Computer Science and Biology Major (B.Sc.)

74 credits · Faculty of Science · 2026-2027 catalogue

Computer Science and Biology Major (B.Sc.) as a checklist, with when each course runs in 2026–27. On a computer, check off the courses you have taken or plan to take to add up your credits.

Plan your whole degree in myDegree. It adds your other programs, a Foundation year, electives, prerequisite checks and a term-by-term schedule. Free, no account; your plan stays in your browser. Open myDegree

Program Prerequisites

Pre-Program Prerequisites

Students entering from the Foundation program must have included CHEM 110 and CHEM 120 , BIOL 111 and BIOL 112 , MATH 133 , MATH 140 / MATH 141 , PHYS 101 / PHYS 102 or PHYS 131 / PHYS 142 , or their equivalents in their Foundation year. Quebec students must have completed the DEC with appropriate science and mathematics courses. Note that students who have successfully completed MATH 150 and MATH 151 do not have to take MATH 222 .

Required Courses (46 credits)

36-46 credits:

Bio-Physical Sciences Core

  • BIOL 219 Introduction to Physical Molecular and Cell Biology (4 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 301 Cell and Molecular Laboratory (4 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • BIOL 395 Quantitative Biology Seminar (1 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • CHEM 212 Introductory Organic Chemistry 1 (4 credits) · Offered: Summer, Fall
  • MATH 222 Calculus 3 (3 credits) · Offered: Summer, Fall, Winter
  • MATH 223 Linear Algebra (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • MATH 323 Probability (3 credits) · Offered: Summer, Fall, Winter

Computer Science and Mathematics

  • COMP 202 Foundations of Programming (3 credits) · Offered: Summer, Fall, Winter
  • COMP 204 Computer Programming for Life Sciences (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • COMP 206 Introduction to Software Systems (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • COMP 250 Introduction to Computer Science (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • COMP 251 Algorithms and Data Structures (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • MATH 240 Discrete Structures (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter

Biology

  • BIOL 202 Basic Genetics (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 215 Introduction to Ecology and Evolution (3 credits) · Offered: Fall

Required Joint Courses

  • COMP 401 Project in Biology and Computer Science (3 credits) · Offered: Summer, Fall, Winter

Complementary Courses (27-28 credits)

Computer Science Block (9–12 credits)

9-12 credits from:

  • COMP 273 Introduction to Computer Systems (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter

Biology Block (9–12 credits)

9-12 credits from the following, with 3-6 credits at the 400 level or above:

  • BIOL 300 Molecular Biology of the Gene (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 303 Developmental Biology (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 304 Evolution (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 306 Neural Basis of Behaviour (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 308 Ecological Dynamics (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 309 Mathematical Models in Biology (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 310 Biodiversity and Ecosystems (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 313 Eukaryotic Cell Biology (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 314 Molecular Biology of Cancer (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 316 Biomembranes and Organelles (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 319 Introduction to Biophysics (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 320 Evolution of Brain and Behaviour (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 389 Laboratory in Neurobiology (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 416 Genetics of Mammalian Development (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 435 Natural Selection (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 518 Advanced Topics in Cell Biology (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 520 Gene Activity in Development (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 524 Topics in Molecular Biology (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 530 Advances in Neuroethology (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 532 Developmental Neurobiology Seminar (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 546 Genetics of Model Systems (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • BIOL 551 Principles of Cellular Control (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 568 Topics on the Human Genome (3 credits) · Offered: Winter
  • BIOL 569 Developmental Evolution (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 580 Genetic Approaches to Neural Systems (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • BIOL 588 Advances in Molecular/Cellular Neurobiology (3 credits) · Not scheduled for 2026–2027
  • HGEN 575 Human Biochemical Genetics (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • NEUR 310 Cellular Neurobiology (3 credits) · Offered: Winter

3-4 credits from the following: (3–4 credits)

3-4 credits from the following:

  • COMP 462 Computational Biology Methods (3 credits) · Offered: Fall
  • COMP 561 Computational Biology Methods and Research (4 credits) · Offered: Fall

3-6 from the following:

3-6 from the following:

  • MATH 315 Ordinary Differential Equations (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter
  • MATH 324 Statistics (3 credits) · Offered: Fall, Winter

Remaining credits

The remaining 18-21 credits is to be chosen from the following, with at least 9 credits at the 400 level or above.

Related programs

Source: McGill Course Catalogue. myDegree is an independent student project, not affiliated with McGill University.