How to Apply to Biology at Mount Holyoke College: A Women’s Liberal Arts College Where You Do Not Apply to a Major and Declare by the Second Semester of Sophomore Year, with Biological Sciences and Biochemistry Majors Both Awarding the B.A. (at Least 40 and 49 Credits), for Domestic, International (Including Chinese) and Transfer Applicants

Mount Holyoke College is a gender-diverse women’s liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Undergraduate biology is offered by the Department of Biological Science, and there is a separate Biochemistry major; students apply to the College through the Office of Admission and declare a major after entry. Here is what you need to know, based on the College’s website, organised for US domestic applicants, international applicants and applicants from China, followed by transfer students. Chemistry and neuroscience have their own program pages (the neuroscience page was not read); medicine, nursing, pharmacy and similar programs are outside this article, and the College’s website has a pre-health section.

1. Degrees and areas

• Degree: the degrees page says the College confers one undergraduate degree, the Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated A.B. or B.A., the same degree). The Biological Sciences and Biochemistry program pages both list the Bachelor of Arts as the outcome; the pages read do not mention a B.S. in biology, and the biological sciences major has no separate named tracks, being built from core and elective courses.
• Biological Sciences (major and minor): the program page lists faculty research interests including animal behavior, anatomy, biomechanics, cell biology, development, ecology, evolution, gene regulation, history of biology, human physiology, invasion biology, invertebrates, microbiology, molecular ecology, neurobiology, plant diversity, plant genetics and symbiosis. Facilities include transmission and scanning electron and fluorescence microscopes, a tissue culture room, a greenhouse, controlled environment chambers and molecular biology equipment.
• Biological Sciences major (at least 40 credits): BIOL-145 Introductory Biology with Laboratory (4; any BIOL-145 offering such as BIOL-145BT, 145EX or 145LC) or BIOL-160 (taken together with CHEM-160); 200-level core courses: one in ecology/evolutionary biology (BIOL-223 Ecology or BIOL-226 Evolution), one in organismal biology (BIOL-241 Comparative Animal Physiology or BIOL-224 Plant Biology), one in cell/molecular biology (BIOL-210 Molecular Genetics, BIOL-220 Cell Biology or BIOL-227 Microbiology), plus one more core course in any category (4 credits each); one 200- or 300-level elective in Biological Sciences (4); two 300-level electives in Biological Sciences (8); outside the department CHEM-150 or CHEM-160 (4) and one course in calculus or statistics (4; for example MATH-101, 102, 203, STAT-140, 242 or BIOL-234).
• Additional specifications: the 200-level core courses may be taken in any order after BIOL-145 or 160; six Biological Sciences courses in total must be taken with a lab; with the chair’s approval up to 8 credits (the extra 200-level core course and/or the 200- or 300-level elective) may be taken at another institution; students with prior college-level credit (for example IB or A-Levels) should consult the chair on how it applies; AP Biology credits do not count toward the Biological Sciences major but do count toward the 128 credits required for graduation; with the chair’s approval transferred courses of fewer than four credits may be accepted, but the major still requires 32 Biological Sciences credits; registering for more than 8 Biological Sciences credits in a semester (excluding 295 and 395) needs the chair’s authorization; students who entered before fall 2026 and took BIOL-200 are advised to follow the catalog of their entrance year. Four credits of BIOL-395 (not 295) in one semester can count as an elective.
• Biological Sciences minor (at least 16 credits): 16 credits of Biological Sciences at the 200 and/or 300 level, at least 8 of them at Mount Holyoke; BIOL-295 and 395 do not count.
• Biochemistry major (Biochemistry Program, at least 49 credits): CHEM-150 (or 160), CHEM-202, CHEM-223 (see below), CHEM-308 or CHEM-346 (prerequisite MATH-203), BIOL-145 (or BIOL-160), BIOL-210, BIOL-220, BIOCH-311, BIOCH-318 (1 credit) and BIOCH-314, plus 8 credits of 300-level biochemistry, biology or chemistry courses and 4 credits at the 200 level or above in biochemistry, biology, chemistry or an approved computational/data methods course (approved: DATA-113, STAT-107, 140, 242, COMSC-100, 106, 150, 151, 161, PHYS-205). A footnote says that for graduates in spring 2028 and beyond the CHEM-231 requirement has been replaced with CHEM-223, and during the transition either is accepted. All seniors give an oral presentation on a biochemical topic at the Senior Symposium; 295/395 do not count toward the 49 credits; declaring the biochemistry major automatically fulfils the College’s “outside the major” requirement. The page encourages students who want to take the core courses (BIOCH-311 and 314) in the junior year to complete at least CHEM-150 (or 160), BIOL-145 (or 160), a BIOL 200-level course and ideally CHEM-223 in the first year; it recommends CHEM-302 and CHEM-325 for graduate study in biochemistry.
• Other areas: the research page lists neuroscience research separately; the neuroscience program page was not read and is not covered.

