Science GPA question

<p>So, I was looking at the medical school applications, and I saw that the science GPA section consists of Physics, Math, Chemistry, and Bio. My college designates certain courses as "science" like some of the Psychology classes. Would those Psych classes and other things designated by my college (a fairly well known institution) count towards my science GPA?</p>

<p>Psychology does not go into BCPM GPA. How your college designates courses doesn’t matter. See pages 59-64 on <a href=“http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2009instructionmanual061208.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2009instructionmanual061208.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Well with psychology it kind of depends. If your psychology classes are crosslisted as biology or neuroscience/neurobiology then they go into the BCPM category. </p>

<p>I believe stuff like “Statistical Principles of Psychology” can also count, but that’s somewhat iffy. Some people have labeled that as BCPM and gotten no grief, others have had it changed back to the “All Other” category.</p>

<p>You can get away with putting certain psych classes into your BCPM. Psychobiology, neuroscience, and psychopharmacology are all offered in the psych department at my school, but I have friends who were able to include them in their BCPM.</p>

<p>Basically, if the course is really heavy in biology, and that comes across in the title, it should be ok. But courses like Abnormal and Social psych are a no-go.</p>

<p>As was stated above, my neuroscience/psychobiology type classes were counted into my BCPM.</p>

<p>hey quick question related to gpa:</p>

<p>when medical schools talk about average gpa, are they considering the bcpm gpa or the overall gpa? like, which one is used to “screen” applicants (which is the one first looked at)? what if there’s a disparity in both GPAs (overall is high and bcpm is low)?</p>

<p>Pretty sure screening is based on overall GPA.</p>

<p>If there’s any screening to be done, it’s probably done based on overall GPA. But, just know that the science and overall GPA’s of successful med school applicants are not that different (if you look at the MSAR, you will see that there is usually a diff. of less than 0.1 b/w the science and overall GPA’s at most schools).</p>

<p>when schools present data of average matriculant/acceptee gpa, is that overall or bcpm?</p>

<p>^ they give both</p>

<p>i am a public health major…
could someone please help clarify if the following courses are bcpm or not:</p>

<p>1) Introduction to Epidemiology
2) Public Health Microbiology
3) Community Health and Human Development
4) Introduction of Probability and Statistics in Public Health</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>1 & 3 - no</p>

<p>2 - probably not, but sometimes you can get by with some checkers</p>

<p>4 - I’ve seen people get credits and other not, so not sure.</p>

<p>is there a way of checking “officially?”</p>

<p>Here’s a list of courses.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062622791-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062622791-post2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>How about a seminar? The purpose of the seminar is to introduce would-be science students to various branches of sciences, mostly in biology, physics and chemistry. The course is listed under a virual “Science” department – This department exists mainly for providing this course only; its professors are from various science departments. At the end of the year, the students write a 15-page paper and most of the grade depends on the quality of the submitted paper. Also, a research stipend is guaranteed for a summer research following this two-semester class. </p>

<p>Would this course be classified as a BCPM course?</p>

<p>The topics of the bi-weekly lectures:</p>

<p>The Evolution of Structural Color in Feathers
MicroRNA’s in Development & Aging
Atmospheric Dynamics & Climate Change
RNA Catalysis
Quantum Money, Information, and Computation
Supermassive Black Holes
Genetics of Hypertension
Structure of Water
Olfaction
Soft Matter
RNA Folding
Radiation Pressure</p>

<p>Judging by that list (which I have seen before), wouldn’t #2 and 4 be definite BCPM? Im hoping Epi also makes it into BCPM</p>

<p>The issue is that public health is not BPCM. The only reason why #2 and #4 would even be considered to be BPCM is that they contain components (microbio and stats) that traditionally belong to BPCM categories (bio and math, respectively). It’s a tug of war b/w the course category (which is not BPCM) and the course title (which implies BPCM) and hence there is ambiguity.</p>

<p>AMCAS tends to emphasize department title above all else, which you haven’t given us here.</p>

<p>they are all public health department</p>

<p>I don’t think any of them will count. The process is a little unpredictable, but I think you have pretty low odds on any of them.</p>