General Biology I is the first course of the majors biology sequence and the gateway to every life-science degree in Florida. The statewide description covers molecular biology, cellular biology, genetics, metabolism and replication, taught through the application of the scientific method.
Carried by 23 Florida public institutions, 21 of them at 3 credits with a separate 1-credit laboratory.
⚠⚠ This is the majors course, and the distinction matters more than it sounds. Florida runs a parallel non-majors biology sequence for general-education students, and the two are not interchangeable: a programme that names this course will not accept the other, and discovering that after a year is expensive. If you intend any life-science, pre-health or biomedical engineering degree, this is the one to take.
This course is named on the Biomedical Engineer career path in this repository, where it is the requirement that distinguishes that degree from every other engineering major — and it gates far more than that. Majors biology is the first course of the sequence leading to medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physician assistant and nursing programmes, and to degrees in biology, biochemistry, microbiology, marine science and environmental science. In Florida it also feeds clinical and forensic laboratory science, biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and the state’s large environmental and marine research sector.
This is the single most useful thing on this page for anyone transferring, dual-enrolled, or simply trying to find their own course in a catalogue.
| Family | Institutions | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
BSC1010 / BSC1011(or the C forms) | 16 | Daytona State, Eastern Florida State, Florida A&M, FAU, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida Keys, Florida SouthWestern, Lake-Sumter, North Florida College, Northwest Florida State, Palm Beach State, Pensacola State, Polk State, South Florida State, UNF and Valencia |
BSC2010 / BSC2011(or the C forms) | 23 | Broward, College of Central Florida, Florida Gateway, FIU, Florida Polytechnic, FSCJ, Florida State, Gulf Coast, Hillsborough, Indian River State, Miami Dade, New College, Pasco-Hernando, State College of Florida, Santa Fe, St. Johns River State, St. Petersburg, Seminole State, Tallahassee State, UCF, UF, USF and UWF |
⚠⚠ Zero institutions carry both first courses. Same subject, same lower-division level, same majors sequence, and the credit articulates either way — but the other number does not exist at your school, so a student searching a catalogue or a degree audit for the wrong one finds nothing and concludes something has gone wrong.
⚠⚠⚠ And this is not a quirk of biology. Florida’s other gateway science sequence does exactly the same thing: general chemistry runs as CHM1045/CHM1046 at nineteen institutions and CHM2045/CHM2046 at twenty, again with no overlap. Two of two. If you are planning a science-heavy first two years, expect to look up the local number for every gateway sequence rather than assuming the one you have seen quoted.
C suffix means TWO different things — check the CREDITSNormally a C marks an integrated lecture-plus-laboratory course. In majors biology it sometimes marks that and sometimes marks honours, and the credit value is what tells them apart:
| Institution | Bare number | C form | What the suffix is doing |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Central Florida | General Biology Honors, 4 cr | Biology I, 4 cr | ⚠ equal credits → honours vs standard, not lecture vs integrated |
| Valencia | Fundamentals of Biology Honors, 4 cr | General Biology I, 4 cr | ⚠ equal credits → honours vs standard |
| St. Petersburg College | 3 cr + a separate 1-credit BSC2010L | Honors Biology I … with Lab, 4 cr | different credits → integrated (and honours as well) |
⚠⚠ So do not read a C here as automatically meaning “lecture plus lab in one registration”. Compare the credit value with the bare number at the same institution: equal credits means the suffix is doing something else, and at UCF and Valencia that something else is honours. Getting this wrong means either missing a laboratory you needed or enrolling in an honours section you did not intend.
The statewide title of this course ends “(GE CORE)”, identifying it as a Florida General Education Core course under s. 1007.25, Florida Statutes. ⚠⚠ That is a materially stronger transfer protection than the ordinary line: a core course satisfies its general-education subject area at every Florida public college and university, where the usual guarantee only promises credit at an institution offering the same course.
⚠ Two cautions. The protection attaches to the general-education area, not to the laboratory: whether a programme’s “science with laboratory” requirement is satisfied is that programme’s rule. And the second course of the sequence does not carry the marker — exactly as in general chemistry.
Twenty-one carriers run the lecture at 3 credits. New College of Florida and UCF carry it at 4. ⚠ UCF is the case to understand: its 4-credit BSC2010 is the honours section and its standard course is the 4-credit BSC2010C — so UCF has no 3-credit version of this course at all, and a transfer student arriving there with 3 credits should ask early how it is counted.
BSC2010L runs at 1 credit at eighteen institutions and at 2 at Miami Dade College and the State College of Florida. A 1-credit laboratory typically meets for three hours a week, so it already consumes far more scheduled time than its credit value suggests; a 2-credit one more still. Plan the term around the hours, not the credits.
Carriers call it General Biology I, Integrated Principles of Biology I (UF and the College of Central Florida), Biological Science I (Florida State), Biology I – Cellular Processes (Hillsborough, St. Petersburg, USF), Principles of Biology (Miami Dade), Fundamentals of Biology (State College of Florida) and Biology for Science Majors I (Gulf Coast, Tallahassee State). ⚠ On a 23-carrier gateway course that is branding, not divergence — if your catalogue calls it something this guide does not mention, it is still this course. Register by the number.
Majors Biology I (BSC2010 / BSC1010) | ⚠ ELECTIVE |
Majors Biology II (BSC2011 / BSC1011) | SCIENCE |
⚠ The college credit is unaffected. What differs is the high-school requirement it fills — so a student taking the first course expecting to clear a high-school science requirement may receive elective credit instead. Across the 63 active lower-division BSC numbers the field splits 40 elective to 23 science, so it genuinely discriminates and is worth checking rather than assuming.
⚠⚠ And general chemistry does exactly the same thing — CHM2045 elective, CHM2046 science. A dual-enrolled student taking the first half of both gateway sequences may earn no high-school science credit from either. Confirm with your counsellor and your district’s articulation agreement before you enrol, not after.
Twenty-two of the 23 carriers record a natural-science general-education designation on this course, and a handful additionally record a Gordon Rule designation. ⚠ The flags in the state file reliably say that a designation exists without reliably saying which, so read your own institution’s general-education list. Where a Gordon Rule designation does apply, remember the condition that catches people: a grade of C or higher is required for it to count, and a C− does not at most institutions.
Generated September 19, 2026 · Updated September 19, 2026