2. How admission to the major works: apply to the College, declare in sophomore year

• At application: you apply to the College as a whole. The pages read do not ask for an intended major and do not describe a separate admission line or a cap on places for biology.
• Declaring: the degrees page says each student must declare a major in the sophomore year, no later than the end of the eighth week of classes of the second semester; a departmental major is at least 32 credits with at least 8 at the advanced (300) level, an interdisciplinary major at least 40 credits with at least 12 at the 300 level from at least two departments, alongside self-designed Special majors. Grade requirements or limits on places for the biological sciences major are not given on the pages read.
• Changing into biology: conditions for moving into the biology major from within the College are not published on the pages read; the department’s telephone number is 413-538-2149.
• Graduation overall: 128 credits, at least 68 outside the major department, plus a First-Year Seminar, a language requirement, a multicultural perspectives course, distribution across three divisions and 4 units of physical education.

3. Prerequisites and course placement

• High-school courses: neither the College nor the department pages read set a specific high-school biology, chemistry or mathematics requirement.
• Choosing an introductory course: the Biological Sciences page says the department offers introductory biology in two forms. The BIOL-145 courses (for example BIOL-145BT “Biology Today”, 145EX “Exploring Biodiversity”, 145LC “Locomotion”) are a liberal arts introduction in a small-class setting, with different sections emphasising different topics, and are equivalent entry points to further coursework; BIOL-160, taken concurrently with CHEM-160, is an integrated introduction to biology and chemistry. The page says either is appropriate for students considering a major in biology, biochemistry or environmental studies, and completing any of them lets you pursue further Biological Sciences coursework.
• Courses outside the department: the page encourages majors to take organic chemistry (CHEM-202 and CHEM-302) and additional physics and computer science, and encourages further math and statistics, chemistry, computer science, physics, philosophy, anthropology, gender studies and other disciplines that intersect with biology.
• Study away: the page says it is not difficult to major in Biological Sciences and go off-campus for one or two semesters (for example to places better situated to study rainforests, deserts or the ocean) and some students have received credit toward the major, but you should not assume that biology courses from any off-campus program will count; talk with the Chair of Biology or a designated faculty member before enrolling.
• Chemistry prerequisite: the biological sciences major requires CHEM-150 or CHEM-160. The waiver of CHEM-150/160 for AP Chemistry (4 or 5) or “A/B in IB Chemistry” (as printed), with documentation and approval, is stated on the chemistry department page; the Biological Sciences page does not mention it.
• AP, IB and A-Level credit (College policy page): 4 credits per AP exam graded 4 or 5 (advanced-placement credit is capped at 32 credits), but advanced-placement credit cannot be applied to fulfill college requirements, and no credit is given if you take the corresponding Mount Holyoke course. IB credit is for higher-level exams graded 6 or 7 only (8 credits per HL exam if the total is below 36 or any grade is below 6; 32 credits if three HL and all exams including subsidiary are 6 or 7 with 36 or more points); A-Levels give up to 32 credits for four or more exams in liberal arts subjects at grade C or better, with no credit for O-Levels or AS-Levels. The international FAQ adds that students with the full IB Diploma of 36 or more points including three higher-level grades of 6 or 7 may apply for sophomore standing, and A-Level students with C or better may apply for 8 credits per exam, granted after enrollment on presentation of official results to the Registrar.
• Honors: the pages read do not describe an honors route, grade threshold or honors thesis for biology. The College’s graduation and honors page was not read.
• Biology competitions: the pages read do not say how competitions such as the Biology Olympiad are viewed in admission.

4. Research and laboratory work

• Biological Sciences: the research page says research is hands-on and students frequently collaborate with faculty; the department emphasises real research at all levels of the curriculum, in most lab courses students collect data, and in many they can conduct independent projects and present findings. The page says you probably already have many of the skills needed and names no particular course; faculty look for qualities such as asking questions, reliability, teamwork and being comfortable with setbacks; labs differ, and some faculty want to recruit first-years or sophomores while others ask you to wait until the junior year or take a specific course. Independent research courses are BIOL-295 and BIOL-395, through the department’s research application process. The page’s example is Craig Woodard’s lab using a laser scanning confocal microscope to look at the actin cytoskeleton of fat body cells in Drosophila during metamorphosis.
• Biochemistry: the research page says research is an essential component of undergraduate biochemistry education; majors are encouraged to collaborate with Mount Holyoke faculty and researchers elsewhere during the academic year and in summer internships, which typically leads to co-authored presentations and publications, and independent research “very often” culminates in senior theses. The program page says majors usually have more than one research internship before graduation.
• Learning goals: for Biological Sciences, explaining and predicting biological phenomena from molecules to ecosystems, designing and carrying out authentic research with quantitative analysis, and collaborating in classroom, laboratory and field; for Biochemistry, analysing energy storage and transformation in cellular and biochemical systems, describing the structures, functions and interactions of biomolecules, and designing, conducting, analysing and interpreting experiments.

