Tools and Resources for Using MCAT® Scores in Medical School Admissions

The tools and resources on this page are designed to help you prepare your committee members on how to use MCAT^® scores in your admissions process.

A Closer Look: MCAT Microlearning Video Series 

A Closer Look is a series of microlearning videos to help admissions officers and their admissions committees understand the content of the MCAT exam and how it is scored. These videos were created to help you and your committees consider MCAT scores as one element in your holistic admissions process. 

Using MCAT Data in 2023 Medical Student Selection

This comprehensive guide presents information about how to interpret and use MCAT scores in the context of holistic review (PDF). You can also download an accompanying PowerPoint presentation of the guide's content to help you prepare your admissions committee for the 2023 application cycle.

• Concepts and skills measured by the exam

• Characteristics of examinees and how they prepare for and perform on the exam

• How admissions committees work with scores in admissions

• How well MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs predict students’ performance in medical school

• Updated validity findings that show:

  • A strong relationship exists between MCAT scores and students’ preclerkship, clerkship, and USMLE licensure exam performance.

  • Some students perform better than their MCAT scores predict, and others perform less well than their scores predict.

  • Using MCAT total scores and undergraduate GPAs together provides a better prediction of medical student performance than using either one alone.

  • Students with a wide range of MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs pass the Step 1 and Step 2 CK exam on the first attempt, progress to year three on time, and graduate within four or five years.

MCAT Exam Repeat Policies and Data

Learn more about the MCAT policies for retaking the exam, how many examinees retake the exam, the average score gains and losses by repeat test takers, and the strategies admissions officers use for examining retesters’ scores.

MCAT Validity Report 2020

Read the latest findings on how well MCAT scores and other academic metrics predict students’ performance throughout medical school, from entry to graduation. The findings in this 2020 report show for the first time the validity of MCAT scores in predicting medical students’ Step 2 CK performance and graduation in four years.