@Jugulator20 When I was screening apps for interviews, they were scored based on highest single sitting. I would occasionally mention the super score if it would be really different. Never did a straight average.
n = 1, but my D had 2 MCAT scores that were not great, probably would have screened her out. She then took it a 3rd time after taking a prep course, and did significantly better. She got IIs followed by acceptances at 3 MD schools. The MCAT was discussed at interviews, and it was the highest score that they looked at.
āOne and doneā is absolutely the best advice, but if that ship has sailed, a subsequent better MCAT can improve your chances.
For reporting purposes (US News, AAMC data reports, etc), med schools always use the highest MCAT regardless of their internal score policy. (Because it makes them look more competitive.) But for adcomm discussion/decision purposes, some schools do and some donāt. Several of the adcomms posting on SDN report that their schools definitely average since thatās the best indicator of future standardized exam (USMLE) performance. (Several studies have specifically examined at this and that was their conclusion.)
AMCAS can recommend, but neither AAMC nor the LCME has any power to regulate how individual med schools use/weight MCAT scores in admissions. Itās not an issue/topic covered by LCME or AAMC guidelines, nor something thatās examined for accreditation. Individual schools are not require to report their policy to AMCAS or to any reporting/accrediting organization. MSAR doesnāt list any information about how schools handle multiple MCATs and neither do individual school admission webpages. That info is available, but only to individuals who contact a med school and ask specifically about their multiple MCAT policies.
So, no, I donāt think schools say they average just to appease AMCAS.
But as you saidātwo wildly different scores? It would be natural to wonder which oneās the fluke.
Also, from my brief experience seeing applicantsā scores, unless the sittings are separated by >9 months, the score is rarely significantly different. I.e. the students who take it during junior spring and then take it again junior summer to try and still apply that cycle donāt end up helping themselves at all. Even with significant time many donāt raise their score much, but short turnaround time between tests was a highly sensitive predictor for āno improvementā
EDIT: and Iām fairly certain my school openly says to applicants they consider the best MCAT sitting.
Did i miss the big reveal about what school this is. 
{highest) Tulane, Rowan, Cooper, Hofstra, Columbia, SUNY-Buffalo, Frank Netter, Harvard, Northwestern, NYU, Ohio State, SLU, Rush, Pitt, Colorado, Illinois, VCU, Western MI, UNM
{most recent) all TX med schools, Baylor, Georgetown, UA-Phoenix, Einstein, Albany, Rosalind Franklin, Temple, UCSF, Utah
(all considered but most recent given greater weighting) Dartmouth, Drexel, Duke, JHU, Loyola, Miami, VA Tech, Yale, NYU
(average) UWash, Stanford, Wisconsin, Stonybrook, Boston, Michigan, Oakland, Jefferson, Penn State, UCLA, UCSD, Cincinnati, SUNY-Upstate, USC, Vermont, Wake Forest, Geisinger, NYMC (last 2 scores only), EVMS (last 2 scores only), Tufts (last 2 scores only)
(superscore) MCW, Vanderbilt
Soā¦thereās no rhyme or reason to policies on multiple MCATs
Thatās one secret Iāll never tell ā¦ You know you love me. XOXO, IWBB
Checking in here after a hiatus from CC. DD submitted her app the 2nd week of June and is in the final stretch of writing and submitting the secondaries that sheās received. There are less than a handful that she hasnāt received yet, but that will give her more time to pre-write those essays after she submits the the ones she is currently working on. She just graduated in May and is taking a gap year. She is working in research pretty much full time and is working on secondaries in the evenings and on weekends. The time sure has flown by! It seems like she just started college and now in what seems like the blink of an eye, sheās applying to med school.
Two of my good friendās kids are applying this cycle. Both have an amazing application. One kid has mcat of 513 and the other one around 515. Both have volunterering, shadowing, research. Basically the works. Amazing recommendation letters. I know because their school give recommendation letters based on low to highest recommendation. Both got highest. Both applied first day application opened. And their school list is good.
Neither got any interviews yet. I know this is a long cycle and they say you donāt panic until thanksgiving. But this doesnāt make sense to me. My son started getting interviews in mud July and at this point had bunch of invites already. And I think these kids application is a thousand times better then his. Anyone have any ideas?
