diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/__init__.py b/django/contrib/admin/__init__.py
index 92f23a90e6..92886ab8d3 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ from django.contrib.admin.helpers import ACTION_CHECKBOX_NAME
 from django.contrib.admin.options import ModelAdmin, HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL
 from django.contrib.admin.options import StackedInline, TabularInline
 from django.contrib.admin.sites import AdminSite, site
-from django.utils.importlib import import_module
 
 
 def autodiscover():
@@ -13,36 +12,13 @@ def autodiscover():
     """
 
     import copy
-    import imp
     from django.conf import settings
+    from django.utils.importlib import import_module
+    from django.utils.module_loading import module_has_submodule
 
     for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
-        # For each app, we need to look for an admin.py inside that app's
-        # package. We can't use os.path here -- recall that modules may be
-        # imported different ways (think zip files) -- so we need to get
-        # the app's __path__ and look for admin.py on that path.
-
-        # Step 1: find out the app's __path__ Import errors here will (and
-        # should) bubble up, but a missing __path__ (which is legal, but weird)
-        # fails silently -- apps that do weird things with __path__ might
-        # need to roll their own admin registration.
         mod = import_module(app)
-        try:
-            app_path = mod.__path__
-        except AttributeError:
-            continue
-
-        # Step 2: use imp.find_module to find the app's admin.py. For some
-        # reason imp.find_module raises ImportError if the app can't be found
-        # but doesn't actually try to import the module. So skip this app if
-        # its admin.py doesn't exist
-        try:
-            imp.find_module('admin', app_path)
-        except ImportError:
-            continue
-
-        # Step 3: import the app's admin file. If this has errors we want them
-        # to bubble up.
+        # Attempt to import the app's admin module.
         try:
             before_import_registry = copy.copy(site._registry)
             import_module('%s.admin' % app)
@@ -52,4 +28,9 @@ def autodiscover():
             # could raise NotRegistered and AlreadyRegistered exceptions
             # (see #8245).
             site._registry = before_import_registry
-            raise
+
+            # Decide whether to bubble up this error. If the app just
+            # doesn't have an admin module, we can ignore the error
+            # attempting to import it, otherwise we want it to bubble up.
+            if module_has_submodule(mod, 'admin'):
+                raise