2016 Cycle applicants cannot use 2014 MCAT?

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nwu

Just yes
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I thought I had everything planned out but apparently this will not work:

I had wanted to take the MCAT summer of 2014, the end of my junior year, take a gap year and apply during the 2016 cycle since MCAT scores are good for 2 to 3 years.

My pre-med advisor recently told me this will not work and it seems my entire future needs a massive revamp. Here is what she said:

"According to the AAMC website, students applying in the 2016 cycle or later should plan to take the new exam. Thus, although MCAT scores are ordinarily good for two or three years, this will not apply during the transition to the new test..."


I'm sure she is right but are there anyone else in the same situation or has someone else heard conflicting rules about this? The AAMC dosen't really specifically address my question, but has anyone else heard something else? It seems completely unfair that this new 2015 MCAT is applied retroactively to us and that "old" MCAT score pre-2015 will no longer hold. I did not realize this and so it seems I can no longer take a gap year since I haven't even considered taking sociology classes into my schedule. Wish I was born 2 years earlier or something...
Comments?
 
I thought I had everything planned out but apparently this will not work:

I had wanted to take the MCAT summer of 2014, the end of my junior year, take a gap year and apply during the 2016 cycle since MCAT scores are good for 2 to 3 years.

My pre-med advisor recently told me this will not work and it seems my entire future needs a massive revamp. Here is what she said:

"According to the AAMC website, students applying in the 2016 cycle or later should plan to take the new exam. Thus, although MCAT scores are ordinarily good for two or three years, this will not apply during the transition to the new test..."


I'm sure she is right but are there anyone else in the same situation or has someone else heard conflicting rules about this? The AAMC dosen't really specifically address my question, but has anyone else heard something else? It seems completely unfair that this new 2015 MCAT is applied retroactively to us and that "old" MCAT score pre-2015 will no longer hold. I did not realize this and so it seems I can no longer take a gap year since I haven't even considered taking sociology classes into my schedule. Wish I was born 2 years earlier or something...
Comments?


The AAMC does not decide this, individual schools do, and even if they did they have said no such thing. Your advisor is wrong, but what's new 🙄

Actually, the AAMC says the precise opposite of your advisor in this ppt presentation on slide 11.
 
The AAMC really can't mandate things like that, only give recommendations at most, so it's ultimately the decision of the school.

This is actually from the AAMC website:

"Each medical school establishes its own policy for the oldest MCAT score that will be considered in admissions. It is the applicant's responsibility to verify each school's policy.

It is likely that medical schools will continue to accept current MCAT scores for a period of time after the MCAT2015 exam is introduced. The AAMC will work with medical schools to make all MCAT scores available through AMCAS and the MCAT Score Reporting Service through the 2017 or 2018 application cycle (to be determined), after which only MCAT2015 scores will be reported. For medical schools that accept older (i.e., pre-2015) MCAT scores after the AAMC discontinues the automatic transmission of these older MCAT scores, applicants will still be able to obtain and send their pre-2015 score reports from the MCAT Testing History (THx) System."

https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/faqs/

So looks like you SHOULD be good to apply in the 2016 cycle, as long as the schools you're applying to still accept a 2014 MCAT. I can't imagine any school making the abrupt switch to the new system in 2016 and leaving out the people with a valid pre-2015 MCAT.
 
Thank you for replying so fast. I did not read that either. I guess she is wrong somewhat. I guess the one line on AAMC homepage about the 2015 MCAT was misleading since they never discussed people like me in this predicament. I was panicking the entire day figuring out if I could stuff my senior year with socio/psych classes. It would only make sense for them to accept pre-2015 MCATs otherwise a lot of people with gap years might end up not graduating having to take additional psych/socio classes.

Would it put someone at a disadvantage using the pre-2015 MCAT for the 2016 cycle? I would think my score would be slightly "better" since they actually know from many years what a good pre-2015 MCAT is,
versus the new 2015 MCAT which admissions would see the new MCAT scores for the first time in the 2016 cycle with no previous baseline to compare it to.
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was (unofficially) standard to allow MCAT scores to be valid at the majority of schools for three years. If schools did not allow the 2014 MCAT for the 2016 cycle, they would be putting anyone who takes the 2014 MCAT at a HUGE and unfair disadvantage since all who came before and all who will come after will probably get three years to use their scores, and could/can more easily plan gap years or not worry about their MCAT score if they should need to re-apply (unless their score was bad).
 
I thought I had everything planned out but apparently this will not work:

I had wanted to take the MCAT summer of 2014, the end of my junior year, take a gap year and apply during the 2016 cycle since MCAT scores are good for 2 to 3 years.

My pre-med advisor recently told me this will not work and it seems my entire future needs a massive revamp. Here is what she said:

"According to the AAMC website, students applying in the 2016 cycle or later should plan to take the new exam. Thus, although MCAT scores are ordinarily good for two or three years, this will not apply during the transition to the new test..."


I'm sure she is right but are there anyone else in the same situation or has someone else heard conflicting rules about this? The AAMC dosen't really specifically address my question, but has anyone else heard something else? It seems completely unfair that this new 2015 MCAT is applied retroactively to us and that "old" MCAT score pre-2015 will no longer hold. I did not realize this and so it seems I can no longer take a gap year since I haven't even considered taking sociology classes into my schedule. Wish I was born 2 years earlier or something...
Comments?

Your premed adviser just justified her incompetence. What's the situation for nontrads, reapplicants or those who took gap years?
 
