LOR: Is this class "science" enough?

[closertofine]

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I am going to apply to med school this summer/fall, and I am going to need more science recommendations than I now have. One class I'm in looks like it might be good for a recommendation, but it's not "technically" a science class...I know this is usually looked down upon, but do you think there is a way I could make this appear to be the science-based class it is?

OK, so the course is in the psychology department, but it's called the Biological Basis of Behavior. And the prof is a psychopharmacologist...if that matters...so he teaches the class as more of a biology course than a psychology one.

Do you think this could count as science? Would med schools be suspicious of using a psychology department class as a science LOR....even if I did well on the science parts of the MCAT?

Thanks!

 

[Wrigleyville]

Clear it with the schools you plan to apply to. They'll probably be flexible, but the last thing you want is to find out in October that you need to fish up another letter.

 

[Adcadet]

if the course is cross-listed in the bio dept. I think you'd be fine. Otherwise, you better check. I know one school, Sinai, refused to believe the epidemiology is a science. Bah, who need them. They can stick with Koch's postulates to determine the cause of disease. Good luck figuring heart disease out!

 

[CrashinStoneFish]

I'd definitely check with your schools, but I had a similiar situ and it all worked out fine with my schools...My class was a neuroscience lab, technically listed under the psych dept and all schools I applied to accepted it as a science letter

 

[doctor girl]

I don't know if I'd ask the schools to which you are applying.

I'd ask other schools just to get a feel. If they all say "OK", then I wouldn't call your schools...because if you ask, then you're only giving them the opportunity to say "NO".

The best that could happen is that you get a great LOR from this class and try to pass it off as "science". As a precaution, I'd ask your second choice to give you an LOR, but don't mail it out....just have it as "stand-by" in case it's needed.

But I *would* call after you send out this psychology bio LOR and ask your schools if they received all of your "required LORs"....don't point out anything suspicious or they'll use that as an excuse to look for something suspicious.

If they say "No, what you sent isn't acceptable", then you've only delayed your app by the number of days it takes to mail in your 2nd choice stand-by LOR.

Originally posted by karen44
I am going to apply to med school this summer/fall, and I am going to need more science recommendations than I now have. One class I'm in looks like it might be good for a recommendation, but it's not "technically" a science class...I know this is usually looked down upon, but do you think there is a way I could make this appear to be the science-based class it is?

OK, so the course is in the psychology department, but it's called the Biological Basis of Behavior. And the prof is a psychopharmacologist...if that matters...so he teaches the class as more of a biology course than a psychology one.

Do you think this could count as science? Would med schools be suspicious of using a psychology department class as a science LOR....even if I did well on the science parts of the MCAT?

Thanks!

 

[Neuronix]

karen there's two issues at hand.

1) No that does not count as a science course. Science courses as usually defined by BCPM (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math) and that course, unless crosslisted with the Bio department at your school, will be counted as a non-science on your AMCAS application.

2) Will the adcoms notice/care? Most likely not. How closely are those letters read anyways? It varies from school to school, but I doubt many, if any, schools will notice. If that letter is stronger than anything you're going to get from BCPM classes, submit it. You might want to get a backup letter from another BCPM just in case.

Just make sure that you apply early and get everything in fairly early, so that if this does become a problem you can get it straightened out in a timely manner. That's good general advice for everyone... Apply early just in case!

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by doctor girl

I'd ask other schools just to get a feel. If they all say "OK", then I wouldn't call your schools...because if you ask, then you're only giving them the opportunity to say "NO".

This is exactly what I did with my epidemiology letter to Sinai and Medical College of Wisconsin. MCW was processed my LORs pretty quickly and when I called to check on my status they let me know that epidemiology is not a science. So I scrambled to get my old physics prof to write a LOR for me. But it took Sinai forever to find my LORs after they had been mailed in (like 4 weeks), then once they did they informed me that epidemiology isn't a science. By this time I had been accepted to my #1 choice, so I decided to forget about Sinai.

If you're going to assume that a letter will be acceptable, make sure you have a backup letter ready, and call the schools frequently to check on you status to minimize any delays.

 

[Cory]

Originally posted by Neuronix
karen there's two issues at hand.

1) No that does not count as a science course. Science courses as usually defined by BCPM (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math) and that course, unless crosslisted with the Bio department at your school, will be counted as a non-science on your AMCAS application.

i'm not sure i agree with this...somewhere on the AMCAS website is the instruction manual for filling out AMCAS, and it lists courses considered to be part of your science gpa. For example, if i remember correctly, it says that neuroscience courses are considered "biology." however, at my school, all of the neuroscience courses are listed under the psychology dept. and not under the biology dept. but i still counted them towards my science gpa, and have had no problems. some of the courses were called developmental neurobiology, sensorimotor integration, the hemispheres divided (split brain course), cognitive neuroscience, etc. they were clearly biology courses, but they just happen to have been offered under the psychology department.

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by Cory
i'm not sure i agree with this...somewhere on the AMCAS website is the instruction manual for filling out AMCAS, and it lists courses considered to be part of your science gpa. For example, if i remember correctly, it says that neuroscience courses are considered "biology."

I just checked the 2003 AMCAS Instruction Manual and I am inclined to agree with you. It says pretty clearly in the manual that classes are to be catagorized by their primary content, and Neuroscience indeed is in BCPM.

I was going by conventional SDN wisdom--that neuroscience courses offered under Psychology were not BCPM. Perhaps the old SDN advice could be wrong. I listed all my neuroscience classes as behavioral science.

Such is the grey area (is that a pun?) that is neuroscience. Is it Psychology? Is it Biology? Are some parts Psychology and other parts Biology? I give up.

 

[Cory]

yeah, i agree, it is a pretty grey area. and some of the courses i took could have been both. like this sleep and sleep disorders course. half of it was on the molecular basis of sleep, the other half was on the behavioral aspect of sleep, so i was at a loss. i wound up putting it as behavioral science though.