Prospective Students

Why SF State Bio?

We offer a broad range of opportunities, quality programs, and a large and diverse group of dedicated faculty mentors to meet diverse student needs. Located on the border of San Francisco and Daly City, our campus is central to innovative research and industry, making it the perfect place for undergraduate and graduate students to build their research and career networks.

We help you take learning into your own hands

SF State Bio has a strong commitment to experiential learning and research training for undergraduate and Masters students. Our Biology Undergraduate Research Program (BURP) allows undergrad students to earn course credit for working in a faculty member's research lab, where they contribute to discovery and scientific breakthroughs made right here in the building. Our Masters of Science Program is research-centric, providing training and hands-on experience in cutting edge science supported by millions of dollars of active funding from federal and foundation research grants. Students can also conduct research with our affiliated faculty at the California Academy of Sciences, the EOS (Ecological and Ocean Science) Center in Tiburon, at local biotech companies like Genentech, and with partner labs at UCSF. 

Instruction designed to support your growth

Our curricula are designed to support learning for all students from diverse backgrounds. Our faculty are trained in the latest pedagogical techniques that center active enquiry and deep engagement with scientific concepts. We offer many small classes; upper division lecture classes average around 30-35 students, most of our labs are capped at 20, and our graduate seminars average 8-10 students, allowing students to form meaningful, personal relationships with our faculty. And unlike many large research-intensive universities where most instruction is done by teaching assistants and graduate students, at SF State Bio our world-class faculty are the ones in the classrooms, teaching everything from first-semester, Introductory Biology to our upper-division seminars and labs. In addition to our research-active, tenure-line faculty, we also have outstanding, highly-trained instructional faculty who have dedicated their careers to teaching and mentoring students. 

Our classrooms, labs and core facilities allow students to hone their skills on state-of-the-art equipment and resources. We offer a wide range of specialty laboratory classes that include field work, original research projects designed by class students, or projects conducted in our greenhouse, seawater facility, microscopy core or genomics core. For pre-med students we offer a cadaver-based Human Anatomy lab, giving our students access to training more commonly restricted to medical and nursing schools.

Our fellowships are more than just financial support

Our competitive fellowships, administered through the Student Enrichment Opportunities (SEO) office, provide tuition support, research placements and career training for undergraduate and graduate students through various funded programs, many of them tailored toward students who are from historically excluded groups, first-in-family college-goers and others who have faced barriers to their success. 

We're right in the middle of all the best of the Bay Area

SF State's location is unrivaled; we're on the edge of the city close to the ocean, with beautiful landscapes within walking distance of campus and all the best of the Biotech industry that makes the Bay Area famous right on our doorstep. Our campus location offers a wonderful opportunity for students interested in ecology, evolution and conservation to get out in the field and practice their trade. We have unique marine ecosystems right on our doorstep. Our proximity to the biotech hubs in South San Francisco and other close-by areas means easy access to training, internships and employment opportunities. And for students interested in biomedicine and health careers, our research-active faculty and partnerships with UCSF offer unparalleled research and training opportunities.