Best Foreign Medical Schools

How do Medical Schools Use MCAT Scores?

A survey of medical school admission officers showed that the MCAT exam serves three main
functions:

1. Identification of applicants who are likely to succeed in medical school and those likely to
experience academic difficulty,

2. Assessment of applicants’ specific strengths and weaknesses, and

3. Supplementation to applicants’ transcripts and letters of evaluation.

Still, the MCAT exam is just one of a set of criteria that schools use to compare qualifications of
applicants, and the emphasis that committees place on MCAT scores (as well as the range of
acceptable scores) varies from school to school. In general, MCAT scores are considered in
combination with a number of other factors, including:

undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate grade-point averages, breadth and difficulty of undergraduate course work, letters of evaluation from undergraduate advisors or others, personal comments on application forms,
involvement in extracurricular activities such as student governance and community service,
involvement in and quality of health-related work and research, participation in other activities demonstrating motivation, responsibility, maturity, integrity, resourcefulness, tolerance, perseverance, dedication to service, citizenship, or other relevant non-cognitive characteristics, compatibility between the applicant’s characteristics and professional goals and the institutional mission, knowledge of health care issues and commitment to health care,
medical school interview results, and state or county of legal residence.