Epidemiology -- Counts for science GPA, or no?

[Chelslen]

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Simple question. I pulled up the AMCAS course classification list and it doesn't list the heading for epidemiology under BCP or M, but it seems like it would count... do any of you know from experience?

If it helps, here's the course description:

Students will learn the fundamentals of epidemiology. Areas of emphasis include epidemiology definitions and practical applications, measures of morbidity and mortality, descriptive epidemiology, observational and experimental study designs, data interpretation issues, infectious disease epidemiology, environmental epidemiology, and chronic disease epidemiology.


Thanks! Sorry if this is an obvious answer for some of you. I'm just double-checking before I enroll for the summer.

 

[JonnyL]

I would think so.

 

[Dianyla]

The Epi class I took was pretty heavily focused on statistics, so I entered it as Math. AMCAS seemed to agree, since they accepted it. 👍

 

[kts]

Does it differ from college to college? My epidemiology course is under the Community Health / Civil Engineering department..

course description: " Students will gain a familiarity with basic epidemiologic approaches and an ability to evaluate the results of epidemiologic studies. Examples from environmental and occupational epidemiology will be used in conjunction with material addressing health system and health service research topics. A primary focus of the course is in becoming a critical consumer of the epidemiologic literature."

 

[citrusguy2010]

sorry to bust the bubble but i think it actually goes under health sciences b/c it's considered "public health"...at least that's what i was told.

if you hear otherwise i'd definitely love to know b/c i'm probably in your same boat!

 

[senorsquishie]

Just read the AMCAS instructions and I am 90% sure they counted it as Bio. You can google AMCAS intructions and double check 🙂

 

[yamaraja808]

sorry to bust the bubble but i think it actually goes under health sciences b/c it's considered "public health"...at least that's what i was told.

if you hear otherwise i'd definitely love to know b/c i'm probably in your same boat!

I had taken an animal physiology course and entered it under animal science (not part of science GPA) when filling out my AMCAS. When I got my AMCAS back, the animal physiology course counted under biology. It may have been because the title had physiology in it and thus counts toward biology.

So tough call on that one (I in fact have taken some public health courses recently). Hope someone knows the answer to this one. However, I would assume it counts toward math.

 

[Wiingy]

I'd also vote for "Health Sciences" - that's what I classified most of my coursework in epidemiology as and AMCAS agreed. I don't think that math is the correct classification - although epid relies heavily on statistics those methods are just tools to understand correlates of exposure and disease. It would be like classifying physics as math because you use calculus to solve the problems.

 

[citrusguy2010]

yea if anyone finds out please post it up here! i'm holding out hope for it to count as bio or math!

 

[Hoya2009]

If you get an A or A-, list it as Bio or Math, otherwise call it social sciences or health sciences, or whatever.
Worst case scenario, the AMCAS people change it on you, it's not like they blacklist you for listing it as one or the other. I had a lot of math-heavy economics courses listed by um, grade, let's say. Some stuck, not all.

 

[citrusguy2010]

but won't that delay your verification?

 

[mauberley]

Simple question. I pulled up the AMCAS course classification list and it doesn't list the heading for epidemiology under BCP or M, but it seems like it would count... do any of you know from experience?

If it helps, here's the course description:

Students will learn the fundamentals of epidemiology. Areas of emphasis include epidemiology definitions and practical applications, measures of morbidity and mortality, descriptive epidemiology, observational and experimental study designs, data interpretation issues, infectious disease epidemiology, environmental epidemiology, and chronic disease epidemiology.


Thanks! Sorry if this is an obvious answer for some of you. I'm just double-checking before I enroll for the summer.

It should be apparent from the responses you're getting that there is no clear-cut answer. You should consider the material in the course and decide if it's heavily classical science or not. My opinion is that, based on the description, your class would be put under HEAL.

Ultimately, put down your best-faith guess and let AMCAS sort it out. It shouldn't affect verification time greatly.

 

[sexycani]

im putting my epi class (offered in dept. of public health) as "math" since it was pretty must applied biostatistics....i doubt amcas will disagree

 

[Chelslen]

After a week of being in the class I wouldn't assume it will be put under bio - its just lots of info and data.

I'll probably try to list it under math as there are a lot of statistics.
They can change it for me if its wrong -- but I'm sure its either math or health sciences at this point. Probably health sciences, but I know i'll get an A, so I'll try for math at least.

Also, for those of you who responded that told me they'll change it if its wrong -- I'm well aware of that already. I just wanted to see if anybody knew if it would be BCMP or not, since I'm trying to squeeze more of those classes into my schedule this year.

 

[deleted446889]

Does anyone have a definitive answer for this yet? At my school the class is listed under the Microbiology code and this is the course description "Study of descriptive and analytic epidemiology and its application to the analysis of infectious diseases and in the community health status."

 

[wholeheartedly]

Epidemiology under the above course description as well as the OP are Public Health. At best, they have some component of applied statistical work, but primarily are not a math or stats class. Since AMCAS uses course content as below, and not department, as the basis classification, these courses would not be BCPM.

I'd be a bit careful on this. My epi courses were a majority crunching numbers/biostatistics by content. I'm going to guess the emphasis of epidemiology courses varies quite a bit by school and even within the school and whatnot. We had a different epi course series available as well that was less stats intensive which would probably go more the public health classification. But mine certainly was math intensive, hence a large number of people dropping.

But the overall gist holds, the AMCAS designation should be based on course content not the course code/number or department. Your syllabus can probably give you a pretty good idea. And if it is borderline where it belongs, just put it where it benefits you.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Course syllabus isnt the basis but the official college course catalog description.

i'm just saying its a way to judge content emphasis if some is having trouble.

 

[deleted446889]

Epidemiology under the above course description as well as the OP are Public Health. At best, they have some component of applied statistical work, but primarily are not a math or stats class. Since AMCAS uses course content as below, and not department, as the basis classification, these courses would not be BCPM. However, AMCAS no longer delays application if courses are classified. It will simply change classification and move on.
View attachment 219768

This is made possible as AMCAS now uses first line automated verification process that, I believe, identifies courses codes by searching the extensive college course catalog database maintained by NSCH, "scores" the content description (number of BCPM keywords and ratio of words), and comes back with BCPM probable, AO probable, and verifier decision, which will pop up the catalog description for review.


As the AMCAS instructions clearly states
https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...5e21dc8ae7e/2018_amcas_instruction_manual.pdf

Page 39 (bolded in red in the instructions)
Course Classification
Each course must be assigned a course classification based strictly on the primary content of the course.

Page 86 (emphasis added)
Course classification is based solely on the primary
content of the course content, rather than course title or
department through which it is offered.
Consult your pre-professional health advisor or registrar to resolve
any questions concerning this classification

So does the database use the overall college course catalogs nationwide or specifically for your school? If its the former then the course description and quality at our specific schools aren't as relevant...