Do Psychobiology courses count as BCPM?

[TigerLilies]

Do psychobiology courses count as BCPM? Has anyone had experience with listing this as a BCPM course in AMCAS and if so was it approved? My prof said that she would certify that it is a science course if anyone asks...

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[63768]

don't think so unless it's classified as a biology course. my biopsychology course was listed under PSYC, and even though it was as rigorous as my biochem class was, i don't think it was a part of the BCPM GPA.

 

[marg99]

i took a psychology class called psychobiology and cognition which counted as a BCPM on AMCAS. it was verified without a single question/problem.

 

[riceman04]

don't think so unless it's classified as a biology course. my biopsychology course was listed under PSYC, and even though it was as rigorous as my biochem class was, i don't think it was a part of the BCPM GPA.

haha you took that with Potts?

 

[Pinkertinkle]

No!

 

[63768]

haha you took that with Potts?

yup. potts was awesome.

 

[snowkhat]

Nope. It counts as Behavioral Science for some schools. NOT BCPM.

BCPM: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math. All have to be from their respective departments and for science majors (not nursing, EMT, etc). Neuroscience courses do count as Biology, however.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Nope. It counts as Behavioral Science for some schools. NOT BCPM.

BCPM: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math. All have to be from their respective departments and for science majors (not nursing, EMT, etc). Neuroscience courses do count as Biology, however.

Not always true. If there is more biology in the class than psychology, it can count as BCPM. Especially psych classes with "Biology" and "Neuroscience" in the title.

 

[TigerLilies]

To the people who said "no," what if my prof sends a letter certifying that it could qualify as a science course. Would that help?

thanks

 

[heeseop]

To the people who said "no," what if my prof sends a letter certifying that it could qualify as a science course. Would that help?

thanks

i'd say that would definitely help and you probably wont have much problem getting your course classified as BCPM.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

To the people who said "no," what if my prof sends a letter certifying that it could qualify as a science course. Would that help?

thanks

Not sure, but is there even a place to have the letter sent? It might help to be very consistent with the rest of your course classifications, so they don't go on a rampage correcting it.

 

[63768]

To the people who said "no," what if my prof sends a letter certifying that it could qualify as a science course. Would that help?

thanks

at this point, that would only severely delay your AMCAS being processed, assuming it hasn't. otherwise, sure why not? i doubt an additional A or whatever you received in the class will change your GPA too much. i personally think sending in a letter would be futile.

 

[Looque]

Ignore all the posts above stating that the course does not count for BCPM.

So long as you consider the course to be more aptly described as "neuroscience" than "psychology," the course falls under biological sciences, and thus counts toward your BCPM GPA for AMCAS purposes. This is irrespective of which department offers the course; AMCAS' help page states this pretty clearly. This is an excerpt from the help page:

Behavioral & Social Sciences (BESS)
· Anthropology
· Economics
· Family Studies
· Psychology
· Sociology

Biology (BIOL) - BCPM
· Anatomy
· Biology
· Biophysics
· Biotechnology
· Botany
· Cell Biology
· Ecology
· Entomology
· Genetics
· Histology
. Immunology
· Microbiology
· Molecular Biology
· Neuroscience
· Physiology

The biopsychology courses I took at my home institution were part of the neuroscience minor, and I assume yours would be similar in content. They're certainly more neuroscience than psychology, and should thus be appropriately labeled as biological sciences on your AMCAS.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

I concur

 

[Shrami]

What about a computer science class titled "theory of computation". There are a lot of undefined gray areas in all this...and the wordings they have for some of the classes at my school does not make it any easier.

 

[TigerLilies]

Ignore all the posts above stating that the course does not count for BCPM.

So long as you consider the course to be more aptly described as "neuroscience" than "psychology," the course falls under biological sciences, and thus counts toward your BCPM GPA for AMCAS purposes. This is irrespective of which department offers the course; AMCAS' help page states this pretty clearly. This is an excerpt from the help page:

Behavioral & Social Sciences (BESS)
· Anthropology
· Economics
· Family Studies
· Psychology
· Sociology

Biology (BIOL) - BCPM
· Anatomy
· Biology
· Biophysics
· Biotechnology
· Botany
· Cell Biology
· Ecology
· Entomology
· Genetics
· Histology
. Immunology
· Microbiology
· Molecular Biology
· Neuroscience
· Physiology

The biopsychology courses I took at my home institution were part of the neuroscience minor, and I assume yours would be similar in content. They're certainly more neuroscience than psychology, and should thus be appropriately labeled as biological sciences on your AMCAS.

Thanks! So have you listed them under BCPM GPA and did AMCAS accept it?

