2016 Cycle applicants cannot use 2014 MCAT?

[nwu]

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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?

 

[Darth]

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 sure hope this isn't the case. Also wouldn't that be up to each individual school, whether they would accept old MCAT scores or not?

 

[circulus vitios]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. Even if they aren't requiring the new MCAT, some schools are requiring students to take sociology, psychology, and biochem classes starting in 2014.

 

[Shams al Deen]

Hey, sometimes advisers are wrong. I didn't see anything like that on their website. I think you should email or give the AAMC a call to confirm this, its actually a pretty big deal. And like another poster said, I imagine it would be up to individual schools to decide.

 

[AlabamaPop]

FYI: I was told by someone that AAMC has told the colleges to try and push 2016 students to take the new exam over the old one. The more people that can take the exam in 2015, the more accurate data they can collect from the secret experimental questions that are not counted towards the scores in order to have a more standardized bell curve when 2016 rolls out.

Apparently, the 2013-2014 test-takers who take the trial section, can't all be trusted since they know its a trial section that won't affect their scores and just want the gift card so won't put all efforts and thus, skewing the performance data.

Again, I am not claiming this is true or false. I am just but a messenger 🙂