5. Deadlines and application materials

• Rounds and deadlines: Early Decision I (binding) 15 November, notification in late December; Early Decision II 5 January, notification in late January; Regular Decision 15 January, notification in mid-March (the application-process page) or late March (the deadlines page). Financial-aid deadlines match the application round. Regular Decision admits have until 1 May to decide. The pages show no year, so check that they apply to fall 2027 entry.
• Application platform and fee: the Common Application or the Coalition Application on Scoir, one only, treated equally. The international admission page states “It’s free to apply to Mount Holyoke College.”
• Materials: the Secondary School Report with an official transcript; a counselor recommendation; two teacher recommendations, at least one from a core academic subject (English, foreign language, history/social studies, mathematics or science; the pages do not require a science teacher); an optional Mount Holyoke writing supplement, optional test scores and an optional art supplement; and a midyear report by 15 February for Regular Decision (the application is not complete without it). Early Decision applicants sign an Early Decision Agreement.
• Interviews: evaluative interviews are not part of the review; you can sign up for a non-evaluative MHChat with a current student. A table in the international FAQ says interviews are optional with dates of 26 November, 5 January and 25 January; the two pages differ, so confirm with the Office of Admission.
• Testing: test-optional (SAT/ACT). All entering first-year students who have taken standardized tests are asked to send official scores for the College’s research: Early Decision students in January (ED I) or February (ED II), Regular Decision enrolling students in May, and anyone who did not submit during the application by 1 August at the latest. Self-reported scores should not be superscored. Home-schooled applicants who studied only through self-study or an online curriculum must submit the SAT or ACT.

6. US domestic applicants

• Costs (2026-27): tuition USD 71,178, housing USD 10,836, food USD 10,760 and student activity fee USD 272, a total of USD 93,046; the page also estimates books and supplies at USD 1,000, travel USD 0–1,500 and personal expenses USD 1,000. The pages do not distinguish in-state from out-of-state. All students must have health insurance; US citizens and permanent residents may waive the College plan if their own meets Massachusetts requirements. The standard for fall 2027 entry is not published on the pages read; see the College’s website when it appears.
• Need-based aid: submit the CSS Profile and the FAFSA (US citizens and eligible non-citizens), with parental tax returns or income verification, by the deadline for your round. The College says it meets the demonstrated need of admitted students. Under the Mount Holyoke Commitment, students from US families with household incomes of USD 150,000 or less do not pay tuition; families above that should still apply. The page reports that over 82% of aid applicants receive grant aid and the average first-year package is USD 53,200.
• Scholarships: every first-year applicant is automatically considered, with no extra form: 21st Century Scholars (about 25 a year), the Chin Scholars full-tuition award (two a year), the Posse Scholarship, and the Leadership Award for US citizens.
• In-state preference or guaranteed admission: not described on the pages read.

7. International applicants

• Who counts: anyone who is not a US citizen or permanent resident and does not hold US refugee or DACA status. First-year applications are reviewed according to the country where you are educated.
• English proficiency: non-native speakers submit TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge Academic English, Duolingo or PTE Academic. Apart from Cambridge qualifications (C1 Advanced / C2 Proficiency, 185 minimum), there is no minimum score; the page lists averages: TOEFL iBT 100, or 5.5 for exams taken on or after 21 January 2026; IELTS over 7.0; Duolingo over 130; PTE over 68. The international admission page gives an average TOEFL of 105 for admitted students. TOEFL code 3529. Scores can be self-reported by uploading a PDF; official scores are needed before enrolling; with several results the Committee usually emphasises the test date with the highest composite; MyBest Scores is not accepted. Scores must arrive by the round deadline (15 November, 5 January, 15 January) according to the English-requirements page; the international FAQ table gives 26 November for ED I English scores. The two pages differ; confirm with the Office of Admission.
• Waivers: considered for students who have attended high school in the US since 9th grade, or since 9th grade in a school outside the US where English is the primary language of instruction (bilingual schools do not qualify); other circumstances can be explained. The College does not waive the requirement based on SAT or ACT scores. A waiver form is submitted through the applicant portal; replies take 7–10 business days and approval is not guaranteed.
• Materials: in addition to the items in section 5, non-US citizens not seeking need-based aid submit the International Financial Declaration (IFD); those seeking aid submit the CSS Profile and parental tax returns or income verification. Documents not in English need professional translations; transcripts, test and English results are expected as official documents; students in national curricula or programs such as IGCSE with external assessments must submit those results.
• Agents: the College says an agent is unnecessary, may deny an application if part of it was completed by someone other than the applicant, requires the applicant’s own contact information on the Common or Coalition Application, and does not communicate with agents.
• Aid and scholarships: international students can receive need-based aid (a combination of grants, loans and campus work). You must apply for it with your admission application; once admitted it is too late to start, and need-based aid is awarded for four years. The page reports that 45% of incoming international students receive need-based aid (average USD 58,686) or merit scholarships (average USD 17,500). The Global Perspectives Award is for non-US citizens; all applicants are automatically considered. International students are over 20% of the student body.