 

[zbruinz]

don't think so unless it's classified as a biology course. my biopsychology course was listed under PSYC, and even though it was as rigorous as my biochem class was, i don't think it was a part of the BCPM GPA.

why was the biopsychology course so hard? wasn't it just a psychology course with a more lenient curve distribution when compared to science classes?

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

why was the biopsychology course so hard? wasn't it just a psychology course with a more lenient curve distribution when compared to science classes?

Some of the psychobio classes at my school are required for science majors and are fairly competitive.

 

[zbruinz]

Some of the psychobio classes at my school are required for science majors and are fairly competitive.

i see...

 

[Looque]

Thanks! So have you listed them under BCPM GPA and did AMCAS accept it?

Yep and yep.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Don't be a wuss. If i were on an adcom and I saw some premed padding his BCPM gpa by including psych classes as neuroscience because of the ambiguous nature of the application I'd question his ethics.

How many med schools have you gotten into Looque, that you're qualified to give such definite answers?

 

[Nikki2002]

i included my biopsych course as a science class and it was accepted. I've heard of sociology statistics courses being accepted as math courses as well.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Don't be a wuss. If i were on an adcom and I saw some premed padding his BCPM gpa by including psych classes as neuroscience because of the ambiguous nature of the application I'd question his ethics.

How many med schools have you gotten into Looque, that you're qualified to give such definite answers?

I think that if I'm required to submit my crappy psych statistics grade, I should be able to submit my behavioral neuroscience class.

 

[TigerLilies]

Nope. It counts as Behavioral Science for some schools. NOT BCPM.

BCPM: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math. All have to be from their respective departments and for science majors (not nursing, EMT, etc). Neuroscience courses do count as Biology, however.

What do you mean by it "counts as behavioral science for only some schools?" If AMCAS accepts it as a science course and it is factored in the BCPM GPA, then wouldn't all med schools count it?

Thanks

 

[stinastina]

Ignore all the posts above stating that the course does not count for BCPM.

So long as you consider the course to be more aptly described as "neuroscience" than "psychology," the course falls under biological sciences, and thus counts toward your BCPM GPA for AMCAS purposes. This is irrespective of which department offers the course; AMCAS' help page states this pretty clearly. This is an excerpt from the help page:

Behavioral & Social Sciences (BESS)
· Anthropology
· Economics
· Family Studies
· Psychology
· Sociology

Biology (BIOL) - BCPM
· Anatomy
· Biology
· Biophysics
· Biotechnology
· Botany
· Cell Biology
· Ecology
· Entomology
· Genetics
· Histology
. Immunology
· Microbiology
· Molecular Biology
· Neuroscience
· Physiology

The biopsychology courses I took at my home institution were part of the neuroscience minor, and I assume yours would be similar in content. They're certainly more neuroscience than psychology, and should thus be appropriately labeled as biological sciences on your AMCAS.

Where does it say that you can interpret the nature of a course, regrdless of the department it is offered in ? That doesn't sound right....

 

[Misfit!]

Where does it say that you can interpret the nature of a course, regrdless of the department it is offered in ? That doesn't sound right....

It is correct. Its in some amcas handbook...can't remember where it is exactly (its online somewhere), but I've def read that before

 

[Looque]

Don't be a wuss. If i were on an adcom and I saw some premed padding his BCPM gpa by including psych classes as neuroscience because of the ambiguous nature of the application I'd question his ethics.

How many med schools have you gotten into Looque, that you're qualified to give such definite answers?

First, the gatekeeper is AMCAS, not the admissions committees at each school. That is, AMCAS are the only people who need to verify your judgment that a class is neuroscience and thus BCPM, rather than psychology. Once that verification occurs, admissions committees won't question it (unless a mistake very obviously occurred). You go through a verification process with AMCAS for a reason: so med school don't have to do it.

That said, how many med schools I've gotten into is irrelevant, especially as I'm in the middle of the application process like all of you. The only thing that is relevant is that I placed my neuroscience courses (biopsychology, advanced biopsychology and psychopharmacology, all of which were offered through the psychology department) as "Biological Sciences" and therefore BCPM, in accordance with AMCAS' help page, and was verified by AMCAS without any problems.

Read the AMCAS help page.

 

[stinastina]

Don't be a wuss. If i were on an adcom and I saw some premed padding his BCPM gpa by including psych classes as neuroscience because of the ambiguous nature of the application I'd question his ethics.

How many med schools have you gotten into Looque, that you're qualified to give such definite answers?

I would question his/her ethics, too. As I stated before, leaving the interpretation of the nature of the class up to the student is asking for trouble and as many hoops as we have to jump through for amcas, is likely a huge flaw in their system, if true.

If anyone finds that info in the handbook, please post it here.