BME UNDERGRADS: Did AMCAS count your engineering courses towards your BCPM GPA?

[ThePostureMan]

Without my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.38.
With my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.68.
Huge difference.
Some have told me flat out that engineering courses don't count towards BCPM, while others have said it depends on the "primary content" of the course (is the course primarily "BCPM content" or "engineering content"). I'm not even sure what the distinction between BCMP and engineering content is. Engineering is literally the application of math and science to solve problems; you can bet there is tons of math and science content in engineering classes.

Since no one can give me a straight answer, I'm turning to you all for anecdotal evidence. BME undergrads: did AMCAS count your engineering courses towards your BCPM GPA? All of them? Some of them? Which ones?

Thank you so much in advance!

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[Moko]

Without my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.38.
With my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.68.
Huge difference.
Some have told me flat out that engineering courses don't count towards BCPM, while others have said it depends on the "primary content" of the course (is the course primarily "BCPM content" or "engineering content"). I'm not even sure what the distinction between BCMP and engineering content is. Engineering is literally the application of math and science to solve problems; you can bet there is tons of math and science content in engineering classes.

Since no one can give me a straight answer, I'm turning to you all for anecdotal evidence. BME undergrads: did AMCAS count your engineering courses towards your BCPM GPA? All of them? Some of them? Which ones?

Thank you so much in advance!

I agree, I would have thought engineering classes were part of BCPM for the reasons you mentioned. However, per AMCAS, engineering courses should be classified as non-BCPM.

Source: AMCAS® Course Classification Guide

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

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I agree, I would have thought engineering classes were part of BCPM for the reasons you mentioned. However, per AMCAS, engineering courses should be classified as non-BCPM.

Source: AMCAS® Course Classification Guide

I can confirm the above source is accurate

 

[KnightDoc]

Without my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.38.
With my engineering courses, my BCPM GPA is a 3.68.
Huge difference.
Some have told me flat out that engineering courses don't count towards BCPM, while others have said it depends on the "primary content" of the course (is the course primarily "BCPM content" or "engineering content"). I'm not even sure what the distinction between BCMP and engineering content is. Engineering is literally the application of math and science to solve problems; you can bet there is tons of math and science content in engineering classes.

Since no one can give me a straight answer, I'm turning to you all for anecdotal evidence. BME undergrads: did AMCAS count your engineering courses towards your BCPM GPA? All of them? Some of them? Which ones?

Thank you so much in advance!

I highly recommend you check out AAMC's AMCAS Applicant Guide, which is available on its website, if you have not already done so. In it, they clearly spell out how courses are classified.

BCPM is a highly specific category that includes only includes certain classes. There are a ton of science courses that are specifically excluded from BCPM, including all Health Sciences, Natural and Physical Sciences, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering. Hope this helps.

 

[Kmani6]

You can count many of them as BCPM. If you broadly follow the AAMC’s suggested guidelines you’ll be misled into thinking they don’t count. The fine text states that any course that is majority BCPM can count (>51%). Many other BME majors have counted specific coursework in BCPM and had no issues. I’m currently applying and had zero problems either, and neither did my friend. I also called up AAMC before verification and was told that this was fine.

For example, I classified transport phenomena as a physics class. The class uses quite a bit of math, but only as a tool to understand the material. Likewise, I classified biomaterials as biology and thermodynamics as chemistry.

Basically, just because a class is required for your BME degree, doesn’t mean it automatically should fall under an engineering classification.

 

[ThePostureMan]

You can count many of them as BCPM. If you broadly follow the AAMC’s suggested guidelines you’ll be misled into thinking they don’t count. The fine text states that any course that is majority BCPM can count (>51%). Many other BME majors have counted specific coursework in BCPM and had no issues. I’m currently applying and had zero problems either, and neither did my friend. I also called up AAMC before verification and was told that this was fine.

For example, I classified transport phenomena as a physics class. The class uses quite a bit of math, but only as a tool to understand the material. Likewise, I classified biomaterials as biology and thermodynamics as chemistry.

Basically, just because a class is required for your BME degree, doesn’t mean it automatically should fall under an engineering classification.

Yes! Finally! Awesome! Thank you! I was getting worried that I'd have to do some sort of post-bacc to boost my science GPA. I'm going to PM you. Perhaps you can help me with some of these classifications?

