Calculating the BCPM GPA
Your BCPM GPA includes all biology, chemistry, physics, and math courses taken as an undergraduate—not just the pre-med courses. Because there are many sub-disciplines of science, courses listed in a variety of disciplines may be counted as part of the BCPM. For a comprehensive list of what sub-disciplines fall within the BCPM, see the AMCAS Application PDF Document: Course Classification Guide on the AAMC’s website.
Both the AMCAS (allopathic) and AACOMAS (osteopathic) applications require you to “classify” (or categorize) your courses when you list them in your application, and each application service has instructions explaining how courses are often categorized for their applications. In general, each course must be assigned a course classification based strictly on the primary content of the course. You are responsible for selecting the correct course classification, but AMCAS and AACOMAS reserve the right to change classifications if the assigned classification clearly does not apply. As a general rule, to determine how to categorize a course, you should consider what 60% or more of the course is based in. In other words, if 60% of a course is based in biology, then it would count toward your BCPM GPA.
For a basic understanding of how the BCPM GPA is calculated, see the AMCAS Application Grade Conversation Guide on the AAMC’s website
