Please keep a few crucial enrollment policies in mind:
- The 12-Unit Rule: You must be enrolled in at least 12 units every semester to maintain your full-time student status. This applies whether you are on campus or on In Absentia status.
- Funding & Appointments: Falling below 12 units means you will lose your full-time status. If this happens, you become ineligible for GSR or GSI appointments and their accompanying fee remissions.
- IB 298 / IB 299 Enrollment: Your baseline expectation is to enroll in 12 units of IB 298 or IB 299 with your faculty mentor, reflecting a full load of effort in the lab each fall and spring (at least 36 hours/week of academic effort each semester).
- Taking Other Coursework: You are welcome to take additional coursework, but unless your committee has approved a reduction in lab time due to required coursework, you must still be enrolled in 12 units of IB 298/299 with your faculty mentor. The 12 units is a minimum, not a maximum.
- Summer Enrollment: You do not need to enroll in summer units to maintain your continuing, full-time status. Please note that the program does not cover summer fee remissions.
Incoming Students are asked to take the following courses in their first Fall semester
- IB 305 - Thriving in Academia; taught by Finnegan and Williams (2 units)
- IB 375 - IB Teaching Pedagogy Course; taught by Shuldman (2 units)
- IB C160 - Evolution; taught by Finnegan and Koskella (4 units)
- IB 298 - Research units; taught by the individual student's main faculty mentor (at least 4 units)
At the beginning of their first semester, students hold an annual review meeting with their advisory committee, and create a plan for any additional coursework needed to prepare for their qualifying exam. Every Fall and Spring semester they are enrolled in our graduate program, students must be enrolled in at least 12 units, unless they are on Filing Fee Status. In most semesters, the bulk of those units will be research units under their faculty mentor's guidance. In each semester, their faculty mentor will provide a syllabus for the research units.
In every semester before passing their qualifying exam and advancing to candidacy, students need to enroll in IB 298 research units with their main faculty mentor. After advancing to candidacy, students must enroll in IB 299 research units with their main faculty mentor. IB 298 research units are graded and count towards the student's GPA, whereas IB 299 units are satisfactory/unsatisfactory and do not count towards their GPA.
Anytime a graduate student enrolls in an undergraduate class at Berkeley, they are held to a higher standard of grading in that course. For example, in IB C160, the graduate student must received a B or higher in the class for it be considered passing the class. If a graduate student receives a B- in Evolution, it counts as a D and is not considered passing or fulfilling our PhD requirement for that course.
All Continuing Students
The Department of Integrative Biology has a fantastic array of graduate seminars that students can participate in each semester. Some are offered every semester, some are special courses only offered in the Spring or Fall. Many specialty areas have regular seminars (like the weekly Herbaria, Paleontology, and Vertebrate seminars). To find out which seminar series and special graduate courses are being held each semester, students should reach out to IB faculty in the area of expertise and inquire whether they hold a weekly seminar, or know of upcoming courses they could participate in.
We also have our weekly department seminar series that takes place every Fall and Spring semester from 12:30pm-1:30pm on Thursdays. We highly encourage all graduate students to attend this seminar series every semester they are enrolled in our graduate program. Check out the upcoming department seminar talks via this link.