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 California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. 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.
If there’s something special you’re looking for, you can use one of the links below to find it:
If you're having trouble deciding which school is best for you, you may want to check out our many college rankings. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is in the top 10% of the country for biology. More specifically it was ranked #56 out of 983 schools by College Factual. It is also ranked #9 in California.
Here are some of the other rankings for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
The average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates are shown in the table below.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $5,742 | $17,622 |
| Fees | $4,329 | $8,349 |
| Books and Supplies | $888 | $888 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $15,694 | $15,694 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $2,190 | $2,190 |
Learn more about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo tuition and fees.
One way to think about how much a school will cost is to look at how much in student loans that you have to take out to get your degree. Biology students who received their bachelor’s degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo took out an average of $21,000 in student loans. That is 10% lower than the national average of $23,366.
biology who receive their bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo make an average of $35,060 a year during the early days of their career. That is 26% higher than the national average of $27,753.
Online degrees for the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 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 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Online Learning page.
Women made up around 67.0% 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%.
Racial-ethnic minority graduates* made up 35.5% of the biology bachelor’s degrees at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2019-2020. This is lower than the nationwide number of 43%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 19 |
| Black or African American | 4 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 33 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 120 |
| International Students | 0 |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology | 37 |
| Microbiological Sciences & Immunology | 27 |
*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.
