Environmental Science

[pbehzad]

I was wondering do environmental science classes count in science gpa? they are not crosslisted at my school with biology or anything else, so if you knew if they counted in science gpa i would appreciate it.
thanks for any help.

 

[mpp]

They would not be counted in the science GPA. Only classes specified as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Mathematics are included in the science GPA also known as the BCPM GPA.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

AMCAS have a list of classes and their classifications in the help directory. Most of the time, you can enter them where you want them to be and AMCAS would not notice and I do not think that school are going to care since this subject is related to Biology.

 

[Bikini Princess]

Originally posted by Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]
AMCAS have a list of classes and their classifications in the help directory. Most of the time, you can enter them where you want them to be and AMCAS would not notice and I do not think that school are going to care since this subject is related to Biology.

Did this actually work for you, RNA ladder? Because I don't think the schools themselves will be so kind..i've heard they really review your application in depth

 

[mpp]

I believe RNALadder is incorrect. Environmental Science is not considered biology. There is a category on the AMCAS application called Natural/Physical Sciences in which Environmental Science classes are to be classified.

If you do try to pull one over on AMCAS and the medical schools by reclassifying your courses so that your GPA appears better, and you are caught, at best it will delay your application while they straighten the errors out, at worst your application will immediately be removed from consideration. It is really not worth it to try to 'enter then where you want them' when AMCAS explicity states in which category the courses belong.

 

[pbehzad]

ok so im kinda confused, there is a natural/physical sciences section and you would put envi. sci. in there, so wouldnt that boost your science gpa? i dont know the exact amcas system just yet (im only a soph.). what is the difference between science gpa and nat./phys. sci. section. (i know science includes math).
thanks.

 

[mpp]

The term 'science GPA' is really a misnomer. What everbody calls the science GPA when discussing the AMCAS application is really the BCPM GPA which is only for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics courses.

I believe that AMCAS did it this way because there are too many pseudoscience courses or courses in which your performance may not be a good indicator for performance in medical school (things like Geology or Forestry).

It sucks for some people that major in say Geology, since if they do well, they can't include many of their courses. But if you major in Physics, just about all your courses will be included in the 'science' GPA since you take mostly Mathematics and Physics courses. Of course, if you do poorly in these...ouch!

Hope this clears things up for you.

 

[none]

Put it where it goes and let the BCPM sort itself out. Don't try to mess with any of it.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

Well you can enter classes how your undergrad classifies them (As I was told by a person from ACMAS). It your school classifies it as a Biology class (probably it does), you can go ahead and enter it as a Bio course. However, if you do not want it to be a sciecne class, you can enter it as Natural Sciences class as other people said.
Your overall GPA will not change regardless how you do the classification part.