B.S. Advising

At least half of the upper-division courses required for the major must be taken at UC Santa Cruz, not as transfer credits from another  institution. If a student plans to transfer to UCSC from another institution, the student is advised to contact GCH BS Advising at UCSC before enrolling in upper-division courses at the student’s institution or any institution other than UCSC. This advising will help students understand the limitation of transferring upper-division courses from other institutions to UCSC. 

Once matriculated, a student must receive permission from the department to satisfy the BIOL 20A, BIOL 100, BIOL 105, BIOL 101 or BIOL 110 requirements with courses taken at other institutions. Students who wish to receive credit toward the major for these or other courses taken either at UCSC or at another institution should contact GCH BS Advising.

Global and Community Health BS has a qualification policy that applies to GCH BS majors. To qualify for any of these majors, students must pass (with a letter grade of C or better) the following courses or their equivalents:

• MATH 11A: Calculus with Applications or MATH 16A: Mathematics for Life and Environmental Sciences or MATH 19A: Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics
• CHEM 3A: General Chemistry
• CHEM 3B: General Chemistry
• CHEM 3C: General Chemistry
• CHEM 8A: Organic Chemistry
  • CHEM 8L: Organic Chemistry Lab – though CHEM 8L is not a qualification course, it is generally completed in the same quarter with CHEM 8A
• BIOL 20A: Cell and Molecular Biology
• BIOE 20B: Developmental and Physiology
• BIOL 20L: Experimental Biology Laboratory 

Note: Students with two or more non-passing grades (grades of NP, C-, D+, D, D-, or F) in the qualification courses are not qualified to declare and must submit an Appeal.

Please see the Office of the Registrar’s Academic and Administrative Calendar for Campus Major Declaration deadlines:

• Frosh students must declare a major before enrolling in their 7th quarter/third year at UCSC;
• Transfer students must declare a major by the posted Declaration of Major deadline in their 2nd quarter at UCSC.  
• Students who petition to declare the major after the campus major declaration deadline must submit an Appeal.

The GCH BS program will consider appeals from students who do not qualify for the GCH BS major or would like to declare the major after the major declaration deadline.

Please review the Major Qualification Policy and Major Declaration Deadlines as well as the following information before submitting an appeal for review.

Before submitting an appeal, prepare a GCH B.S. Academic Planning Form (APF) and a personal statement letter. The letter should be addressed to the program director and explain the failure to meet major qualification requirement(s), plans for future academic improvement, and interest in the major. It must be signed with a full name and student ID number, with the following file name format: “Lastname_PSLetter”

The program will notify the student and their college of the decision within 15 days of the quarterly appeal deadline (see below). Submissions are reviewed once after the quarterly deadline (not on an ongoing/rolling basis). Some students will not receive their results until after the quarterly deadline has passed.

Being granted the option to appeal is not a guarantee of admission into the major. Students that submit an appeal are strongly advised to have a backup plan in place in the event that their request is denied. Students are recommended to identify a viable alternate major as a backup in the event that their appeal is denied.

• Winter 2025 Filing Period: October 24th, 2024 to February 7th, 2025. Results will be sent to students via email to their UCSC.edu email address by February 21st, 2025

Appeals are submitted using the Appeal Form for the Global and Community Health B.S. Program.  Note that you must be logged in to your UCSC email account to view the form.  

If you have problems viewing the form, please try to view it in a different browser. If you are using a mobile device and cannot see the form below and/or are having difficulty accessing the form, you may need to use a laptop/desktop computer to access the form.  

When completing the form, you will be given the opportunity to submit a brief personal statement explaining why you are seeking admission to the major and describe the extenuating circumstances and other factors that prevented you from satisfying the major qualification requirements. 

Follow these instructions to submit a course for articulation:

• 1. Obtain a copy of the course description and syllabus for the course you wish to articulate. The syllabus should include a week-by-week list of lecture topics, the textbook used, and the means by which the course will be evaluated. Include any other course materials as available.
• 2. Using the UCSC General Catalog, determine if there is a similar course taught here at UCSC. If there is a similar course, indicate that course on the articulation form. If there is not a similar course, indicate the credit you hope to receive for the course, i.e. upper-division elective credit.
• 3. Fill out and Submit the Articulation Request Form. 

Your requested articulation will be reviewed by a faculty member and you will be notified of the outcome by email.

Articulations can take 2-4 weeks to process. Do not wait until the last minute to submit your request.  Education Abroad Program students are required to articulate their proposed coursework prior to going abroad.

Once matriculated, freshmen admitted in Fall 2019 and later must receive permission from the department to satisfy the BIOL 20A, BIOL 100, BIOL 105, BIOL 101 or BIOL 110 requirements with courses taken at other institutions. Students who wish to receive credit toward the major for these or other courses taken either at UC Santa Cruz or at another institution should fill out the Exception to Policy form before enrolling.

At least half of the upper-division courses (numbered BIOL 100-190) required for the major must be taken through the biological sciences program at UC Santa Cruz, not as transfer credits from another department or institution.

Regardless of the grading scale at the university you are attending, you must complete the course with a C or better to receive credit at UCSC. Courses with a grade of C- can not be used to fulfill major requirements.

If you are taking a course at another institution that is a prerequisite for a course you plan to take in any academic quarter at UCSC, you will not be able to enroll until you have submitted your unofficial transcript (showing the name of the school, your name, the date, the name of the course and the grade you earned) to gchBSadvising@ucsc.edu. 

For more information, see the Transfer Information and Policy in the Course Catalog.