Integrated Science Major
Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.
NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.
The plan below represents the recommended path for a student who will be completing the ISP major in three years with no second major. Actual progression will vary depending on any additional major or minor a student may choose to pursue, and courses may be spread out over four years. However most students need to complete the listed First Year chemistry, math, and physics courses within their first three quarters of enrollment.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Major Requirements (25.7 units) | |
| First Year | |
| Fundamentals of Biological Mechanisms | |
| Fundamentals of Computer Programming | |
| Advanced General Inorganic Chemistry and Advanced General Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory and Advanced General Physical Chemistry and Advanced General Physical Chemistry Laboratory (Must be taken in year one) | |
| Accelerated Mathematics for ISP: First Year and Accelerated Mathematics for ISP: First Year and Accelerated Mathematics for ISP: First Year (Must be taken in year one) | |
| General Physics ISP and General Physics for ISP and General Physics for ISP and Fundamentals of Physics Laboratory and Fundamentals of Physics Laboratory and Fundamentals of Physics Laboratory (Must be taken in year one) | |
| Second Year | |
| Fundamentals of Cellular Processes | |
| Molecular and Cellular Processes Laboratory | |
| Genetics and Molecular Processes Laboratory | |
| Accelerated Organic Chemistry I and Accelerated Organic Chemistry Laboratory I | |
| Physical Chemistry for ISP | |
| Physics of the Earth for ISP | |
| Fourier Analysis and Boundary Value Problems for ISP | |
| Complex Analysis for ISP | |
| Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics | |
| Third Year | |
| Astrophysics for ISP | |
Life Science Elective (chosen from list of approved courses) 1 | |
| Biophysical Analysis of Neurons for ISP | |
| Physics of Condensed Matter | |
| Particle and Nuclear Physics | |
| Probability and Statistics for ISP | |
- 1
Students doing biology or chemistry as a second major with ISP must take Principles of Biochemistry (BIOL_SCI 301-0) to satisfy the Life Science Elective, and may not use Undergraduate Research (INTG_SCI 398-0) to substitute for the Life Science Elective.
Life Science Electives
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Students choose one course: | |
| Fundamentals of Multicellular Complexity | |
| Principles of Biochemistry (required if second major is biology or chemistry) | |
| Bioinformatics: Sequence and Structure Analysis | |
| Biostatistics | |
| Modeling Biological Dynamics | |
| Population Genetics | |
| Systems Biology | |
| Protein Structure and Function | |
| Biophysics | |
| Molecular Biology of Genome Editing and Engineering | |
| Brain Function Through the Lens of Computation | |
Undergraduate Research Substitutions
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| With permission, Undergraduate Research (INTG_SCI 398-0) may be substituted for up to 3 of the following courses: | |
| Astrophysics for ISP | |
Life Science Elective course (no permission allowed for majors in biology or chemistry) | |
| Complex Analysis for ISP | |
| Biophysical Analysis of Neurons for ISP | |
| Physics of Condensed Matter | |
| Particle and Nuclear Physics | |
Honors in Integrated Science
Students with GPAs of 3.2 and above are eligible for the honors program. Students with GPAs above 3.0 will be considered for honors if they have completed a significant amount of undergraduate research. Students must also enroll with a faculty research adviser for at least 2 quarters of Undergraduate Research, either in ISP (INTG_SCI 398-0) or an ISP-affiliated department. Students planning on pursuing honors must inform the ISP Program director by fall of their senior year and submit a senior thesis by April of their senior year for consideration by the ISP Faculty committee. Students whose theses and grades meet program criteria are recommended to the college for graduation with honors. For more information consult the program director and see Honors in the Major.