AMCAS Course stuff AAAAAAAH!

1) Yes, I think it is Ok to change the course name slightly, just as long as it is recongnizeable when comparing with the official transcript.

2) If you can fit it, you can put the department name. However, the "department" will show up when you classify the course as biology, chemistry, health, behavioral sciences, etc. So it is not always needed. If you put 227 or BCH 227 neither mean anything to me nor do I think they will mean anything to the medical schools.

3) Yes, put the grade you earned. There was an option for withdraw last year. I don't know if there was an option for withdraw passing. You might just have to choose withdraw in this case.

4) You can include the D in the course number I wouldn't bother putting it in the course title. This may confuse the AMCAS personnel that are verifying your application.

5) Actually the AMCAS summary will read BIOL 210 Individual Study since you will choose the Biology category for this course. I don't think you could fit Neurobio210 in the field for the course number. I think it would be Ok just to use Neurobiology Individual Study for the course title.

Good luck...

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> 5) Actually the AMCAS summary will read BIOL 210 Individual Study since you will choose the Biology category for this course. I don't think you could fit Neurobio210 in the field for the course number. I think it would be Ok just to use Neurobiology Individual Study for the course title.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, when I called AMCAS about this, they said that research/independent studies in any subject should be reported as "other." I think this is because independent research usually isn't as tough as the pre-med lecture courses
Btw, I'm in the same boat, I have 12 credits of Neuroscience research.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> not as tough eh?
I put in way more, in terms of hours and energy, for my independent study than I did for most of the lecture sciences I took. I always thought we are supposed to put those courses as Bio. Are you saying that if you designate Bio, the AMCAS people will change it? That is lame...
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ok, I agree, research can definitely take up a lot of time and energy. But I think the purpose of the whole BCPM thing is to get a somewhat standardized assessment of ability in science lecture courses (ie, ones you take tests in and are graded relative to others). I think that is what the "specialist" was implying when I contacted AMCAS, and yes, she also said they would change the designation later. But she could have been wrong; I plan on contacting them again before I submit.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Bounty:
<strong>Just to give you an update...
My friend called AMCAS yesterday and the woman told him that we should put independent study under BIO (or whatever it is most closely related to) and that it does count in our BCPM GPA. I dont know why the two people gave such different responses but I might try calling again next week to make sure.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You'll probably just get a 3rd answer, based on experience from last year. Just do what you think is most reasonable, and you probably won't have any problem. Ah, I take that back, with AMCAS you'll likely have multiple problems, but they probably won't be the ones you're anticipating!!

 

Are there any delays if the decide to change stuff? I figure it's best to take my chances in designating as Bio (I did independent study in Neuroscience), and possibly boosting my SGPA. But I won't do it if it's going to cause a lot of delays and headaches...

 

If they don't like the way you designate something, they'll just change it during the verification process. It might cause a day or so delay, but nothing major. Last year the main problem was just getting them to 1) find the transcripts you mailed to them multiple times because they kept saying they'd received nothing and 2) actually do their job of comparing transcripts to AMCAS application. Once you were in the verification process, things seemed to move relatively smoothly.