HUMBI-BA - Human Biology (BA)
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Program Overview
The undergraduate program in Human Biology aims to provide students with an interdisciplinary approach to understanding human beings from biological, behavioral, social, and cultural perspectives. Core courses train students to approach significant problems from a range of perspectives. As they progress through the major, each student pursues an individualized course of study that draws upon disciplines across the university and promotes a nuanced understanding of a substantive area. The program prepares majors to pursue advanced training in professional or graduate programs and to address issues that influence human welfare.
The BA degree is designed for students pursuing a traditional liberal arts degree with coursework predominantly in the social and behavioral sciences. The degree suits various career trajectories, including attending graduate or professional school, such as medical school. Students who plan to pursue graduate work should familiarize themselves with the admission requirements of the schools to which they intend to apply. 81 credit units are required for graduation, so early planning is advisable to guarantee the completion of a Human Biology major.
BA Degree Option Requirement
For the BA degree, coursework must be predominantly in the social sciences and humanities, with a minority in the natural sciences. Courses designated as Ways for aesthetic and interpretive inquiry, creative expression, exploring difference & power, ethical reasoning, and social inquiry qualify as BA-eligible courses. Other eligible courses have been designated as BA by the program.
The section describing Breadth, Depth & Upper Division degree requirements provides more details about meeting these requirements.
Area of Concentration
After the Human Biology Core, majors design their individualized course of study with a unique Area of Concentration topic. The Area of Concentration title should communicate the focus of the student’s Human Biology coursework. Students should select courses for their Breadth and Depth requirements that build expertise in their chosen Area of Concentration topic. The student selects courses for these two requirement categories in consultation with the advising staff, who approve the final course selections.
Additional information about the major may be obtained from the program’s offices or at the Program in Human Biology website.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Students must complete a minimum of 81 units:
Core | 30 units
Statistics | 3-5 units
Breadth in Discipline | 20-25 units
Depth in Discipline | 18-25 units (5-7 courses)
Electives | 9 units (3 courses)
Capstone | 1+ units (variable based on option chosen)
The required core sequence introduces the biological and social sciences and, most importantly, the relationships between the two. Classes meet throughout the academic year. The A and B series are designed to be taken concurrently. Students should initiate the core in autumn quarter of the sophomore year. Freshman are strongly advised to wait to start the HumBio Core Sequence until autumn of sophomore year.
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Must earn a minimum of C- or better.
New statistics courses offered by other departments may be petitioned for program review by submitting a syllabus to humbioadvising@lists.stanford.edu. STATS 60/PSYCH 10 does not fulfill the requirement; petitions are not accepted.
When students completing an additional major or minor in another department that also requires one of the approved courses to fulfill the statistics requirement then a student may submit an exception to waive the Statistics requirement; contact Human Biology student services for more information.
This requirement allows the student to explore the Area of Concentration topic with a broad focus. Courses must be consistent with the student’s chosen Area of Concentration topic and be approved by the HumBio advising team. Courses may include introductory-level courses (course numbers ending in N or Q are introductory seminars), lab courses, and practica from across the university. Activity, Language and non-WAYS general education courses are not allowed.
Must include a minimum of 10 units designated as BA coursework.
May include a maximum of 10 flex units (these include premed courses, introductory CS courses, and other introductory courses that areperipherally related to the Area of Concentration).
May include a maximum of four research units related to the Area of Concentration.
Honors students may not count HUMBIO193 towards their Breadth requirement.
Degree Option Note: BA units are defined as coursework predominantly in the social sciences and humanities, designated as Ways for AII, EDP, ER, and SI or designated as BA by the program.
This requirement allows the student to gain expertise in their chosen Area of Concentration topic. Depth courses are upper-level, non-introductory courses from across the university and must be consistent with the student’s chosen Area of Concentration topic, which is PRE-APPROVED along with the chosen courses by the HumBio advising team. Activity, workshop, speaker series, language, and practica courses are not allowed.
Minimum five depth-eligible courses directly related to the Area of Concentration.
