Cognitive/Abnormal Psych

[Doc2be20]

I've gone through so many threads about this- some people say they put them as science and they're approved, others say it gets changed to nonsci. I'm applyin both AMCAS and TMDAS, would something happen to me if I but them both down as Bio? Would I get penalized. Since some people are able to keep them as science, I wanted to make sure it was okay.

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[mcatjelly]

I could ~maybe~ see cognitive psych counting as biology, but definitely not abnormal psych unless it went into considerable depth of the science behind the disorders.

 

[Doc2be20]

I could ~maybe~ see cognitive psych counting as biology, but definitely not abnormal psych unless it went into considerable depth of the science behind the disorders.

They both were probably 90% bio, 10% psych, so I probably will just classify them as bcpm, and like @gonnif said, if they change them at least I won't be penalized.

 

[smr]

I did not realize anything taught in the psychology department could be considered a science course. I completed cognitive psychology and also a class called physiological psychology, which was basically just a behavioral neuroscience course that was mostly anatomy/physiology of the brain. Do you think these courses should be classified as bcpm?

 

[Doc2be20]

I did not realize anything taught in the psychology department could be considered a science course. I completed cognitive psychology and also a class called physiological psychology, which was basically just a behavioral neuroscience course that was mostly anatomy/physiology of the brain. Do you think these courses should be classified as bcpm?

I've gone through a bunch of threads, and about half got some psych classes approved as bcpm, and the other half got them changed back. I figure the worst they can do is change the back.

 

[AirplaneFruit]

There is no longer any penalty for 10 or more misclassifications

(AMCAS instructions p39) Applications are not returned for incorrect course classifications.

So we should basically just try as hard as possible to game our sGPAs? Putting classes we get B's in as non-science even if they're in the Bio department and putting Psych courses with A's as BCPM? That way if they overlook something we "get away" with a higher sGPA?

Sounds a bit silly

 

[Doc2be20]

So we should basically just try as hard as possible to game our sGPAs? Putting classes we get B's in as non-science even if they're in the Bio department and putting Psych courses with A's as BCPM? That way if they overlook something we "get away" with a higher sGPA?

Sounds a bit silly

LMAO seriously? No one is getting away with anything- if they don't like the classification, they change it. Some psych classes are enough bio that AMCAS has in the past classified them as bcpm. Sorry that bothers you.

 

[bahdahboom]

I did not realize anything taught in the psychology department could be considered a science course. I completed cognitive psychology and also a class called physiological psychology, which was basically just a behavioral neuroscience course that was mostly anatomy/physiology of the brain. Do you think these courses should be classified as bcpm?

My physiological psych class counted towards BCPM

 

[CHoge25]

There is no longer any penalty for 10 or more misclassifications

(AMCAS instructions p39) Applications are not returned for incorrect course classifications.

Do you think a class titled "Research Methods in Psychology" could be counted as BCPM? It was essentially a research/stats class

 

[CHoge25]

No, it is a "process class" and not primarily content in BCPM

Okay thank you! I have 5 more classes that were under Psych that I was going to put at BCPM, I think the first 3 would be science but what about the last two?
1) Cognitive Psychology
2) Physiological Psychology
3) Behavioral Genetics & Individual Differences
4) Psychology of Health & Illness
5)Psychology of Adult & Aging

 

[GrapesofRath]

I had three roommates last year who applied who all took cognitive psych. All got it counted for their BCPM GPA. One also took abnormal psych and got it to count as well. In general read through all of posts on here, talk to alot of previous applicants and youll often find AMCAS tends to give you more of a benefit of the doubt on these things than SDN might suggest. Worst comes to worst they change the classifications but you have a good shot for both counting. Ive certainly seen more questionable courses being put as BCPM and AMCAS letting it slide.

 

[GrapesofRath]

AMCAS has changed the rules so it no longer returns applications with significant number of misclassifications. They have also shortened the verification window processing time as I believe they have now linked to the National Student Clearing House system which searches and/or store virtually all college catalogs in the country. Furthermore, making an educated guess on how they have implemented the system, each primary application runs thru software that compares all courses and titled listed to descriptions in the linked college catalogs. This likely has a rules-based/knowledge-based engine that "scores" each listed course at to BCPM or OA as a percentage of likelihood. This may check things like department, terms in the description, etc. It would have various levels of "flags" say score of 75% is automatically accepted, score of 74%-51% need human checking with course in question and its college catalog description popping up automatically for review and , scores of 50% or less gets automatically reclassified. We shall see how this new system works

It will be interesting. Clearly they are trying to reduce the time spent on going through course classifications.

On one hand, a faster system might be more strict and not provide the opportunity to "let courses slide one way". On the other hand, this might highlight they simply dont think course classifications are a priority worth spending significant time analyzing. In turn maybe they are just "conceding" or acknowledging a few borderline courses an applicant might want as science arent something they see as a major issue worth the time to investigate, particularly given for an average applicant really there might only be say 2 courses that are borderline and up in the air. That will hardly impact the GPA much.

It's also worth pointing out psychology has gained prominence with it now being on the MCAT and the buzzword everybody in admission loves throwing around these days is "competency based admission". This could also indicate a change in how they view psych courses, their importance in pre-med education, and how important they really think it is to make each GPA as precisely accurate as possible to the 0.01 decimal point by analyzing a borderline classification here and there.

If I had to guess perhaps it might be a little bit of both. In some cases they might be more strict than in the past with an automatic algorithm. But in others, it might benefit the applicant.

 

[CHoge25]

Sorry to derail the thread again but there is probably no chance of getting an ENG3100 class titled "Writing about the Enviornment" basedon BCPM? Essentially we just read and discussed scientific papers about what was going on in the environment (fracking, etc) and wrote papers about it

 

[Neuro244]

My physiological psych class counted towards BCPM

If your class was intro to physiological psychology, but on your transcript it's listed as "General Psychology 2", would AMCAS move this back into behavioral sciences, and/or would you be able to challenge it by sending them a syllabus or a description of the class?

 

[Neuro244]

Verification isnt based on the course title or department but on the official college course catalog description for the term you took the class. This is done as a partly automated system that links to the NSCH (Nat'l Student Clearing House) which has the most comprehensive searchable database of these descriptions. It likely runs along the lines of: 1) verification system goes out and grabs the description via the course number and colleg; 2) descriptions get run through a knowledgebase with rules, words, phrases that scores based on ratio/prevalence of these words, phrases ; 3) it returns a score a that either is clearly BCPM (say above .80), clearly not BCPM (say below .40) and if in between pops up the course description so the verifies can decide. There is a process to appeal the decisions that is outlined in the applicant guide

Ah I see. Where in the applicant guide would it be listed, as I am looking through it now? Also, do you happen to know how often students tend to win their appeal when sending in let's say a syllabus for the class which has a course description, versus AMCAS having the last say?

 

[deleted916225]

I took an abnormal psych class that covered the neurological pathways, transmitters, genetic risks, physical effects, and treatments of the psychological disorders, so I hope that would count for BCPM.

 

[deleted916225]

What is the official college course catalog description?

Upon reflection, I don't think this would count sadly :/

Course Catalog Description:
Diagnosis, classification, etiologies of behavioral disorders. prereq: 1001
Class Description:
Course Description This course will introduce students to a multidimensional approach to conceptualizing various types of psychological disorders. During this course, students will be responsible for learning basic descriptive psychopathology as described in the DSM-IV-TR as well as descriptive information including prevalence rates, ages of onset, and cultural differences. An introductory overview to some of the causes and treatments of psychopathology will be provided to the extent that it helps students understand the various mental disorders.