Not listing science classes under BCPM?

[mariambaby3]

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Suppose I took several upper-level science classes, but did poorly on them such that listing them as part of my BCPM classes would bring down my overall science GPA, could I choose to not list them?

Similarly, if I took say, 3 semesters of calculus, could I choose to just list my two best calculus courses as part of my BCPM?

 

[BABSstudent]

BCPM stands for biology, chemistry, physics and math. Any course with that class code will be counted. You have no way to select those since your transcripts list it. Whatever your school classifies it as, AMCAS will list it as.


Sent from my iPod using SDN Mobile app. Please excuse the typos.

 

[Irish Football]

AMCAS would likely change it to BCPM during the verification process. Have there been cases where a BCPM class may have "slipped pass" AMCAS? Sure, but odds are that it will count towards your BCPM (especially if it's a clear math class like calculus).

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Are you seriously asking if you're allowed to pick and choose which classes get used for calculating your GPA?

Seriously?

 

[Waggles]

brb only putting classes I got A's in for my BCPM

 

[occams_razor]

as has already been said AMCAS verifies all your courses so you will not be able to do this.
i think most people would like to only include the science courses they did well in in their BCPM but it doesn't work that way haha

 

[DHURT]

Remember, course content should dictate course designation regardless of what the university/AMCAS classifies it as.

I should add that in no shape or form should you abuse this. Choosing to list only your highest math courses would be dishonest and surely be noticed during verification.

 

[occams_razor]

Remember, course content should dictate course designation regardless of what the university classifies it as.

yeah this is a good point to remember OP. course content is the most important thing. for example I took a bio ethics class that was classified as a bio course by the school but the content was more philosophy/ethics, so it did not go in my BCPM. I also took a quantitative research methods course that was classified as psychology but the content was all statistics, so it went into my BCPM

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

BCPM stands for biology, chemistry, physics and math. Any course with that class code will be counted. You have no way to select those since your transcripts list it. Whatever your school classifies it as, AMCAS will list it as.


Sent from my iPod using SDN Mobile app. Please excuse the typos.

AMCAS would likely change it to BCPM during the verification process. Have there been cases where a BCPM class may have "slipped pass" AMCAS? Sure, but odds are that it will count towards your BCPM (especially if it's a clear math class like calculus).

Sorry OP, they will be listed whether you want them to or not. Time for some GPA repair I suppose?

 

[fabriciusj89]

BCPM stands for biology, chemistry, physics and math. Any course with that class code will be counted. You have no way to select those since your transcripts list it. Whatever your school classifies it as, AMCAS will list it as.


Sent from my iPod using SDN Mobile app. Please excuse the typos.

I know two other posters have said this but everyone should realize this is definitely not the case. For example, geology and environmental science are classes in the bio department at my school but are not BCPM by AMCAS standards. There are a dozen examples of this, and if you are curious what your classes classify as here is the link:

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181694/data/amcas_course_classification_guide.pdf

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Suppose I took several upper-level science classes, but did poorly on them such that listing them as part of my BCPM classes would bring down my overall science GPA, could I choose to not list them?

Similarly, if I took say, 3 semesters of calculus, could I choose to just list my two best calculus courses as part of my BCPM?

I actually did this with some Pharm courses I did poorly in. AMCAS list Pharm as Health Sciences or something like that, but the course was actually out of a Bio department. I checked the course as non BCPM and AMCAS left it.

 

[Osteoth]

Oceanography =/= bio? 🙁

 

[fabriciusj89]

Oceanography =/= bio? 🙁

Nope! I was calculating my BCPM GPA wrong for a whole year until I found the AAMC classifications.

 

[angemon89]

I've only heard of the opposite where people try to list "sorta science" classes as BCPM and sometimes getting away with it.

I'm pretty sure Calculus isn't gonna slip past their verification process as non-science.

 

[SixStringPsych]

Would there be any repercussions to doing this? I could understand if you were trying to classify Cell Bio or Genetics as non-BCPM but would it be seen as dishonest really if it was a grey area course?

For example in my situation, I want to try this with just one class, it's a neuro class but the designation on my transcript is a bunch of meaningless numbers (my school switched over to CHEM, BIO, etc in my senior year so every year before the the classes are designated by numbers).

 

[dsoz]

If AMCAS changes something, it is noted with a special character on your application. If there are too many of them, or a bunch associated with low grades, it MAY red flag your application when it gets to schools. They could see that you were trying to get away with something sneaky, and FAILED. Why would they want a person that tries to cheat the system when they are trying to recruit ETHICAL people to become ethical physicians?

There are rules to play by for a reason. Play by the rules. Don't try to cheat the system.

dsoz

 

[SixStringPsych]

If AMCAS changes something, it is noted with a special character on your application. If there are too many of them, or a bunch associated with low grades, it MAY red flag your application when it gets to schools. They could see that you were trying to get away with something sneaky, and FAILED. Why would they want a person that tries to cheat the system when they are trying to recruit ETHICAL people to become ethical physicians?

There are rules to play by for a reason. Play by the rules. Don't try to cheat the system.

dsoz

Thanks