by our College Data Analytics TeamThe main focus area for this major is Biology Studies. For more details on this concentration, visit its profile page.
General Biology is a major offered under the biological and biomedical sciences program of study at James Madison University. Here, you’ll find out more about the major bachelor’s degree program in biology, including such details as the number of graduates, diversity of students, and more.
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If you're having trouble deciding which school is best for you, you may want to check out our many college rankings. JMU was ranked #123 on College Factual's most recent list of the best schools for biology majors. This puts the bachelor's program at the school solidly in the top 15% of all colleges and universities in the country. It is also ranked #6 in Virginia.
Here are some of the other rankings for JMU.
During the 2019-2020 academic year, part-time undergraduate students at JMU paid an average of $804 per credit hour if they came to the school from out-of-state. In-state students paid a discounted rate of $241 per credit hour. The average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates are shown in the table below.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $7,250 | $23,564 |
| Fees | $5,080 | $5,666 |
| Books and Supplies | $1,082 | $1,082 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $11,348 | $11,348 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $4,020 | $4,020 |
Learn more about JMU tuition and fees.
You may also want to consider how much in student loans you’ll need when thinking about the overall cost to attend a school. Biology students who received their bachelor’s degree at JMU took out an average of $21,227 in student loans. That is 9% lower than the national average of $23,366.
The median early career salary of biology students who receive their bachelor’s degree from JMU is $29,092 per year. That is 5% higher than the national average of $27,753.
Online degrees for the JMU biology bachelor’s degree program are not available at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the JMU Online Learning page.
Women made up around 64.5% of the biology students who took home a bachelor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is in the same ballpark of the nationwide number of 66.0%.
Around 20.3% of biology bachelor’s degree recipients at JMU in 2019-2020 were awarded to racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 43%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 9 |
| Black or African American | 8 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 9 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 1 |
| White | 148 |
| International Students | 1 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 21 |
General Biology students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Biology Studies | 197 |
You may also be interested in one of these majors related to general biology.
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Biotechnology | 20 |
View All General Biology Related Majors >
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
