Overview
Biology and Ecology covers the whole of living systems: cells and genes, organisms and their behaviour, and the ecosystems they build. The college's 120-hectare reserve on the Mill Reach is your outdoor laboratory.
Fieldwork begins in your first term, and every student completes an independent research project in the final year.
- 120 haWoodland and river reserve
- 3Field courses, including one overseas
- 60%Of students join a summer research project
Course structure
The outline below shows a typical path through the course. Options change a little each year as tutors join and research moves on.
Year 1
- Cells and Genes
- Evolution
- Ecology and Conservation
- Quantitative Biology
- Field course on the Mill Reach
Year 2
- Genetics and Genomics
- Animal Behaviour
- Plant Biology
- Freshwater Ecology
- Overseas field course
Year 3
- Research project
- Options, e.g. Climate and Ecosystems, Ancient Woodland, Disease Ecology
How you will learn
You will have two tutorials a week with one or two other students, where you discuss the essay or problem set you wrote that week with a tutor. Lectures, seminars of ten to twelve students and practical classes fill the rest of the week. Each student has a personal tutor for the whole degree.
Assessment
Examinations, field notebooks, data analysis assignments and a research project.
Entry requirements
- A levels: A*AA, including Biology and one other science or Mathematics
- International Baccalaureate: 39 points, with 7 in Higher Level Biology
We make contextual offers, typically one grade lower, to applicants from schools that send few students to university. If your qualifications are not listed, the admissions office will tell you what we would expect.
Fees and funding
Tuition for 2027-28 is $38,400 a year, including college membership. Under the Aldermere Promise, students from families earning under $85,000 a year pay no tuition, and partial awards continue up to $150,000. Every undergraduate also receives a $2,000 grant each year for books, travel and equipment.
Careers
Graduates of this programme go on to a wide range of careers. Recent destinations include:
- Conservation and environment
- Healthcare and medicine
- Biotechnology
- Science communication
- Teaching
- PhD study
I spent my second summer counting beetles in the college woodland. It turned into my dissertation and my first paper.
Lena Hoffmann Third year
Questions
Can I change programme after I arrive?
Yes, at the end of the first year, if there is space on the programme you want to move to and your tutors agree. Around one student in twenty does.
Is there an interview?
Yes. Shortlisted applicants have a conversation of about twenty-five minutes with two tutors in December, in person or online. It is about how you think, not what you have memorised.