8. Applicants from China

• Gaokao: the admissions pages read do not mention the Chinese gaokao or how it would be used; this is not published, so ask the Office of Admission (admission@mtholyoke.edu).
• Transcripts and school-leaving materials: no China-specific requirements are published on the pages read. General rules: non-English transcripts and recommendations need professional translations, and students in national curricula submit external exam results (the page’s example is IGCSE, not a Chinese exam); ask the Office of Admission how this applies to Chinese high-school records.
• English results: see section 7.
• International curricula: AP, IB and A-Level students can use the credit rules in section 3.

9. Costs, scholarships and outcomes

• Costs: see section 6. The tuition page also notes the College health insurance is required for all international students and cannot be waived, and lists a student visa item under non-billed costs.
• Departmental awards: the pages read list no scholarships specific to the Biological Science department or the Biochemistry Program; ask the relevant department about research support.
• Outcomes: the Biological Sciences program page prints no employment or graduate-study data. The Biochemistry page says the program has averaged about 15 graduates a year, typically one-third going to medical school and one-third to graduate school directly after graduation, with the remaining third working in biotechnology or pharmaceutical industries, doing university-lab research before returning for higher degrees, or working in allied professions such as patent law, science education, health care consulting and investment banking. The admissions page says 92% of 2025 graduates for whom outcomes data could be obtained (70% of the class) were employed and/or in graduate school within six months; that figure is college-wide.

10. Transfer students

• Eligibility: graduated from high school and earned between 16 and 64 transferable college credits; about 50 transfer students enrol each year. Applicants over 25, veterans and those with a dependent other than a spouse apply as Frances Perkins Scholars.
• Deadlines: spring entrance 1 November (notification early December); fall entrance 15 March (notification mid-April). The page shows no year; check that it applies to fall 2027.
• Materials: the Common Application for Transfers with a personal essay and a “Why are you considering Mount Holyoke College?” essay; official high-school and all college transcripts (unofficial transcripts are not accepted); two recommendations, at least one from an academic instructor; a midyear report for those currently in college; English proficiency results for non-native speakers; and the IFD for non-US citizens. Financial-aid documents are submitted with the application. The pages read set no GPA or prerequisite-course requirement for entering the biology major.
• Transfer credit: no more than 64 credits in total for external work, of which at most 32 for advanced-placement-type work; credit is generally given for liberal arts courses with C- or better; math courses below Calculus I (such as pre-calculus or algebra) earn no credit; semester credits transfer one for one and quarter credits convert at 0.66; transferred grades do not enter the Mount Holyoke GPA. To count a course toward a major, the policy page says you should also seek pre-approval from the department. Transfer students must complete at least four semesters and 64 credits at Mount Holyoke (including Five College interchange credits).

Checklist

US domestic applicants:

• ED I 15 November; ED II 5 January; Regular Decision 15 January; free to apply; two teacher recommendations (one core academic); test-optional
• Need-based aid: CSS Profile and FAFSA by the deadline for your round

International applicants (including China):

• TOEFL (average 100, or 5.5 on the new scale), IELTS (average above 7.0), Duolingo (above 130) and others, no minimum score, or request a waiver; IFD or CSS Profile
• Gaokao use is not published; ask the Office of Admission

After entry:

• First year: BIOL-145 (or BIOL-160 with CHEM-160) and CHEM-150 (or 160); then choose among the 200-level core courses; for biochemistry, finish the biology and chemistry introductions and a BIOL 200-level course early; declare the major by the eighth week of the second semester of sophomore year

Transfer students:

• 1 November (spring) or 15 March (fall); 16–64 transferable credits; pre-calculus does not transfer; ask the department chair how transferred biology courses count

Sources: Mount Holyoke College, Biological Sciences program page; Biochemistry program page; Biological Science research; Biochemistry research; Chemistry program page; Degrees and graduation requirements; Application process; Application deadlines; Standardized testing policies; International admission; English proficiency requirements; International admission FAQ; Transfer admission; Transfer and advanced placement credit policy; Tuition and fees; Financial aid; Merit scholarships. The dates on the admissions pages show no year, so check that they apply to fall 2027 entry and see the College’s website for the latest.