She told me the last time they made a change this big, all schools had to immediately switch. But I suppose times have changed and I'll trust what AAMC has on that powerpoint. I will ask medical school admissions and maybe contact AAMC directly to make sure that some schools decide for whatever reason to go cold turkey on us.
But thanks for alleviating my anxieties! (and trust me I was really freaking out at one point)
 
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Thank you for replying so fast. I did not read that either. I guess she is wrong somewhat. I guess the one line on AAMC homepage about the 2015 MCAT was misleading since they never discussed people like me in this predicament. I was panicking the entire day figuring out if I could stuff my senior year with socio/psych classes. It would only make sense for them to accept pre-2015 MCATs otherwise a lot of people with gap years might end up not graduating having to take additional psych/socio classes.

Would it put someone at a disadvantage using the pre-2015 MCAT for the 2016 cycle? I would think my score would be slightly "better" since they actually know from many years what a good pre-2015 MCAT is,
versus the new 2015 MCAT which admissions would see the new MCAT scores for the first time in the 2016 cycle with no previous baseline to compare it to.

They'll most likely gauge your score based on the scores they saw from the prior year if the scores do end up dropping that drastically year over year. At the very least, I highly doubt it'll put you at a disadvantage.
 
Do you guys think I would still need to take all the required courses? I'm not sure the AAMC has even released what would be pre-req courses to take just that Psychology and Sociology and Biochem will be on there. Thankfully I will have taken Psychology and Biochem, but there is no way I would be able to fit a Sociology course now. I think I may be jumping the gun since we don't even know which specific courses to actually take?
I just want everything to be at an even playing field when I apply and not be penalized for being at such an awkward time.
 
Thank you for replying so fast. I did not read that either. I guess she is wrong somewhat. I guess the one line on AAMC homepage about the 2015 MCAT was misleading since they never discussed people like me in this predicament. I was panicking the entire day figuring out if I could stuff my senior year with socio/psych classes. It would only make sense for them to accept pre-2015 MCATs otherwise a lot of people with gap years might end up not graduating having to take additional psych/socio classes.

Would it put someone at a disadvantage using the pre-2015 MCAT for the 2016 cycle? I would think my score would be slightly "better" since they actually know from many years what a good pre-2015 MCAT is,
versus the new 2015 MCAT which admissions would see the new MCAT scores for the first time in the 2016 cycle with no previous baseline to compare it to.
I'd say she was grossly wrong. Those kinds of statements could cause panic in a lot of students and force them into unnecessary situations that aren't in their best interest.

You are unlikely to be at any disadvantage unless you think you had the potential to score really well compared to your peers on the new MCAT. The MCAT is a normalized test, so no matter which version you take, they will likely just evaluate your score with respect to the rest of the population who took that version. I'd stick pre-2015 if I were in your position.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was (unofficially) standard to allow MCAT scores to be valid at the majority of schools for three years. If schools did not allow the 2014 MCAT for the 2016 cycle, they would be putting anyone who takes the 2014 MCAT at a HUGE and unfair disadvantage since all who came before and all who will come after will probably get three years to use their scores, and could/can more easily plan gap years or not worry about their MCAT score if they should need to re-apply (unless their score was bad).

That's the most common trend, and it's unlikely that schools will change it. These schools will be around for many many years after this little incident. There's not a strong incentive to rush into a new process that they know less about when they are already quite experienced at evaluating the old MCAT. The extra two years it would take to "phase in" the new version is not a huge trouble and I'd be surprised if they rushed the students by refusing to accept the old version at a much earlier date.

Do you guys think I would still need to take all the required courses? I'm not sure the AAMC has even released what would be pre-req courses to take just that Psychology and Sociology and Biochem will be on there. Thankfully I will have taken Psychology and Biochem, but there is no way I would be able to fit a Sociology course now. I think I may be jumping the gun since we don't even know which specific courses to actually take?
I just want everything to be at an even playing field when I apply and not be penalized for being at such an awkward time.

I highly doubt it. Schools will likely make it "recommended" for all the cohorts until that point where only students taking the new MCAT can apply.
 
I had the same question; I'm a freshman planning to take the MCAT summer after sophomore year, not because I want to avoid the 2015 MCAT but because I can study better with no classes and also I'll have my pre reqs done. Is this a good idea?
 
Do you guys think I would still need to take all the required courses? I'm not sure the AAMC has even released what would be pre-req courses to take just that Psychology and Sociology and Biochem will be on there. Thankfully I will have taken Psychology and Biochem, but there is no way I would be able to fit a Sociology course now. I think I may be jumping the gun since we don't even know which specific courses to actually take?
I just want everything to be at an even playing field when I apply and not be penalized for being at such an awkward time.

Again, this is not something the AAMC mandates. Schools set the pre-reqs, not AAMC. Even if AAMC recommends biochem, psych, and sociology to take the new MCAT, if the schools you are interested in do not require those, you don't have to take them. There's no need to take a sociology course if you're not taking the 2015 MCAT.
 
I had the same question; I'm a freshman planning to take the MCAT summer after sophomore year, not because I want to avoid the 2015 MCAT but because I can study better with no classes and also I'll have my pre reqs done. Is this a good idea?

Yes, you would be fine doing that.
 
She told me the last time they made a change this big, all schools had to immediately switch.

Wrong again if she's talking about when they switched from a paper MCAT to a computer MCAT. You could still use the paper score.
 
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