Within the HumBio program, courses numbered over 100* are depth eligible as long as they are related to the Area of Concentration. Activity, workshop and practica courses are not allowed.
*Note: numbering conventions in other departments do NOT have any bearing on whether a course is, or is not, depth eligible.
Each course must be taken for a minimum of three credits.
Three or more departments must be represented.
Cross listed HumBio courses may count towards this requirement without enrolling in the other department's section.
Five upper-level courses must be BA courses within the depth and upper-division requirements. The majority of the depth coursework must be designated as BA, a minimum of three courses.
BA courses are predominantly in the social sciences and humanities and designated as Ways for AII, EDP, ER, and SI or designated as BA by the program.
Students must take three upper-division HumBio courses. These courses may be used to explore subjects outside the Area of Concentration. All advanced HUMBIO courses (those numbered 100-189) and select Overseas Studies courses fulfill the Human Biology upper-division requirement.
Students who study abroad may choose to use courses from the Overseas Studies course list below to count towards the three courses required by the Upper Division requirement.
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Overseas courses in this list have been previously reviewed, and are considered upper-division HUMBIO courses. New Overseas Studies courses that have significant content with Human Biology curricular themes may be submitted for program review via syllabus submission to humbioadvising@lists.stanford.edu.
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Students should work towards completing their Practicum throughout their entire senior year and enroll in course during the quarter they plan to complete the Practicum.
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The Human Biology Synthesis is by application. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through week two of autumn quarter, senior year.
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- ARTS-IHN
- CSRE-IHN
- DDRL-IHN
- ED-IHN
- ETHSO-IHN
- FGSS-IHN
- INSST-IHN
- STS-IHN
The Notation in Science Communication is by application through the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. Note that students must fulfill all the requirements for the Notation in Science Communication in order to fulfill the capstone requirement. NSC courses, both required and elective, may not be counted towards the breadth or depth requirements if used to fulfill the Human Biology Capstone requirement.
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Students must complete one of the PWR 91 courses listed or a PWR194 course that is tagged for the specific notation (aside from PWR 91NSC, which is already required).
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See NSC Overview for specific approved courses.
An additional (3-5 unit) non-PWR elective course is required to complete the Notation in Science Communication.
This website lists sample courses that could qualify as non-PWR elective courses. Students must email notationsc@stanford.edu with their choice of elective course, whether that course is on this list or not, in order for that course to count toward their progress in the Notation. If you have questions about the non-PWR Elective course requirement, email notationsc@stanford.edu.
WIM courses may not double- count towards both the department and NSC requirements.
Students should submit their NSC course plans to Human Biology student services no later than the Senior year degree progress check.
Many of the Capstone options require applications prior to the Senior year. Students should refer to individual programs' websites for specific deadlines. Students on an alternate timeline toward graduation should consult with the Capstone Director.
The honors program in Human Biology provides qualified majors the opportunity to work closely with faculty on an individual research project, culminating in an honors thesis. Students may begin honors research from several starting points, including topics introduced in the core or upper-division courses; independent interests stemming from an internship experience; or collaborating with faculty from the natural, social, or behavioral sciences.
The honors thesis is typically completed by the middle of spring quarter of the senior year. Honors students present summaries of their research at the Human Biology Senior Symposium in May.
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Most honors projects involve 10-15 units of coursework in course and course. Students must remain in good academic standing and earn the minimum grade of B+ in course to earn an Honors degree.
Admission to the honors program is by preliminary application in early February, followed by the complete application in early March of the junior year. Students planning to undertake honors begin research or preparation as early as the completion of the sophomore year, for example, by engaging in the HB-REx program or other summer research programs.
To apply to the honors program, students must have completed the Human Biology core with a minimum GPA of 3.0, have an overall Stanford GPA of 3.2 or greater, and meet other requirements detailed in the honors handbook. Interested students should consult the Human Biology Honors website and meet with the Human Biology Associate Director or Capstone Director.
Human Biology also holds a Summer Honors College just before autumn quarter each year for students who have applied to the honors program. Students apply to Summer Honors College in April of their junior year.