AMCAS and AACOMAS engineering course classification

[petomed]

Mech. Eng. degree, tons of coursework with titles MECH and ENGR representing things like Statics, Dynamics, Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, etc. Looks like a lot more of these get categorized into the AACOMAS classification of sciences gpa vs. the AMCAS app. Plus the AACOMAS sciences gpa doesn't include math. I did very well in all math courses but mediocre at best with my engineering coursework. This results in a very poor AACOMAS gpa compared to AMCAS. I'm really hoping my interpretation of the AACOMAS shakedown is wrong, any insights?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ladygatorfl]

I'm not sure on AACOMAS, but mech eng here too and almost all of my engineering courses just went into engineering and not into the science or math. I did throw a couple of the engineering math courses that were more math based (we had an engineering analysis course that was extension almost of diff eq plus calc II...I just remember lots of fourier transforms) in BCPM and AMCAS agreed with my declaration. I probably could have included another one or two, but didn't get A's in those so left them as all other.

 

[DocJanItor]

Mech. Eng. degree, tons of coursework with titles MECH and ENGR representing things like Statics, Dynamics, Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, etc. Looks like a lot more of these get categorized into the AACOMAS classification of sciences gpa vs. the AMCAS app. Plus the AACOMAS sciences gpa doesn't include math. I did very well in all math courses but mediocre at best with my engineering coursework. This results in a very poor AACOMAS gpa compared to AMCAS. I'm really hoping my interpretation of the AACOMAS shakedown is wrong, any insights?

Former Mech. Engineer here as well. I put almost all engineering classes into sciences/physics. AMCAS generally gives you a pretty wide berth for these classifications. Thermo, Statics, Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Internal Combustion Engines, Kinematics all got put in the science classification. The only things that didn't were labs, engineering project courses, and (not that I can really recall now) anything that was more practical vs theory based.

 

[petomed]

Former Mech. Engineer here as well. I put almost all engineering classes into sciences/physics. AMCAS generally gives you a pretty wide berth for these classifications. Thermo, Statics, Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Internal Combustion Engines, Kinematics all got put in the science classification. The only things that didn't were labs, engineering project courses, and (not that I can really recall now) anything that was more practical vs theory based.

That's what AACOMAS seems to want for classifying the engineering coursework. My issue is that the bulk of my engineering coursework will bring down my AMCAS BCMP gpa if tossed in there, because I didn't ace those classes.

Given the latitude you described with AMCAS classifications, do you think it would slide to classify as many engineering classes as possible as 'All Other'? I understand classes like thermodynamics and fluid mechanics may be tough to get away with but others like hvac and circuit theory may work.

 

[DocJanItor]

I think you could put just about all of them into all other if you choose. The fact of the matter is that 90% of people have no idea what engineers do or study, and they'll be happy to keep it that way. As long as you categorize them consistently, I don't think you'll have any issues.