Washington, D.C., August 11, 2004 - Late last week, the Alameda County Superior Court turned down a request to force the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT®) to use California state law when considering applications for special testing conditions from students who did not qualify as "disabled" under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) issued the following statement in response to the Court's ruling:

"The AAMC is pleased that the Court denied the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction.

We appreciate the Court recognizing how extremely difficult it would be for the MCAT to use a different standard in each state for granting testing accommodations instead of a single national standard that conforms to the Americans with Disabilities Act. By weighing in on how critical standardization is, the Court has acknowledged the importance of being able to compare MCAT scores nationwide."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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