The three-year Bachelor of Science allows you to study a wide range of science subjects as well as many other areas of interest. This degree is ideal for students who seek a 'generalist' degree in which there is a large element of choice. Students are encouraged to choose a broad range of courses in the first year, to expand their general understanding of Science which then enables them to choose from a wide selection of major options in the second and third year. There is also the option to apply for an additional Honours year at the end of the three years, subject to a student's academic performance and other criteria. The rules and requirements for the degree are set out below.

This program has been designed to:

Single Mode

When completing the Bachelor of Science as a single degree, students must complete a minimum of 144 units of credit (UoC). This 144 UoC is comprised of the following:

 

Dual Degree Mode

When completing the Bachelor of Science as part of a dual degree, students must complete a minimum of 96 UoC comprised of the following:

Sample Program Guides

The Faculty of Science has created undergraduate program guides to help students choose courses based on the requirements of their chosen major/s. The documents should be used as a guide only and in conjunction with the program rules outlined below.

To access the program guide for your major, visit Undergraduate Program Guides.

Academic rules relating to the Bachelor of Science are as follows:

   1.  Students enrolled in the single degree must complete a minimum of 144 units of credit;

   2.  Students must complete at least one approved Bachelor of Science major, and this must be declared before enrolling in Level II courses.

Students do not need to declare a major in their first year as they are encouraged to try a variety of Level 1 Science courses to enable them to select an appropriate major before commencing Level II courses. Information on how to declare a major can be found on the Science Student Centre website.

   3.  Approved majors in the Bachelor of Science are:

 

*The Mathematics for Education major is restricted to students who are taking the Bachelor of Science program combined with the Bachelor of Education. Students wishing to become a Mathematics Teacher must enrol in the Mathematics for Education major and not the standard Mathematics major.

   4.  Students may choose to complete an optional minor in one of the following areas, using their Science and/or free electives:

• Anatomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Climate Science
• Geology
• Marine Science
• Mathematics
• Molecular Biology
• Palaeosciences
• Pathology
• Pharmacology
• Physical Geography
• Physics
• Physiology
• Psychology
• Statistics
• Vision Science

Students cannot complete a minor with the same name as their nominated major, and Level II and III courses cannot be double-counted between majors and minors. More than one minor may be completed subject to the limit on double-counting. Students must declare their minor(s) before their final semester.

   5. In addition to the courses required for a student's chosen major, students must take 'Science' courses so that the major plus 'Science' courses total 108 UoC. ‘Science’ courses are listed in Table 1 below.

   6. Students must complete at least 24 UoC of Level I ‘Science’ courses. ‘Science’ courses are listed in Table 1 below.

   7. Students must complete 12 UoC of General Education at any stage in their program.

Students must follow the UNSW rules for General Education. Any course defined as a 'Science' course in Table 1 cannot be taken as General Education. Courses with identifying codes GEN# can only be used to fulfil the General Education requirement of the program. GEN# courses cannot count towards the free elective component, or towards science core courses or science electives in the program. GENS courses cannot count towards this program. Any exceptions to these rules must be approved by the Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programs) or nominee.

   8. A maximum of 72 units of credit of Level I courses can be taken, including any GEN#### course or mainstream Level I course taken to fulfil the 12 UoC General Education requirement.

   9. Students may not enrol into Level II courses until at least 30 UoC of Level I courses have been successfully completed.

   10. Students may not enrol into Level III courses until at least 72 UoC of courses have been successfully completed.

Dual Degree Program Rules

When a student undertakes the Bachelor of Science as part of a dual degree, the program rules for the Bachelor of Science are as follows:

   1. Students must complete a minimum of 96 units of credit.

   2. Students must complete at least one approved Bachelor of Science major, and this must be declared before enrolling in Level II courses (see above for a list of approved majors). Information about how to declare a major can be found on the Science Student Centre website.
https://www.science.unsw.edu.au/current-students/forms

Students in the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) are not permitted to declare a Bioinformatics major in the Bachelor of Science when taking the Bioinformatics Engineering stream for their Engineering component.

   3. Students may choose to complete an optional minor using their Science electives (see above for list of approved minors).

Students cannot complete a minor with the same name as their nominated major, and Level II and III courses cannot be double-counted between majors and minors. More than one minor may be completed subject to the limit on double-counting. Students must declare their minor(s) before their final semester.

   4. In addition to the courses required for a student's chosen major, students must take 'Science' courses so that the major plus 'Science' courses total 96 UoC. ‘Science’ courses are listed in Table 1 below.

Students in the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) dual degree may not count ‘COMP’ courses towards their Science requirements unless they are specified as core courses in their major (i.e. for these students ‘COMP’ courses will not count as ‘Science’ courses).

