Quebec students can receive up to
$20,000 in scholarships for this program

Full-time students who are residents of Quebec and enroll in this program can apply for the Bourses Perspective Scholarship, a guaranteed $2,500 per successful term.

Computer Science and Biology


Overview

Life Sciences are becoming increasingly quantitative, analytical, and integrative. This program will train you in the fundamentals of biology - with a focus on molecular biology - and will give you the computational and mathematical skills needed to manage, analyze, and model large biological datasets.

The joint major in Computer Science and Biology provides you with an opportunity to learn the basics of both computer science and biology and to appreciate the intricacies involved in their joint application. The program trains you in the fundamentals of biology and gives you the appropriate computational and mathematical maturity to pursue a multidisciplinary career.

Two integrative features of the program are a three-credit joint independent studies course, and a one-credit seminar. Pursuing this unique program at McGill will offer you a solid training in two increasingly interconnected fields.


Careers

A degree in computer science and biology can come in handy in a huge variety of fields/industries. Graduates of the program have gone into a wide range of careers, from big tech companies to medical and other graduate schools. Many employers seek graduates with an integrated background in both biology and computer science, and this degree offers just that. Having skills in computer science and knowledge in biology are great assets.

You could work in:

  • Computational genomics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Computational neuroscience
  • Biomodelling
  • Computational anatomy

Student experience

The advantage of a joint program like CS Bio is that there are lots of different resources to benefit from within both departments! Trottier 3090 is home to the CSUS Helpdesk for help with your computer science courses, and there are advisors from both departments (Nancy Nelson for biology, and Liette Chin for computer science) to help with course selection and any issues you may have.

Both departments have a wide variety of exciting talks and colloquia. The student societies for computer science (CSUS), biology (MBSU), and integrative biosciences (MIBS) organize and advertise all sorts of events and resources throughout the year.

Ready to apply?

For this program, you'll need to apply to the Faculty of Science in the Bio-Physical-Computational Sciences group.

See the full eligibility information for more information about deadlines and required documents for your application.

Back to top