REQUIRED sociology & psychology pre reqs count toward science?

[jankodejenko]

Sorry to sound petty, but Im wondering if the schools that specifically ask for these extra pre-reqs, are they counted towards the science gpa? asking since they generally aren't even required nor does it count has a "hard science"

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[dcmorgan96]

In my personal calculations I included psych courses that were specified by my school as physical and life science courses. I designated this on AMCAS but have no clue if they will actually count it toward sGPA

 

[Dandine]

They aren't counted towards the sci GPA but may be required for other reasons (for instance MCAT, pre-req towards LCME standards). Assuming you're talking about Intro Soc and Intro Psych classes, correct?

Edit: @dcmorgan96 In your case it depended on the class content which may be considered life sciences. Not sure if this applies to the intro courses which most schools will accept.

 

[cactusman]

No, Psych and Soc are only counted towards sGPA if they fall more into one of the BCPM categories (e.g. neurobiology may be listed as a Psych course but count as Bio, because AMCAS goes by course description rather than department).
See here for more info:
AMCAS® Course Classification Guide

 

[dcmorgan96]

So at my school psyc 101 is taught with an emphasis on biopsyc and is listed as a "physical and life science" course just like biology/chemistry. Is it okay to label it on AMCAS as "Biology" or should I choose "behavioral and social sciences?" There is a B&SS classification at my school and psyc 101 does not give that credit.

 

[cactusman]

So at my school psyc 101 is taught with an emphasis on biopsyc and is listed as a "physical and life science" course just like biology/chemistry. Is it okay to label it on AMCAS as "Biology" or should I choose "behavioral and social sciences?" There is a B&SS classification at my school and psyc 101 does not give that credit.

You can always list it as Biology and AMCAS will look at its course description (I believe there's a national registry, @gyngyn or @gonnif has mentioned it before). I suspect they will change it though.

 

[mistafab]

Psych is not BCPM unless the majority of the class is BCPM content.

For example, as a psych major, my only BCPM psych classes were Brain & Behavior (B) and Statistical Principals of Psychology (M).

 

[md-2020]

This is a topic that was very relevant to me as an Econ/Psych major in a business UG program. Basically:

Sociology: categorically not science

Psych: depends on course TITLE (I am aware this is not how it "should" work, but for my application it was categorized as such).
-Psych 101 will not count as it's generally called Intro to Psych or some variation
-Things like Consciousness/Neuroscience Intro/Perception/Evolutionary Psych/Neurophys of Psych etc. will count as Bio
-Things like Research Methods in Psych/Stat methods in Psych/Econometrics/Stat Analysis etc. will count as Math

Use logical judgment with course title as the discriminating factor.

 

[dcmorgan96]

Please, psych is a social science and should be listed as such.

@gonnif What about an anthropology class called "human evolution and adaptation?" Can that be labeled as bio?

 

[dcmorgan96]

What is the college catalog course description as the title and department do make not a difference.


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

It grants a PL (physical and life science) credit, just like biology and chemistry courses. It does NOT grant a BESS credit. The content was biological, so I labeled it as biology. However, PSYC 101 at my school also grants a PL credit and does NOT grant a BESS credit, yet you said to label that as BESS on AMCAS anyway. It sounded like course title made a difference to you for the psyc course but not the anth course.

 

[cactusman]

It grants a PL (physical and life science) credit, just like biology and chemistry courses. It does NOT grant a BESS credit. The content was biological, so I labeled it as biology. However, PSYC 101 at my school also grants a PL credit and does NOT grant a BESS credit, yet you said to label that as BESS on AMCAS anyway. It sounded like course title made a difference to you for the psyc course but not the anth course.

It's just really unlikely that an intro Psych course is bio-heavy enough to count as BCPM. The same is not true for a lot of anthro courses.