   5. Students must complete at least 24 UoC of Level I ‘Science’ courses. ‘Science’ courses are listed in Table 1 below.

   6. Students may not enrol into Level II courses until at least 30 UoC of Level I courses have been successfully completed.

   7. Students may not enrol into Level III courses until at least 72 UoC of courses have been successfully completed

Double Majors in Dual Degrees

Students who intend to complete a double major in the Bachelor of Science when taken as part of a dual degree should be aware that it may be difficult to complete two majors within 96 UoC. Therefore, students who intent to complete a double major should be aware that it may involve extra time and cost to complete, and this may have visa implications for international students.

Table 1: Definition of 'Science' courses

'Science' courses are courses offered by the following Schools. The course prefixes that are associated with each School are in bold:

 

Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Education dual degree

Students wishing to become a Science teacher should be aware that not all of the above-listed Science majors are available in the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Education dual degree. Students in this program should refer to the 4076 Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Education program page for the complete list of rules and requirements for that degree.

Bachelor of Engineering / Bachelor of Science dual degree

All combinations of Engineering program and Science majors are possible within five years of full-time study. However, in order to complete these combinations, special exceptions are made when undertaking particular Science majors, as indicated below:

Mathematics

Students majoring in Mathematics in the Bachelor of Science will need to replace the second year Mathematics courses in their Engineering program with second year Mathematics courses required for the Mathematics major. For further information regarding this, students should see staff in the School of Mathematics and Statistics or the Science Student Centre, or view this document: Mathematics in BE BSc Programs.

Biology, Ecology, Geography, Earth Science, and Marine and Coastal Science

Students undertaking a major in Biology, Ecology, Geography, Earth Science, or Marine and Coastal Science as part of the Bachelor of Science, will be exempted from completing MATH1041 Statistics for Life and Social Sciences and BEES2041 Data Analysis for Life and Earth Sciences when MATH1131 Mathematics 1A, MATH1231 Mathematics 1B, and a relevant second year statistics course has been completed as part of the Bachelor of Engineering. For further information regarding this, please contact the Science Student Centre.

Physics

Students undertaking a major in Physics as part of the Bachelor of Science, may need to replace the second year Mathematics courses in the Bachelor of Engineering with second year Mathematics courses required for the Physical Science major. For further information regarding this, students should contact the School of Physics.

Biotechnology and Neuroscience

Students completing a major in Biotechnology or Neuroscience may need to use their first year Engineering elective to take a course for this major, otherwise, it will require 246 UoC to complete the requirements for the Engineering degree and Science major. This could involve an extra semester of study, extra cost and may have visa implications for international students. Students wishing to major in Biotechnology or Neuroscience should seek advice from the Science Student Centre as soon as they start planning their enrolment.

Bioinformatics

Students are not permitted to declare a Bioinformatics major in the Bachelor of Science if they are completing the Bioinformatics stream as part of the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours).

Honours for Bachelor of Science students is offered through program 4500 Bachelor of Science (Honours). Students seeking to enrol into Honours should refer to program 4500 Science (Honours) and the relevant streams listed in this Handbook.

Students who wish to undertake Honours in Bioinformatics may either apply for the Bioinformatics stream in program 4500, or the Computational Biology stream in program 4515 Computer Science (Honours).

See the Academic Rules outlined above.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  UNSW Fee Website.

When students choose to undertake a double major, elective courses are utilised to undertake courses for the second major. While some majors are in cognate areas and have some overlap which will enable the two majors to be completed in less than 144 UoC, other major combinations may require a student to do more than the minimum 144 UoC for the degree. This may result in additional cost and time to complete the degree requirements for the student and may have visa implications for international students.

The Faculty of Science will award a Pass degree with Distinction to students who obtain a minimum WAM of 75 across their program and complete at least 72 units of credit at UNSW.

The Science Talented Students' Program (TSP) introduces high performing students - entering the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) - to the Faculty of Science and helps them develop specific skills during their degree. The program offers these students exposure to research within the Faculty and provides a degree that is flexible and tailored to suit students’ needs and talents.

Invitation to participate in the TSP is made by the Dean of Science on the basis of superior secondary education performance (ATAR or equivalent), all incoming students are assessed for eligibility including non-high school leavers. High performing current UNSW Science students, in the BSc or BSc (Advanced), will be invited to join at the end of their first year. Contact the Science Student Centre website for more details.

The Faculty of Science has some rules that relate to all students enrolled in programs offered by the Faculty in relation to recognition for prior learning, general education, course exclusions, study load, and cross-institutional study. All students should read the information contained on the Faculty General Rules and Requirements page in this Handbook.

The Areas of Specialisation listed below provide links to general subject area descriptions and is not a list of available majors in this degree. For a list of approved majors, refer to the Program Rules above.