Degree Requirements for the Bioengineering Major

The Bioengineering degree requires 120 semester units of courses, described below, which include certain university and college requirements.

Our four concentration areas help students construct a 4-year plan to build a useful and marketable skill set for work in one of the many subspecialties of bioengineering. The sample program for each concentration should be used as a guide to selecting courses that build on each other. All of the concentrations share the same first Fall semester, which includes

BioE 10: Introduction to Biomedicine for Engineers
BioE 26: Introduction to Bioengineering
Math 1A: Calculus
Chem 1A/L: General Chemistry and Lab
a Humanities elective

The BioE 10 and BioE 26 courses are designed to help students choose their concentration by introducing the available specialties and their applications.

General Degree Requirements

Generally, the requirements for the Bioengineering Bachelor’s Degree is a minimum of 120 semester units, as detailed below. All courses applied to the following list of requirements must be taken for a letter grade.

A minimum of 24 total¹upper-division bioengineering course units, including:
- At least two bioengineering fundamentals courses
- One bioengineering design course
- One bioengineering laboratory course
A minimum of 36 total² upper-division units in technical topics courses
A minimum of 48 total units in engineering courses
Six courses (of at least 3 units each) selected to meet the college’s current humanities and social studies requirements
One course with a substantial ethics component
BioE 10³ and 11
Math 1A, 1B, 53, and 54
Physics 7A and 7B
Chem 1A, 1AL, 3A, 3AL
E7 or CS 61A

Students must also complete the Pass/Fail seminar courses BioE 25 and BioE 26, preferably in their first year.

¹Not including BioE 100, 198, 199, or any other seminar-style courses or group meetings. Up to 4 research units (e.g., BioE 196) can be included in this total.
²Not including BioE 100, 198, 199, or any other seminar-style courses or group meetings. Up to 8 research units can be included in this total.
³Juniors transfers are exempted from taking BioE 10.

General Degree Grid

Frosh Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
Math 1A	4	Math 1B	4
BioEng 10	4	Physics 7A (SynBio concentration takes 2nd year)	4
Chem 1A & 1AL	5	Chem 3A & 3AL	5
BioEng 26	1	BioEng 25	1
Reading & Composition Part A Course	4	Reading & Composition Part B Course	4
Semester Units	18	Semester Units	18
Sophomore Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
Math 53	4	Math 54	4
Physics 7B	4	BioEng 11	3
Engineering 7 or CompSci 61A	4	Engineering Course (see concentration)	3-4
Humanities / Social Science Course	3-4	Humanities / Social Science Course	3-4
Semester Units	15-16	Semester Units	13-15
Junior Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
BioE Fundamentals Course	4	BioE Fundamentals Course	3-4
Technical Topics Course	3-4	Technical Topics Course (also an Engineering Course)	6-8
Engineering Course	3-4	Humanities / Social Science Course	3
BioEng 100 (or course with ethics content)	3	Elective	3
Semester Units	13-15	Semester Units	15-18
Senior Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
BioE Lab Course	4	Electives	7
Technical Topics Course	3-4	BioE Upper Division Courses	8
BioE Design Project or Research	3-4
Elective	3-4
Semester Units	13-16	Semester Units	15
Total Units	120-131

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Degree Requirements for the Bioengineering Major