UGalapagosBio is a study-abroad program that couples small, intensive courses with a deep immersion in a foreign culture. Biology's Fall term program focuses on terrestrial ecosystems in mainland Ecuador, including the Amazon and Paramo (Highlands) and San Cristobal, Galapagos. This program is unique as it provides the opportunity for hands-on learning through interactive lectures, field trips and hands-on research projects
Students live with local families and engage directly, for a full academic term, in multiple environments in Ecuador. You will begin with a month on the Ecuadorian mainland, where you will actively study the Amazon as well as the Cloud Forest and Highlands of the Andes. Then, for the rest of the term, you will live and learn in the unique environment of Galapagos islands, widely studied as the craddle for Darwin's theory of Natural Selection. You can easily discriminate and study diçifferent ecosystems, from a mangrove fringe to a low arid zone of desert-like plants, an intermediate zone of arid forests and at higher elevations humid zones of tropical grasslands and forests. This accessibility enhances learning so that lectures merge directly into field work and back to analysis, assessment, and writing. The UGalapagosBio program provides you with an open laboratory for critical thinking.
BIOLOGY MAJORS MEET WRI, LAB/FIELD AND ECOLOGY CORE REQUIREMENTS
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- Ecology core requirement
- Requirement for three BIL lab/field courses
- Three writing credits (WRI)
- Six BIL course electives
Sequential courses offer a total of 17 life-changing credits, 16 in BIL
- BIL elective, Tropical Ecology, 3 credits
- BIL elective, Island Biogeography, 3 credits
- BIL elective, Behavioral Ecology in the Galapagos*, 3 credits
- BIL elective, Herpetology of the Galapagos*, WRI, 3 credits
- BIL elective, Ecology and Evolution in the Galapagos*, WRI, 3 credits
- BIL elective, Writing about Nature in the Galapagos*, WRI, 1 credit
- Spanish language conversation, 1 general credit (optional)
*Courses are taught by UM faculty*, giving you an opportunity to score outstanding letters of recommendation!
APPLICATIONS
For the UGalapagosBio Fall program, the application deadline is March 1, but there is also an early decision application deadline of November 21 for those students who wish to secure acceptance in the Fall semester.
Students who wish to apply early may do so by emailing all of the following to Dr. Uy (floriamk@bio.miami.edu) and Erica Moussa (ejolman@miami.edu):
- 1) An unofficial transcript
- 2) An essay that explains why you want to participate in the proposed international program through the University of Miami. What academic, career, and personal goals will the program fulfill? Your statement should be between 300 and 700 words.
Early decision applicants are invited to interview for the program between November 28 and December 2, and are notified of their admission status soon after. Students who miss the early application cycle will be invited to apply through the online application system from early January through March 1. Please complete all online application requirements, as incomplete applications cannot be considered for acceptance into the program.
