Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree Requirements
Requirements for a BA in Environmental Sciences Advising checklist
EVSC Courses
A total of 30 hours of graded coursework in Environmental Sciences is required with a cumulative GPA ≥ 2.000. Each of the four core courses and their associate laboratories (EVSC 2800/2801, EVSC 3200/3201, EVSC 3300/3301, and EVSC 3600/3601) must be passed. It is strongly recommended that each core class and lab be taken concurrently. Majors are very strongly encouraged to complete their core courses by the end of the third year so they can take full advantage of our advanced offerings and the interdisciplinary aspect of the major.
Of the additional 14 required hours, up to 3 credits may be taken from 1000- or 2000-level courses (excluding EVSC 2800/2801), so long as the course was taken prior to declaration of the major. The remaining credits must be taken at the 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-level.
For all EVSC courses, a passing grade is considered a D minus. The 2.000 GPA refers to the average of all EVSC courses, not to each, individual course. According to College requirements, if a course is failed and repeated, both courses and grades appear on the transcript, the credits from the passed course count toward the required credits, and both course grades are factored into the GPA.
Related Work
The Department also requires related work in math and science. The required related work includes one semester of calculus and two semesters of college-level chemistry, biology, or physics with laboratories. These two semesters need not be from the same department. Courses recommended to fulfill this requirement include: MATH 1190, 1210 or MATH 1310, and any two of the following: CHEM 1410 (1411 lab), CHEM 1420 (1421 lab), BIOL 2100, BIOL 2200, PHYS 1425 (1429 lab), PHYS 2010 (2030), PHYS 2415 (2419 lab), PHYS 2020 (2040 lab).
Valuable additional non-EVSC related courses (not required) include computing and statistics. Please consult your adviser for specific recommendations.
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Degree Requirements
Requirements for a BS in Environmental Sciences Advising Checklist
EVSC Courses
A total of 40 hours of graded coursework in Environmental Sciences courses is required with a cumulative GPA ≥ 2.000. Each of the four core courses and their associate laboratories (EVSC 2800/2801, EVSC 3200/3201, EVSC 3300/3301, and EVSC 3600/3601) must be passed. It is strongly recommended, and in many cases required, that each core class and lab be taken concurrently. Majors are very strongly encouraged to complete their core courses by the end of the third year so they can take full advantage of our advanced offerings and the interdisciplinary aspect of the major.
Of the additional 24 required hours, up to 3 credits may be taken from 1000- or 2000-level courses (excluding EVSC 2800/2801), so long as the course was taken prior to declaration of the major. The remaining credits must be taken at the 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-level, and at least one course must be an analytical course. For a list of courses that fulfill this additional lab requirement, click here.
For all EVSC courses, a passing grade is considered a D minus. The 2.000 GPA refers to the average of all EVSC courses, not to each, individual course. In general, only courses that were failed may be re-taken.
Related Work
The required related work includes MATH 1310 and either MATH 1220 or 1320 (MATH 1220 is recommended to students who do not anticipate taking any additional math courses).
Course work in the related sciences includes one semester each from chemistry, biology, and physics, along with the associated labs. Courses that may be used to fulfill this requirement include CHEM 1410 (1411 lab), CHEM 1420 (1421 lab), BIOL 2100, BIOL 2200, PHYS 1425 (1429 lab), PHYS 2415 (2419 lab).
In addition, two more semesters of related science/math must be taken, with at least one of these being a science with a lab. These additional courses do not necessarily need to be selected from the above list as long as they are advanced courses in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.
(Note that the PHYS 2010/2030 sequence is NOT a higher-level physics course than PHYS 1425 because it is not calculus-based and is therefore not suitable for the B.S. degree.)
One of the related work requirements may include a class in statistics. The following classes may be used to meet this requirement:
STAT 2020: Statistics for Biologists
STAT 2120: Introduction to Statistical Analysis
STAT 3110: Foundations of Statistics
EVSC 5030: Applied Statistics for Environmental Scientists (cannot also be used for major elective credit).
Other upper-level classes may apply. Note that this requirement cannot be met by a class that is primarily related to coding and that a statistics class can only be used to meet the non-lab requirement, regardless of whether any particular course includes a statistics lab.
Planning for the B.S.
Because this is a coursework-intensive program, it is essential that work toward the major be initiated immediately upon entry to UVa. Occasionally students enroll in the B.A. and decide in the 3rd or 4th year to switch to the B.S. In many cases this is difficult to accomplish because of the related science credits. It is much easier for students who are uncertain of their career path to start working toward the B.S., as it is very easy to switch to the B.A. later.
Absent advanced placement credits, below is a typical strategy for the B.S. degree:
| Year | Fall | Spring |
|---|---|---|
| “Year 1” | CHEM 1410 (1411), MATH 1310 | CHEM 1420 (1421), MATH 1220 or 1320 |
| “Year 2” | PHYS 1425 (1429), one additional MATH, CHEM or PHYS | BIOL 2200; EVSC core course |
| “Year 3” | two EVSC core courses | one EVSC core course; advanced EVSC courses |
This plan would allow for easy completion of the B.S. degree by finishing all of the related work in the first two years and the core courses by the end of the third year while taking no more than two labs in any given semester.
(If you plan on taking only one biology course, the preference is BIOL 2200 which is only offered in spring. If you intend to take a full year of biology, then start with BIOL 2100 in the fall semester. However, these courses may be taken in any order.)
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php.