Psychology Professor's LOR: Science or Non-Science?

[floridakppr]

A letter of recommendation written by a psychology professor would be considered by med schools as science or non-science? I know schools have different criteria for exactly which letters of recommendation they request, but, in general, what is the case? My inclination is that psychology is non-science because when I think science in an AMCAS/Secondary mindset, I think science equals BCPM. Thoughts?

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[notdeadyet]

Psychology would not qualify as a science LOR.

 

[nozzie]

Psychology would not qualify as a science LOR.

Agree that it would be non-science.

 

[CavalierMD]

Hey OP... psyc major here... and yes, in med school world, psyc is a non-science

 

[GoodDoctor]

I've always assumed that by science they mean "natural sciences" and not "social sciences" or even "applied sciences". Wikipedia defines this roughly as Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth science, Physics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_science

I'd probably stick with Bio, Chem, and Physics. For a "non-science" LOR, I'd go with social sciences, humanities, arts, etc (anything not in the College of Science at your school). One easy way to tell is if the course your prof taught is in the College of Science at your university. Psych is probably in your universities College of Social/Behavioral Science, so would not qualify.

 

[floridakppr]

I'm glad there is consensus here. I've been unable to get a non-science LOR yet. I'll be contacting a psych professor soon. Thanks.

 

[grandslam521]

I am a psychology major, and I have recently contacted schools concerning this issue. For the most part, schools have accepted a recommendation letter from a psychology professor as a science recommendation. However, I did mention in my email to the schools that my particular recommender taught me in a course in both the biology and psychology departments, so maybe that made a difference. Also, in my school, psychology is considered more of a natural science than a social science and strongly emphasizes an empirical approach to the subject.

 

[predrb]

if it's a professor of a biopsychology or neuropsychology class, could that be considered a science professor???

 

[CavalierMD]

if it's a professor of a biopsychology or neuropsychology class, could that be considered a science professor???

I'm sure if you contacted schools and told them the nature of the class, even though it's listed as a psychology class, it wouldn't be a problem. I know I've taken a lot of science-heavy courses for my psych major, including a Research Methods class... which is more stat and analytical stuff than flowery psychology stuff. I didn't bother sorting out my classes for AMCAS (just listed them all under behavioral science) and sent my psych letter as a non-science... just because A. I didn't want to deal with nebulous course titles like "Cognition" that could be interpreted either way and B. I didn't really need more science classes or letters. But, if you have the time/patience and need another science letter, then by all means work the system.