 

[ThePostureMan]

Lets clarify all this with a definitive answer

1) the AAMC guidelines with department headings of what is and isnt BCPM are exactly that: guidelines. The department does not, repeat does not, determined BCPM status

2) courses are classified solely on course content as found in the course description of the official college catalog of the term/year the course is taken.

3) the database of virtually every college catalog for every year is maintained by the National Student Clearing House (NSCH). When verifying application AMCAS first compares entered info to official transcripts then run all courses against the NSCH database looking for key BCPM terms and coming up with a score which basically says unlikely, likely or unsure BCPM. The unsure are reviewed and determined by the verifier

4) many engineering courses can by content be considered BCPM

5) you can list as many courses BCPM as you think you can possibly stretch as there is no punishment for doing so. The verifier will change them if they dont fit (there used to be a rule 10 misclassification sent application back to applicant but that rule is gone but double check)

6) just to add even if a engineering course is considered BCPM that does not necessarily make a science course for purposes of letter of recommendation. Each school has its own standards for that

Thank you for explaining the mechanics of it @gonnif . That makes a lot of sense. I just would've hated to apply thinking my sGPA was one thing, only to find out AMCAS disagrees. According to @Kmani6 , that won't be an issue. Thank you both 🙏🏽

 

[Kmani6]

Yes! Finally! Awesome! Thank you! I was getting worried that I'd have to do some sort of post-bacc to boost my science GPA. I'm going to PM you. Perhaps you can help me with some of these classifications?

Sure! Glad I could help. I spent quite a bit of time looking into this before my cycle, myself.

 

[DoctorFate]

Most of my engineering friends basically put down any engineering course that helped their sgpa as bcpm and any course that didn't as AO.
In my case, I even classified some of my comp sci courses as bcpm because they had a decent amount of math in them. No issues for any of us, no corrections by amcas admin. Didnt affect my GPA much, but my friends went up .2, which is a game changer. Def use the system to your advantage.

 

[ThePostureMan]

Most of my engineering friends basically put down any engineering course that helped their sgpa as bcpm and any course that didn't as AO.
In my case, I even classified some of my comp sci courses as bcpm because they had a decent amount of math in them. No issues for any of us, no corrections by amcas admin. Didnt affect my GPA much, but my friends went up .2, which is a game changer. Def use the system to your advantage.

Thank you so much @DoctorFate for easing my concerns. This will definitely make applying much easier!

 

[Dumplingz]

Lets clarify all this with a definitive answer

1) the AAMC guidelines with department headings of what is and isnt BCPM are exactly that: guidelines. The department does not, repeat does not, determined BCPM status

2) courses are classified solely on course content as found in the course description of the official college catalog of the term/year the course is taken.

3) the database of virtually every college catalog for every year is maintained by the National Student Clearing House (NSCH). When verifying application AMCAS first compares entered info to official transcripts then run all courses against the NSCH database looking for key BCPM terms and coming up with a score which basically says unlikely, likely or unsure BCPM. The unsure are reviewed and determined by the verifier

4) many engineering courses can by content be considered BCPM

5) you can list as many courses BCPM as you think you can possibly stretch as there is no punishment for doing so. The verifier will change them if they dont fit (there used to be a rule 10 misclassification sent application back to applicant but that rule is gone but double check)

6) just to add even if a engineering course is considered BCPM that does not necessarily make a science course for purposes of letter of recommendation. Each school has its own standards for that

How do we know whether an engineering course that is considered BCMP qualifies as a science course for the purposes of a letter of recommendation? After looking through several medical school LoR requirements, it doesn't seem like any really define what qualifies as "science". Harvard, for example, states the following for their LoR requirements:

• At least two (2) letters should be from professors in the sciences with whom they have taken classes.
• At least one (1) letter should be written by a professor who is not in the sciences.

From what I could find, they never defined what courses qualify as "sciences". For example, I am looking to use my independent research (which I was able to get academic credit for) and a Transport and Fluids course (which is literally a physics class) as my two science letters of recommendation. Both courses are registered under the Bioengineering department, but the PreHealth department at my school is saying that they need a course registered under either the Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Physics department to qualify as a science letter of recommendation. Because both courses are heavily Biology or Physics-based, this seems completely backward to me. Can anyone provide some insight?