Study Abroad
Biology students, including those interested in careers in medicine and health-allied professions, have frequently opted to study abroad to enhance their overall education. The Biology Department encourages its students to consider this opportunity because:
- It provides students with international experiences in areas such as the environment, climate change, and science and medicine within a different socio-cultural context and
- A diverse, interdisciplinary and globally-engaged scientific workforce is critical to address environmental and scientific problems on Earth.
Many biology majors choose to take advantage of the study abroad programs offered through the Pre-Health Studies Program since they were specifically developed for students who didn’t want to fall behind in the sciences while studying overseas.
Students are encouraged to have completed one of the following courses before studying abroad:
- BIOL 199 Introduction to Biological Thinking
- BIOL 192 Science, Math and Research Training I
- BIOL 190 Integrated Science/Math/Computer Science I
And two additional courses:
- BIOL200 Integrated Biological Principles I
- BIOL202 Integrated Biological Principles II
Do you need to transfer your credit from abroad or another institution?
Here are the steps:
- If you are wanting to transfer credit from a course taken at another institution in the U.S., contact Dr. John Warrick (jwarrick@richmond.edu) with details about the course, including a syllabus.
- If you want to know which courses are already approved for transfer to UR Biology, first consult this database from the Registrar’s office. (**Note that this site is easily accessible from campus, but if you’re trying to access the database and you are NOT on campus, you may need to establish a “Virtual Private Network” VPN connection to UR via this site.)
- If the course is already approved through that database, you do not need a new approval through Biology staff. You can submit your request for transfer credit directly to the Registrar’s office (either via their official form, or an email to Kimberlee Duren, kduren@richmond.edu).
- If the abroad course is not currently approved in that database, you should fill out this form to provide the needed information to Dr. Jonathan Richardson, the Biology study abroad advisor.
- Biology staff will review the information provided, and confirm that the course does meet the requirements for Biology course transfer units, and attributes like lab vs. no lab.
** Note that this same process applies for BMB majors that need approval for a Biology course transfer, before it goes to the BMB coordinator for approval of course designations (e.g., “gene regulation course”).
** Also note that credit is only actually transferred to your transcript after you complete the course away from UR, not before you leave. The Registrar’s Office is often processing hundreds of students’ transfer requests each semester, so it may not appear immediately when you return.
Recommended Programs
Below is a list of exchange/study abroad programs which offer biology courses at universities in various countries as well as a list of field study programs options.
To explore these and other programs, including summer study abroad programs, internships and semester programs in other locations, as well as information on financial aid, scholarships and application procedures, visit the Office of International Education.