If they are Texan applying to Texas schools with those scores and GPA over 3.8, they would have gotten some interviews by now. It all depends on where they are from, where they went to school, and where they applied. If they are from a state with lots of med schools and strong in state preference, most OOS schools wait.
Advice needed:
My son has a 3.47 GPA (one bad semester freshman year-yes, he addresses it in his personal statement). Biochemistry major. He took the summer to prepare for the MCAT because he wasnāt ready earlier. Took it July 20th, and just got his score: 522
Because he is late in the cycle he had thought he should just apply to our state school and his undergraduate state school, but he scored higher on the MCAT than expected. Now he is wondering if he should take a gap year and apply to more schools, or just go on and go for it now.
How late is he ? What would you all recommend?
Late is med schools receiving his primary application after Labor Day.
Is your sonās AMCAS application verified? Is he in queue for verification?
Per SDN, verification is taking about 3 weeks right now.
The decision to continue with an application this cycle or withdraw is highly personal.
Will your son suffer buyerās remorse if heās accepted at one of schools heās applying to? If heās really jonesing for a higher ranked school, then he needs to withdraw all his applications from AMCAS and skip this cycle completely.
The cost of delaying his application a year is equal to one yearās salary as an attending, or about $200+K. Is the delay worth the potential lost income to him?
Itās best to apply one time with strongest possible application. Whatās sonās sGPA? If my assumption that S has just finished junior year is correct, maybe skipping applying this cycle and doing well (all As) in senior courses, science especially, would help raise his cGPA, sGPA somewhat and further show his freshman year start was a fluke. S could add extra relevant ECs to apply with an extra year. Applying to DO schools might be a consideration.
Your son may want to peruse these threads at SDNālow GPA/High MCAT to see how other applicants have fared with similar stats:
Your son should know that there are no guarantees heāll get accepted at a more competitive school next year. Or even if he does that he will choose to enroll there.
My D1, who was low GPA/high MCAT applicants with a very strong upward trend, chose to attend her state med school anyway due its low COA (vs the private med schools she was accepted toāabout a $45-50K/year price differential). She did well in class & in in her clinicals, scored well on her USMLEs, entered her specialty of choice at a brand name [Ivy] residency program and will āmake bookā as she puts it next year as new attending.
@pep901 - It sounds like you only have one state school. Have you checked into their interview schedules and how fast they fill the class?
We have time for the in-state school University of Tennessee Health & Sciences. Also, his undergraduate is University of Arkansas, and there is still time there.
Not verified yet, but everything is in.
https://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/documents/admissions/profiles/profile-of-admissions-2017.pdf
Tennessee has 90%+ instate bias and Arkansas has a similar bias but one canāt be a resident of both States right?
He far exceeds the MCAT score needed for Tennessee and with a little bit of a better GPA, he could be a contender at many schools. My suggestion is to think this through and see how his GPA improves during senior year (he is still in school right?) and wait for next year while selectively applying only to the state school this year.
What would he do during a gap year? My daughter took an intentional gap year. She wanted to focus on her grades during senior year.
She did a year of service with our church after graduating Tulane and did her med school applications that year. Her GPA was a little higher than your sonās, her MCAT was lower, and she had 2 acceptances, the only two places she interviewed. She did cancel some interviews after she had the 1st acceptance.
Having a focused gap year that fleshed her out on paper really helped.
Heās not sure what he would do in the gap. He will have about 300 clinical hours by the end of this semester. 300 research hours. 30 hours in shadowing.
if he applied just to the in-state, and didnāt get in, would it hurt him next cycle?
AMCAS will automatically mark him as a re-applicant on his primary at any school he applies to this year when he applies again next cycle. Re-applicants are expected to show improvement in their new application over their previous application. (Med schools actually keep applications on file for a couple of years so they can compare the files of re-applicants.)
Unless specifically asked on a secondary, your son will not have to disclose that he applied last cycle and failed to get accepted.
Shadowing hours are on the light side. Did he shadow primary care providers?
Does he have any community service hours? Adcomms value community service more than research in applicants.
See p. 14: <a href="https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf">https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf</a>
ETA: Tennessee appears to highly protected in-state admissions, with UT matriculating less than 10% OOS.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321442/data/factstablea1.pdf
This is good thing for in-state applicants.