Engineering and sGPA

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Sinusoidal Wave

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
So i have looked on the aamc website for the courses that count under a science GPA. Thermodynamics counts under chemistry for sGPA, but I was wondering whether a bio medical engineering thermodynamics and a mechanical engineering thermodynamics class would count towards the sGPA.

Thanks!
 
Categorize it as you see fit... you took the course after all. The worse that can happen is they change it on you. There are zero other repercussions, that's what you pay for when you get the app verified.
 
I didn't put any class called "MECH xxx" as a science course, regardless of whether the material was totally sciencey or more applied/engineering-related. This might not have been the best idea, though.
 
So i have looked on the aamc website for the courses that count under a science GPA. Thermodynamics counts under chemistry for sGPA, but I was wondering whether a bio medical engineering thermodynamics and a mechanical engineering thermodynamics class would count towards the sGPA.

Thanks!

Engineering courses aren't BCPM, so they don't count under sGPA.
 
You can probably classify it as chemistry to get a GPA boost if you did well, or as engineering to avoid bringing your GPA down if you didnt.

I'm picking and choosing my engineering class listings as science or non science based on the advice that i've received from others. dont hate the player, hate the game ;D

I did this last cycle it worked out pretty well. Lemme find my AMCAS to show an example of some of the classes since most people think any engineering class wont count as science, but it did for me.
 
I'm excluding the basic prereq classes.

Counted as engineering for me:
Plant Design
Process Dynamics and Controls
Transport Phenomena
Chem Eng Thermo
Material and Energy Balances
Thermo
Mass Transfer

Counted as science for me:
Chemical Engineering Lab
Engineering of Biological Science
Fate and Transport of Chemicals
Intro to Material Science
Reaction Engineering
Numerical Methods for Chemical Engineers

It seemed the "Core" Chem E classes counted as engineering and the more sciency or elective ones counted as science. Yes this is a n=1 but put classes u did the best as science and worst comes to worst they change it. Posted this to help people since when I was trying to figure this out I couldnt find any info on it.
 
Last edited:
Did AMCAS change any that you listed as BCPM? I'm really trying to add my A only ENGR classes as science, and I wonder if I can sneak in some that probably wouldn't qualify (IE Environmental Engineering & Policy)

I'm not sure I remember correctly but I think I added transport, thermo, and chem e thermo as science and it got changed to ENGI

And put a science course in there. U may be able to sneak it in. Worse comes to worse they change it
 
I selectively counted quite a few of my engineering courses as physics or math (including thermo ) and AMCAS approved all of them. I even managed to get Basic Flight Mechanics as physics and Linear Control Systems as math. I didn't feel i was cheating the system because those classes were physics and math. I don't see why they shouldn't count, but some bio major's physics without calculus should. AMCAS agreed. The instructions in AMCAS say to classify according to class content, not department. I think really the point is they don't want you to count engineering design courses. Thermo is thermo and is definitely science, regardless of department.

Helps to be in a major that's rarely represented in medicine. I think I got a little more leeway on my courses because AMCAS doesn't see them as often.
 
Last edited:
You can probably classify it as chemistry to get a GPA boost if you did well, or as engineering to avoid bringing your GPA down if you didnt.

I'm picking and choosing my engineering class listings as science or non science based on the advice that i've received from others. dont hate the player, hate the game ;D

This is so exactly what I did.:naughty:
 
Just as a side note... I did not play the categorization game, had a 3.5ish gpa and still came out with > 5 interviews which resulted in acceptances. Having a good MCAT as an engineer helps A LOT. It is the great equalizer for us.
 
Just as a side note... I did not play the categorization game, had a 3.5ish gpa and still came out with > 5 interviews which resulted in acceptances. Having a good MCAT as an engineer helps A LOT. It is the great equalizer for us.

I didn't play the game the first time - 3.2 sGPA. Freshman year physics drove me down, which didnt matter because I didn't need it for my planned career. Fast forward to apps, and suddenly all I have are the basic prereqs counting as science, even though all I did in school was science.. 1 interview, 0 acceptances. 2 years later I applied a 2nd time I played the game and my sGPA went to a 3.4. Seven interviews, 5 acceptances. Obviously there were a lot of other factors, but your GPA still matters, even as an engineer. Definitely a good MCAT can make up for a lot, but take every advantage you can get.
 
I'm going to apply in the next application cycle and was thinking about trying to categorize the following engineering courses as science. Besides thermodynamics has anyone tried classifying any of these (or similar) courses as science?

Engineering Thermodynamics (chemistry)
Computational Methods for Engineering Design (math)
Dynamics (physics)
Fluid Mechanics (physics)
Heat Transfer (physics)
Systems Dynamics (physics)
Advanced Computational Design (math)
Intro to the Finite Element Method (math)
 
I was biomedical engineering and classified all of my engineering courses as science. Nothing got changed...
 
I'm going to apply in the next application cycle and was thinking about trying to categorize the following engineering courses as science. Besides thermodynamics has anyone tried classifying any of these (or similar) courses as science?

Engineering Thermodynamics (chemistry)
Computational Methods for Engineering Design (math)
Dynamics (physics)
Fluid Mechanics (physics)
Heat Transfer (physics)
Systems Dynamics (physics)
Advanced Computational Design (math)
Intro to the Finite Element Method (math)
FYI for future applicants, I submitted those engineering courses as indicated and AMCAS did not change any of them.
 
Yeah so I was a BME and I applied this past cycle. Honestly, we are in a lucky position because of engineering. AMCAS rarely changes course categories unless they are definitely wrong. This gives you the opportunity to categorize the engineering courses you did well on in science and the ones you didn't do so hot on in non-science. For eg. I had Systems analysis of biological systems that I counted as science while Organ based simulations in the human body I counted as engineering since I didn't do so well on it. Play the game.
 
Top