Biology, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Academic Eligibility

First-year students: To be eligible for admission, freshman students must have met/be on track to meet all upper/senior secondary school requirements with the equivalent of a 2.5 GPA to be automatically considered for admission to undergraduate programs.

Transfer students: Transfer students must have graduated from secondary school and completed at least 12 university-level credits (1 semester) with the equivalent of a 2.0 GPA.

UM Undergraduate Admissions uses a 4.0 unweighted scale to determine GPA. If your school does not calculate GPA, we will calculate it for you when we evaluate your academic records. 

Documents for Admission

Secondary school students/graduates: Please submit academic transcripts/mark sheets for grades 9-12 and secondary school leaving certificates, exam results or diplomas showing secondary school completion (if applicable)

Students who have completed at least one semester (12 U.S. credits) of university or post-secondary study: university transcript/mark sheets/exam results listing all courses, grades and credits/hours and diplomas/graduation certificates (if applicable). Students who qualify for transfer do not need to submit secondary school documents.

English translations: All documents not originally issued in English must also be accompanied by word-for-word English translations. You, the applicant, can make the translations yourself.

Admission consideration for international applicants can proceed with unofficial documents. Unofficial documents are photocopies or scans of original academic documents submitted to University of Montana directly by you, the student. Unofficial documents can be uploaded to your admission portal.

Career development in the biology major

At UM, we are here to help you succeed in your career as well as in the classroom. We also offer a more personalized approach to teaching and advising you won't often find in major research programs, offering our students the best of a large research university combined with smaller class sizes and greater interaction with professors. The result is that you have all the expertise and support you need to achieve your goals and hit the ground running once you graduate.

As many of our biology majors are pre-health professionals, you'll find vibrant, active clubs and associations for pre-med, pre-veterinarian, and other pre-health professions that are ideal for making new connections and building expertise in your field. Faculty from our nationally ranked graduate program also works closely with undergraduate students, embedding them into their labs and research groups, providing unparalleled opportunities for mentored capstone projects and impactful research.

Faculty in the organismal biology and ecology degree

When you study biological sciences and ecology at UM, you learn from the best. In addition to being caring and dedicated teachers, our faculty are among the nation's top leaders and researchers in the fields of ecology and evolution.

Over the past decade, they have published more than 800 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including more than 50 papers in Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the three leading journals of all scientific inquiry. They include elected members of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences; Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards from the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House.

Biology scholarships at UM

Get additional help paying for your degree in biology. We offer a variety of departmental scholarships you can add to your financial aid to help cover tuition costs and more. Explore scholarship opportunities for biology majors at UM.

1. Complete an online application
2. Pay the application fee
3. Submit required application documents

• English language proficiency requirements
• Academic records
• Financial information
• Copy of passport
• Transfer form (for transfer students only) 

You can also download our International Admissions Checklist to help you submit all required materials.