animal Physiology
• BIOL_SCI 327-0: Biology of Aging
• BIOL_SCI 328-0: Microbiology
• BIOL_SCI 355-0: Immunobiology
• BIOL_SCI 360-0: Principles of Cell Signaling
• BIOL_SCI 377-0: The Human Microbiome
• BIOL_SCI 379-0: Proteomics and Disease
• BIOL_SCI 380-0: Biology of Cancer
• BIOL_SCI 381-0: Stem Cells and Regeneration
• BIOL_SCI 391-0: Developmental Biology
• BIOL_SCI 392-0: Morphogenesis

Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology

• BIOL_SCI 332-0: Conservation Genetics
• BIOL_SCI 333-0: Plant-Animal Interactions
• BIOL_SCI 336-0: Spring Flora
• BIOL_SCI 337-0: Biostatistics
• BIOL_SCI 339-0: Critical Topics in Ecology and Conservation
• BIOL_SCI 341-0: Population Genetics
• BIOL_SCI 342-0: Evolutionary Processes
• BIOL_SCI 346-0: Field Ecology
• BIOL_SCI 347-0: Conservation Biology
• BIOL_SCI 349-0: Community & Population Ecology
• BIOL_SCI 350-0: Plant Evolution and Diversity Lab

Biochemistry and Biophysics

• BIOL_SCI 323-0: Bioinformatics: Sequence and Structure Analysis
• BIOL_SCI 338-0: Modeling Biological Dynamics
• BIOL_SCI 354-0: Systems Biology
• BIOL_SCI 360-0: Principles of Cell Signaling
• BIOL_SCI 361-0: Protein Structure and Function
• BIOL_SCI 363-0: Biophysics

Computational and Systems Biology

• Coding requirement: COMP_SCI 110-0, COMP_SCI 111-0, or NICO 101-0 plus NICO 102-0
• BIOL_SCI 323-0: Bioinformatics: Sequence and Structure Analysis
• BIOL_SCI 337-0: Biostatistics
• BIOL_SCI 338-0: Modeling Biological Dynamics
• BIOL_SCI 354-0: Systems Biology
• BIOL_SCI 378-0: Functional Genomics
• CHEM_ENG 379-0: Computational Biology: Analysis and Design of Living Systems

Molecular Neurobiology

• BIOL_SCI 302-0: Fundamentals of Neurobiology
• BIOL_SCI 303-0: Molecular and Structural Neurobiology
• BIOL_SCI 307-0: Brain Structure, Function, and Evolution
• BIOL_SCI 325-0: Animal Physiology
• BIOL_SCI 360-0: Principles of Cell Signaling
• BIOL_SCI 391-0: Developmental Biology
• BIOL_SCI 392-0: Morphogenesis

Interdisciplinary Biology

• Customized concentration consisting of a thematic set of three, 300-level BIOL SCI courses approved by the biology program

Honors in Biological Sciences

Seniors may be recommended to the college for graduation with honors if they have completed BIOL_SCI 397-0 Senior Thesis Colloquium and at least one quarter of BIOL_SCI 398-0 Tutorial in Biology or BIOL_SCI 399-0 Independent Research, have written an approved honors thesis based on their independent study, and have sufficiently high grades.