Biological Sciences

This exciting four-year programme provides great flexibility and choice, offering an interdisciplinary approach incorporating both arts and sciences specialisms with the opportunity to learn a foreign language and spend a year at a university abroad. Students create a bespoke programme and study innovative modules to enhance the link between disciplines.

In each year of your degree you will take a number of individual modules, normally valued at 0.5 or 1.0 credits, adding up to a total of 4.0 credits for the year. Modules are assessed in the academic year in which they are taken. The balance of compulsory and optional modules varies from programme to programme and year to year. A 1.0 credit is considered equivalent to 15 credits in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

The programme offers a wide combination of specialist modules and an interdisciplinary core. The core modules enable you to acquire the skills and concepts you will need to work effectively across multiple disciplines. They link traditional UCL subjects in new ways and explore the conceptual and methodological differences between arts and science subjects.

You will study a modern foreign language throughout your degree and may gain work experience through an internship chosen to integrate your studies with your future aspirations.

Possible internships include businesses, non-government organisations and voluntary organisations. Our students have achieved internships with, for example, Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Norton Rose Fulbright, the UN, Reuters, the Wellcome Trust, Horniman Museum and Gardens and many other organisations and businesses.

You will choose a major and a minor pathway on application. Your pathways determine the subjects in which you will specialise. We offer two arts pathways and two sciences pathways.

Cultures (Humanities and Arts): Anthropology, Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, Design and Visualisation, Drawing Methodology, Film and Documentary Film-Making, History, History of Art, Languages, Literature, Philosophy

Societies (Social Sciences): Archaeology, Economics, Geography, History, International Relations, Philosophy, Political Economy, Politics, Sociology

Health and Environment (Sciences): Anthropology, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biomedicine, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Geology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychology, Science and Technology Studies, Synthetic Biology 

Sciences and Engineering (Sciences): Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Science and Technology Studies, Statistics

A levels

Grades

A*AA-AAA

Subjects

A mixture of arts/humanities/social sciences and sciences/Mathematics. Major pathway requirements: Cultures or Societies: two arts/humanities/social sciences plus one science/Mathematics; Sciences and Engineering: Mathematics and one other science plus one arts/humanities/social science; Health and Environment: Chemistry or Biology, and one other science or social science plus one arts/humanities/social science.

For more information about A level subject classification, see the BASc website at: www.ucl.ac.uk/basc/prospective/application/alevels

GCSEs

English Language and Mathematics at grade B. For UK-based students, a grade C or equivalent in a foreign language (other than Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew or Latin) is required. UCL provides opportunities to meet the foreign language requirement following enrolment, further details at: www.ucl.ac.uk/ug-reqs

IB Diploma

Points

38-39

Subjects

A score of 18-19 points in three higher level subjects with a mixture of arts/humanities/social sciences and sciences/Mathematics. Major pathway requirements: Cultures or Societies: either one higher level subject from groups 4 or 5 and two higher level subjects from groups 1, 2, 3, 6; or three higher level subjects from groups 1, 2, 3, 6 and two standard level subjects from groups 4 or 5, with grades of 6 in each. Sciences and Engineering: to include higher level Mathematics at grade 6 and a further higher level subject from groups 4 or 5 plus one higher level subject from groups 1, 2, 3, 6. Health and Environment: to include higher level Chemistry or Biology at grade 6 and a further higher level subject from groups 3, 4 or 5 plus one higher level subject from groups 1, 2, 3, 6.