Engineering is NOT considered BCPM?????!

[Sonya]

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I FINALLY finished getting all those grades entered in AMCAS.

And, i noticed my BCPM is lot higher then i thought it was.
I wondered if they considered my (tons, as I'm a bioE major) engineering classes as BCPM, so I changed one engineering course to 15 units as D grade instead of 3 units as A. my BCPM grades were unaffected, my other GPA dropped.

So... all those engineering classes are NOT be counted as "science".

you have no idea how suprised/shocked i am by that, all through undergrad i thought they would be.
I have to list all classes in an engineering dept as engineering right?

Also, i'm counting engineering math (a little beyond differential eqns, but basically still math in school on engineering though) and Stats for engineers as math and technical writing (in engineering policy dept, a class on business writing for engineers) as english/lit. Sounds okay to you to do that?

I was just extremely suprised by that, and wanted all you engineering majors who haven't applied yet to know that.

But, i'm REALLY enjoying the boosted BCMP gpa...

Sonya

 

[loyen]

I listed everything that was in the engineering dept as an engineering class - my stats class was engr, my technical writing was an engr, etc. I just went by the course name. But as long as your not changing something into a bio/chem/phys course, it shouldn't really make a difference. I could have boosted my BCPM a tad by switching some of my chemE to chem (the less technical ones), but since they were listed as Cheg classes on my transcripts, I kept them in Engr.

Just don't do anything that would look suspicious is they were comparing with your real transcripts.

 

[zer0el]

just a heads up, y'all realize AMCAS will verify your apps right? whether you switch an eng. class to BCPM classification intentionally or not won't matter; AMCAS will make sure every class has the right designation. the less mistakes you make, the faster verification will go (i think). good luck.

 

[Yogi Bear]

bio chem phys and math are the categories they count. engineering, cs, etc. are all others. the only engineering courses where u might be able to get physics credits is quantum mechanics.

 

[poloace]

umm.. dont count on AMCAS to fix your application for you. somehow, i was missing an entire's semester worth of coursework, that they weren't able to see... bastards.... then they went ahead and got it verified with all of my info missing. they can suck me.

p

 

[lola]

i don't know that it necessarily slows down your app if you have a few course classifications that amcas changes. i think the fewer the iffy/stretch classifications you put, the more likely you are to get away with it, but i don't think it will slow your app down too much if you have a few that amcas disagrees with.

i didn't really try to "get away with" anything but did classify a stats class (in the psych dept) as BCPM. amcas did not change it, because it was indeed a math class and stats at my school was only offered through the psych & econ departments.

amcas also changed a couple of my grad classifications, because i decided not to list everything as health science or whatever the classification was. they changed a couple of the classes i classified as policy classes to health science. i don't think it slowed things down really.

i think it's slightly dishonest to classify the engineering classes you did well in as bcpm. (you said your bcpm gpa was higher without the engineering classes). but hey, do as you see fit, since they are math (and engineering) classes. the technical writing class as english is a bit of stretch, but go ahead and try it. the worst that'll happen is they'll change it to engineering.

 

[Sonya]

hey,

I put tech writing as english... that's a stretch? okay.

What i meant, is that my personal records have all engineering as science classes. With that, my science GPA is very different fromt that in AMCAS... i was in, very pleasant surprise to discover i now have a 3.93 Science GPA (instead of around 3.8).

I read elsewhere, they are mostly classified by department, so i'll just change everyhting in engineering departments to classified as engineering, a few classes will make no significant difference (I have other statistics classes anyway). I don't want to slow it down, or get more hassels.

This is probably a stupid question... but i remembered the original reason i was concerned about tech writing. If I use a recommendation letter from my tech writing prof, would it be considered non -science? If i use a rec letter from an engineering prof (bioengineering course) will it be considered science?


Sonya

 

[loyen]

If I use a recommendation letter from my tech writing prof, would it be considered non -science? If i use a rec letter from an engineering prof (bioengineering course) will it be considered science?

