Biology Advising FAQ

Your major/academic advisor’s name is listed on your myUSF Student Self Service account. Advisor email addresses and links to book appointments are included in an email sent by the Biology Program Assistant, Christine Nguyen.
You may consult with any Biology faculty member for advice, but your assigned advisor must release your registration hold.

Week 10: Sign-up for advising appointments begins online. Instructions for making an advising appointment will be e-mailed to students. It is your responsibility to sign-up for an advising appointment. If you have an unusual scheduling need, email your advisor right away.
Week 11-12: Advising appointments are held. If you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment after booking online, please email your advisor or cancel the appointment 24 hours in advance.
Week 13: Registration begins. Before you can register for classes the advising hold must be released by your major advisor, not an academic success coach from CASA or any other Biology faculty member. Do not wait until the last minute to schedule your advising appointment.

All first- and second-year students, students on probation or with science GPAs < 2.0 will have an automatic advising hold on their registration. If you are in one of these categories, you will not be able to register until you meet with your advisor who will release the hold.
All students are encouraged to see their advisor, but third- and fourth-year students with science GPAs ≥ 2.0 can register without first speaking with their advisor. Completing graduation requirements is your responsibility.

Before you meet with your advisor, make a list of classes that you hope to take. Be sure that you have completed the prerequisites for each course and have checked for time conflicts.
You should develop an extended course plan for your entire time at USF to ensure you complete all Core and Biology major requirements. The Biology curriculum checklist is a convenient way to keep track of completed and remaining requirements in the Core and the Biology major. A summary of the Biology curriculum and the most recent version of the checklist are attached.
You can access the class schedule and your academic record and degree evaluation at myUSF.

You should have received a registration date and time along with instructions for web registration from the Registrar's Office by email. This information is also available under the Student tab at myUSF.

For lower division biology courses (courses with numbers in the 100s or 200s), complete this Google Form – Biology Lower-Division Waitlist Request.
For upper division biology courses (courses with numbers in the 300s or 400s), complete this Google Form – Biology Upper-Division Waitlist Request.
Waitlists will open if/when a course reaches its maximum enrollment but not before. Waitlists should not be used to request a different section of a course – students should arrange their schedules to enroll in open seats for a course. Priority will be given to students that require a class to graduate at the end of the coming semester.

If you have completed 90 or more units, you should apply to graduate with the Graduation Center. (Do not wait until the semester you plan to graduate.)
To graduate, total units including electives must be ≥128, and science GPA and overall GPA must each be > 2.0.

According to the USF catalog, all Core courses and courses required for the major must be taken at USF.
The Biology Department Chair cannot approve a Petition to Enroll at Another Institution (PEAI) submitted to take a course elsewhere for reasons of affordability, convenience, continuation of course sequences already started at other institutions, making future course loads more manageable, or the need to graduate on time (i.e., due to a change in major, transfer to USF, not taking courses according to the suggested schedule, or withdrawing from courses).