The University of Pennsylvania is regarded as one of the best universities in the world, appearing in the top 15 of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) since 2004. At the undergraduate level, the Department of Biology provides courses in genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, development, plant biology, vertebrate physiology, neuroscience, behavior, ecology and evolution. The graduate program is designed to provide students with the freedom to tailor their studies and develop a specialization, choosing courses from different departments and schools as appropriate.
Ranked in the top 45 of the ARWU, Pennsylvania State University provides four-year baccalaureate majors at the undergraduate level. The Biological Sciences Department offers 27 programs, including biochemistry and molecular biology, immunology and infectious diseases, microbiology, nutritional sciences, premedicine, toxicology and veterinary and biomedical sciences. The university has a multitude of campuses throughout the state of Pennsylvania, with all of the courses allowing students to commence studies at any campus and complete the program at the campus where each specialty is based.
Based 10 miles southwest of Philadelphia, Swarthmore College maintains an extensive range of undergraduate biology programs, including majors, minors, honors and special majors. Students seeking to undertake a biology major must have a grade point average (GPA) of at least a C and are required to take at least one course or seminar in cellular and molecular biology, organismal biology, and population biology. Honors students must have a GPA of a B or higher and are expected to undertake a substantial research project. Swarthmore also offers teacher certification in biology, approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Education.
Situated on the east side of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon College of Sciences (MCS) offers five bachelor of science programs in biological sciences, including biological science/neuroscience, computational biology and biological sciences and psychology. Students study macro- and micro-biology, focusing on the five core areas of genetics and molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics, cell and developmental biology, neuroscience and computational biology. MCS boasts $28 million state-of-the-art interdisciplinary laboratory facilities and optional first-year seminars on various developing research topics. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars and Nobel Prize winners.
Lehigh University is situated in Bethlehem, 60 miles north of Philadelphia and 85 miles west of New York. The quality of the programs provided are reflected by the four Biological Sciences Education Grants awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, totaling $5.5 million. Lehigh offers bachelor of science and bachelor of arts programs in five areas of biological sciences, as well as Ph.D. programs in biochemistry, integrative biology and neuroscience and molecular biology. Lehigh also offers a distance learning master's in molecular biology.