MCAT Admissions Insights

Admissions Officers’ Survey Data Snapshot

MCAT Admissions Insights delivers evidence-based insights, resources, and tools to help you use MCAT scores in ways that align with your school’s missions and contexts. We invite you to join the conversation and share your reactions, comments, and insights with us.

Note: A total of 116 schools responded to the 2021 Admissions Officers’ Survey (76% response rate). Percentages shown at the top of the chart represent responses of “a lot of pressure” or “a moderate amount of pressure” to the survey questions: “From each of the following internal/external factors, how much pressure does your school face to accept applicants with high MCAT scores?” The 84% in the middle represents responses of “yes” to the survey question: “Does your school provide information about students’ success in the curriculum to the admissions office so you can use that information for future planning?” Percentages shown at the bottom represent responses of “currently use” and “will consider using if available” to the survey question: “Which of the following data summaries about your school’s applicants, accepted applicants, and matriculants do you currently use to contextualize applicants’ MCAT scores and UGPAs?”

Driving inclusive excellence: Why it’s important for schools to set high expectations and be fully committed to every student’s success.

Data Highlights

• Schools face more internal than external pressures to admit students with high MCAT scores.
• Most internal pressures center on concerns about student success. More than half of schools are concerned about students passing licensure exams, matching to residency, graduating in four or five years, and the financial and social risks of not graduating.
• In contrast, only about 30% of schools saw external pressures from US News and World Report rankings or expectations from their administration or board.
• Most schools provide information about student success to admissions in order to recalibrate admissions practices. Many schools are interested in examining student performance data by MCAT/GPA in the future.

Join the Conversation

• Which survey finding, if any, surprised you? Why?
• Which student performance data would best help your school determine how to evaluate academic metrics in admissions?
• What are some potential barriers to using student performance data to inform admissions practices?
• Share your feedback or questions for further study.
• Attend the Learn Serve Lead session entitled “Admitting Diverse Classes: Strategies, Barriers, and Possibilities for Using MCAT Scores in Context” on Nov. 9 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. ET. Register here.

Additional Resources

• Read Shifting the Curve: Fostering Academic Success in a Diverse Student Body, by Elks, et al., published in Academic Medicine in January 2018.
• Read Admissions Is Not Enough: The Racial Achievement Gap in Medical Education, by Jones, et al., published in Academic Medicine in February 2021.
• Read “The Diversity and Success of Medical School Applicants with Scores in the Middle Third of the MCAT Score Scale,” by Terregino, et al., published in Academic Medicine in March 2020.

• To access previous MCAT-related communications, click here (AAMC log-in required).
• Contact us anytime at MCATAdmissions@aamc.org or visit our website at aamc.org/mcatadmissions.
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