This topic is covered in more detail in the Department's Information for Students packet.

Required Courses

Specific course requirements are listed in the Information for Students packet, and are shown with indicated prerequisites on the various curriculum flowcharts:

Elective Courses

Elective courses must be selected to meet the following requirements:

CORE Requirements for CHBE Students

Montana State University requires all MSU students to meet certain general education requirements, called the CORE requirements. Many CORE categories are automatically covered by required courses in the curricula, but one CORE course must be selected in each of the following CORE areas:

  • D - Diversity
  • IA - Inquiry Arts
  • IH - Inquiry Humanities
  • IS - Inquiry Social Sciences
  • US - University Seminar
  • W - Writing

Writing Course Exemption Policy

CHBE students must be aware that there are University, College, and Department policies on exemption from the CORE writing requirement:

  1. University: A student with a high score on an ACT, SAT, or MUS Writing exam may be declared exempt from the CORE writing requirement.
  2. College: Students declared exempt by the University are not required to take a course with a "W" designation, but are required to take a writing course.
  3. Department: For CHBE students, the following courses have been pre-approved to satisfy the College writing course requirement:
    • Any course with a CORE 'W' designation
    • One year of Texts and Critics (UH 201US and UH 202. Note: If UH 202 is used to satisfy the writing requirement, it cannot also be used to satisfy the CORE 'IH' requirement - no double counting)
    • Any WRIT course
    • Any LIT course with a significant writing component

Other courses may be considered, but students should have them approved by a Department Certifying Officer before registering for the course.

Technical Electives

Most CHE and BioE majors take 11 credits of technical electives, but course substitutions can change the number of required technical elective credits. Dual majors (CHE/BioE) typically have no technical electives in their programs.

Bioengineering Electives

Bioengineering and Dual (CHE/BioE) majors typically take 9 credits of bioengineering electives, but course substitutions can change the number of required bioengineering elective credits.