Nope. My non-science rec letter was from a chemE professor I TA'ed for. Seemed okey-dokey with everyone involved.

 

[8744]

Folks, I think I only got into medical school because engineering classes weren't counted in the BCPM average.

And the AMCAS accepted all of my course designations as entered. I didn't even bother trying to decide if engineering classes counted as math or physics or both. If the course title in the catalogue didn't explicitly say something like "MATH 101" or "PHYS 222" I didn't list it as part of the BPCM and I recomend that all of you engineering majors with average grades in engineering classes but excellent grades in the prerequisites do the same thing.

Somehow a cumulative GPA of 2.9 looks a lot better if it is contrasted with a BPCM GPA of 3.9.

(The 2.9 was the result of some academic difficulties in the early eighties.)

 

[bosco]

Here's my dilemma... I am an engineering major and have taken two physics courses specifically from the physics department; however, only one had a lab component to it. I want to classify one of my engineering lab classes (e.g. Nuclear Thermohydraulics Lab or Materials Properties Lab) as a "Physics" lab course (instead of an ENGI course) so I meet the 2 semesters of physics (with lab) requirement. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[bosco]

Originally posted by bosco
Here's my dilemma... I am an engineering major and have taken two physics courses specifically from the physics department; however, only one had a lab component to it. I want to classify one of my engineering lab classes (e.g. Nuclear Thermohydraulics Lab or Materials Properties Lab) as a "Physics" lab course (instead of an ENGI course) so I meet the 2 semesters of physics (with lab) requirement. Does anyone have any experience with this?

bump.. Anyone???

 

[Sonya]

Originally posted by loyen
Nope. My non-science rec letter was from a chemE professor I TA'ed for. Seemed okey-dokey with everyone involved.

this is weird very weird.... bioE definetly was science... anyway, we have to stick with their ideas of "science"

so, you think all eng profs rec letters are considred non science? anyone had success using an engineering prof as a science rec?

Bosco.. not sure. If you can't figure it out, e-mail amcas or your pre-med office maybe.

Sonya

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Last year, we were supposed to go by the content of the course, not the title. I classified econometrics as math and biochemistry as biology (even though I took it through the chem department--I needed the bio credit). No problems.

If your class was primarily writing, classify it as writing. If it was primarily math, classify it as math. A lot of interdiscipinary courses are cross-listed (ie, at my school, technical writing had both an ENGL course number and an ENGR course number), so you're quite justified in doing so. If you are still hesitant, ask AMCAS.

bosco, I would ask your pre-med advisor about the physics course, or even better, an adcom member--ultimately, it's the school's judgment, not AMCAS's. Because I wasn't able to take the biochem lab, I wound up having to take an extra bio course this year anyway. I made sure all my schools that had an issue with bio AP credit knew that I was planning to take the course this spring. If I were you, I would contact all the schools that send you a secondary and ask whether you need another physics course. I suspect you will be fine, though--who's going to tell an engineering major that he or she needs more physics?

 

[bosco]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz
Last year, we were supposed to go by the content of the course, not the title. I classified econometrics as math and biochemistry as biology (even though I took it through the chem department--I needed the bio credit). No problems.

If your class was primarily writing, classify it as writing. If it was primarily math, classify it as math. A lot of interdiscipinary courses are cross-listed (ie, at my school, technical writing had both an ENGL course number and an ENGR course number), so you're quite justified in doing so. If you are still hesitant, ask AMCAS.

bosco, I would ask your pre-med advisor about the physics course, or even better, an adcom member--ultimately, it's the school's judgment, not AMCAS's. Because I wasn't able to take the biochem lab, I wound up having to take an extra bio course this year anyway. I made sure all my schools that had an issue with bio AP credit knew that I was planning to take the course this spring. If I were you, I would contact all the schools that send you a secondary and ask whether you need another physics course. I suspect you will be fine, though--who's going to tell an engineering major that he or she needs more physics?

Thanks for the good advice!