![Campus green, students gathered — Landing page imagery, campus life hero.](/sites/default/files/2026-01/Campus_Green_Gathering_Wide.png?alternateWidths=/sites/default/files/styles/canvas_parametrized_width--%7Bwidth%7D/public/2026-01/Campus_Green_Gathering_Wide.png.avif%3Fitok%3DDNgl6xnk) Case Study # Marine Biology The foundational degree in marine life, and the route into most of the graduate work that follows it. Field work starts in the first year. [ Start an application ](/standard-page/how-to-apply) [ Download the handbook ](/standard-page/admissions) Marine Biology is the largest program at Northmoor and the one most people mean when they write to ask about studying the ocean. It is a full biology degree taught in a marine setting: cells, genetics, evolution and ecology, with the organisms and the water they live in supplying the examples throughout. You will be in the field in your first year. Students in this program spend nights at Prentice Coastal Field Station from the first spring, walking transects that have been surveyed continuously since 2004, and the courses that involve the most cold water fill first every year. ## What you study The first two years build the core: introductory marine biology, general oceanography, environmental science foundations, and invertebrate zoology. The third and fourth years open out into fish biology, marine botany, reef ecology and molecular ecology, with room for courses from the aquaculture and policy programs. The molecular strand is worth flagging because it is where the field is moving. Environmental DNA lets a liter of seawater stand in for a survey, and learning both what that delivers and where it quietly fails is a genuinely marketable thing to be able to do. ## Where it leads Graduates go into environmental consulting, state and federal agency science, aquaculture, education, and graduate study. The last is the largest single destination, and it is worth being direct about why. **Several specializations at Northmoor are graduate programs, not undergraduate ones.** Marine mammal science is the clearest case. If that is what you want to do, this degree is the route: it gives you the population biology and statistics that the master's program assumes you already have. Students who arrive wanting marine mammals and leave four years later doing exactly that are a normal outcome, not a redirection. ## What to expect Cold water and early starts. Tide work does not respect a timetable, and a good deal of the field schedule is set by the moon rather than by the registrar. Students who come to visit in February tend to know what they are signing up for. ## Curriculum MBIO 101 [Introduction to Marine Biology](/course/introduction-to-marine-biology)The first-year foundation in marine life: cells, inheritance, evolution and the diversity of organisms, with the local shoreline as the standing example. 1 OCEA 110 [Introduction to Oceanography](/course/introduction-to-oceanography)The ocean as a physical, chemical, geological and biological system. Taken by students across every program here. 1 ENVS 140 [Environmental Science Foundations](/course/environmental-science-foundations)The systems view: energy, matter, populations and the human pressures acting on all three, with coastal examples throughout. 1 MBIO 210 [Invertebrate Zoology](/course/invertebrate-zoology)The major invertebrate groups, their body plans and their ecology, taught largely through specimens collected on the shore. 1 MBIO 240 [Marine Botany and Algae](/course/marine-botany-and-algae)Marine plants and algae, from microscopic phytoplankton to seagrass meadows, and the habitats they build. 1 MBIO 320 [Fish Biology](/course/fish-biology)The biology of fishes, from physiology and life history to the population processes that fisheries management depends on. 1 MBIO 350 [Coral Reef Ecology](/course/coral-reef-ecology)Reef ecosystems, the symbiosis that builds them, and what the last three decades of disturbance have shown about recovery. 1 MBIO 410 [Marine Molecular Ecology](/course/marine-molecular-ecology)Molecular methods in marine ecology, including environmental DNA, and an unusually careful account of what those methods do not deliver. 1.5 ## Common questions ### Click to expand accordion Is housing guaranteed for first-year students? Yes, for all students entering directly from high school. Transfer students are housed as space allows, and the waitlist usually clears by mid-July. [Housing and residence life](#) ### Click to expand accordion How do I get between campuses? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### Click to expand accordion What is the weather actually like? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### Click to expand accordion What if I get seasick? Accordion content - Officiis porta iusto luctus maecenas ultricies libero quisquam commodi do sequi facilisis, accusamus aut? Sapien dignissim nascetur nesciunt phasellus eros dis cupidatat tempor egestas cillum eveniet lobortis, sunt eos tellus atque quaerat, voluptatem exercitationem voluptatibus nesciunt, eveniet in dicta quae. ### At a glance Credential awardedBS Degree levelundergraduate Program length4 years Start termsfall ## Program Lead ![Admissions officer portrait, admissions office background — Person `person_portrait`.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Admissions_officer_portrait_admissions_office.png.avif?itok=dM7J87kC) ### Dr. Aisha Tanaka Professor of Marine Ecology ![Early-career lecturer portrait, outdoor courtyard background — Person `person_portrait`.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Early_career_lecturer_portrait_courtyard.png.avif?itok=IF0OSYtY) ### Dr. Marcus Obi Associate Professor of Biology Related ## Other programs ![Aquaculture hero — shellfish longline harvest — Program imagery, fisheries/aquaculture cluster.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Aquaculture_Shellfish_Longline_Harvest.png.avif?itok=ENn26BKC) BS ### Aquaculture and Fisheries Growing seafood and managing wild stocks, taught as one subject because in practice nobody works on only one of them. - 4 years - Undergraduate Starts Fall [](/program/aquaculture-and-fisheries) ![Coastal engineering hero — wave flume laboratory test — Program imagery, coastal engineering cluster.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Coastal_Engineering_Wave_Flume_Laboratory.png.avif?itok=qojyztQ4) MS ### Marine Mammal Science A research master's in marine mammal population assessment. This is a graduate program — the route in for undergraduates is a bachelor's degree in marine biology first. - 2 years - Graduate Starts Fall [](/program/marine-mammal-science) ## Come and see the tidal flats for yourself Open days run four times a year, and the Wrightsville tour always includes the field station. [ Book an open day ](/standard-page/visit-campus) [ Contact the department ](/standard-page/contact-us)