Microbiology Advising Resources
Department: Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology
Email: MICROadvising@ucsc.edu
This page is meant to provide resources to assist you in planning your degree progress.
Microbiology Advising
Advisor Name: Marla Hesselink
Advising Email: microadvising@ucsc.edu
Most advising questions can be answered via email! Please follow the guidelines below when emailing the Microbiology Advisor:
- Use the microadvising@ucsc.edu email to communicate with the advisor.
- Include your full name and student ID number.
- If you are requesting assistance with forms, please attach a copy of your form to the email.
Microbiology Advising Appointment Schedule:
- Remote appointments (via Zoom) Thursdays between 1:30-4pm
- If the above does not work for you, please email Microbiology advising with 2-3 days/times that would work for you in the next 10 days and we will set up an off-schedule appointment as soon as possible.
- Make a Microbiology Advising appointment here!
Major Qualification
Students must complete a certain set of coursework and achieve a certain GPA in order to qualify for the Microbiology B.S.
Qualification courses and GPA requirements for the Microbiology B.S.
As listed in the 2023-24 catalog, the Microbiology B.S. major qualification criteria are below.
Students must complete the following qualification courses, or their equivalents, each with a grade of C or higher:
- CHEM 1A, 1B, & 1C OR CHEM 3A, 3B, & 3C OR CHEM 4A & 4B
- CHEM 8A
- BIOL 20A
- BIOL 20L
- BIOE 20B
- MATH 11A OR MATH 19A
Students who entered UC Santa Cruz as frosh who have two or more grades of NP, C-, D+, D, D-, or F in the qualification courses are not qualified to declare.
Students with AP credit for MATH 11A or MATH 19A, BIOL 20A, and/or BIOE 20B need only pass the other qualification policy courses with grades of C or better.
Major Declaration
The major declaration deadlines for each quarter can be found in the academic calendar.
Students who entered UC Santa Cruz as first-year students are required to formally declare a major by the deadline in their sixth quarter on campus.
Students who transfer to UC Santa Cruz are required to declare a major by the deadline in their second quarter on campus.
Major Declaration Process
Students should petition to declare the Microbiology major once they’ve completed all qualification courses and met the GPA requirements. It’s recommended to have an academic plan signed by the Microbiology B.S. major advisor, as well.
Students may log into MyUCSC and submit the Petition for Major/Minor via MyUCSC to petition to declare a Microbiology major as soon as they have met major qualification requirements and/or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first.
The Petition for Major/Minor declaration form can be accessed by going to MyUCSC and navigating to the Student Homepage and selecting the Undergraduate Student eForms tile > Petition for Major/Minor.
For assistance, please contact Microbiology Advising at microadvising@ucsc.edu.
Major Declaration Appeals
Students may appeal to the major either prior to or after submitting a petition to declare and being denied (in the latter case, appeals must be submitted within 15 days from the date the denial notification was sent). Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student and their affiliated college of the decision.
Learn more about the Appeal Process here.
Please note that the information you share in your appeal or with your advisors will be kept confidential and shared only with campus officials as required to serve you in an advising capacity or to process your appeal, except in cases related to potential harm to yourself or others, or sexual assault or abuse. In those cases, we may be required by law to report incidents you disclose to other need-to-know offices on campus such as the Title IX Office and/or University of California Police Department. If you are in need of support for any issues, please consult this list of confidential and/or support resources.
Pursuing a double major that includes a Microbiology major is a highly individual decision, and should be based on a student’s educational and career goals. Because the Microbiology major itself is a rigorous, it should be noted that completing a double major involving Microbiology is difficult (though possible).
To declare a double major program, a student must obtain an academic plan showing that they are able to complete both degrees within the maximum number of quarters of enrollment available at UCSC. Therefore, the steps to pursue Microbiology as a second major are as follows:
- Create and review a major academic plan for your first major and have it signed by the appropriate UCSC major advisor.
- Work independently to add the Microbiology major requirements to the academic plan on top of your first major requirements.
- Make an appointment with the Microbiology major advisor and send the link to your academic planning form (signed by your first major advisor) to microadvising@ucsc.edu.
- The Microbiology major advisor will review your major academic plan and will assist in planning the Microbiology major coursework for your plan, if it is viable to do so per double unit counting, enrollment limitations, and time-to-degree guidelines.
- The Microbiology major advisor will discuss the double major plan with you during your appointment. If the plan is viable, it will be approved and signed by both yourself and the Microbiology major advisor.
- Once you have an approved & viable double major plan, log into MyUCSC and submit the Petition for Major/Minor via MyUCSC to petition to declare Microbiology as a second major. The Petition for Major/Minor declaration form can be accessed by going to MyUCSC and navigating to the Student Homepage and selecting the Undergraduate Student eForms tile > Petition for Major/Minor.
More general information on Double Majors may be found on the Registrar Office’s website.
BIM 88V: Introduction to Research
Offered via UC Online in Winter & Spring quarters and available to students from any UC through the UCOP cross campus portal.
This class will:
- Help you understand what research means
- Take you through some self-exploration to better identify what is interesting and important to you
- Give you practice in some basic research and communication skills
- Provide guidance in how to find a research position
Enroll and learn more about BIM 88V: Introduction to Research here – search by term of offering under “Engineering” (class open to all majors, not an Engineering focus).
