Applying in 2016-2017 with old MCAT score

[Keight]

Is anyone else in this current cycle applying with an old MCAT score? I took the MCAT in December 2014 just before the new version came out and I'm now wondering if that has impacted my application.

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[AAAmeds]

I am and I think there are lots of applicants this cycle that are using their old mcat score. Not sure if there is any disadvantage in using the old score tho.

 

[lpp06]

I am.

Next year will be the first cycle with mostly the new test takers

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

.

 

[efle]

I am. The only person to mention it expressed happiness that they actually understood it. I don't think it will hurt you whatsoever.

The latest AAMC chart shows very similar/identical admit rates for people with comparable MCATs between the two version. Overall admit rate was actually a lot lower for the new MCAT cohort, but they also had a much higher number of people applying with low end scores (that is, many more people with scores in the low 500s went ahead and applied than was traditionally the case for mid-upper 20s)

 

[Keight]

I am. The only person to mention it expressed happiness that they actually understood it. I don't think it will hurt you whatsoever.

I'm glad to hear it. I didn't find SDN until well into this cycle and reading the wealth of information has been eye opening to all of the things that I could/should have considered when I was preparing for my application. I have faired well so far this cycle, but I still think of what I could have done better. I've been increasingly nervous that schools would see my old MCAT score as trying to take an easier (i.e. shorter and with less subjects) test or wonder if I was lazy for not retaking it. In reality, I just hadn't known that I would be taking an extra year before applying and was nervous that a retake wouldn't improve my score and therefore look bad.

 

[Dr.Kat]

I've been increasingly nervous that schools would see my old MCAT score as trying to take an easier (i.e. shorter and with less subjects) test or wonder if I was lazy for not retaking it.

no, they don't think this. stop overthinking it so much! you took it when you took it and you believe it's a good enough score to apply and be accepted, there's nothing wrong with that.

and I applied with an old score and a new score, it didn't matter. I did notice when I researched each school that I applied to that every school had different rules to which type of score they accepted and considered. Do your research and you should be fine.

 

[ready2go2]

I am and I think there are lots of applicants this cycle that are using their old mcat score. Not sure if there is any disadvantage in using the old score tho.

From AAMC table A-16 "In 2016, 45.9% of the applicants applied with scores from the 1991 version (the old version) of the MCAT® exam only. Additionally, 52.4% of the applicants applied with scores from the new MCAT® exam (20.0% applied with scores from the old exam and the new exam, and 32.4% applied with scores from the new exam only)"

So definitely plenty of applicants with the old score.

 

[efle]

From AAMC table A-16 "In 2016, 45.9% of the applicants applied with scores from the 1991 version (the old version) of the MCAT® exam only. Additionally, 52.4% of the applicants applied with scores from the new MCAT® exam (20.0% applied with scores from the old exam and the new exam, and 32.4% applied with scores from the new exam only)"

So definitely plenty of applicants with the old score.

That's for the previous cycle, they call it 2016 after the fact that applicants enter in Fall 2016 (after all, nobody yet knows the matriculation values for the current cycle!). It was a very even split because many people applying Summer 2015 took the test before the new version debut in January 2015.

I think for this cycle (the "2017 cycle") it will be more like a fifth or a quarter of people carrying old scores.

 

[ready2go2]

That's for the previous cycle, they call it 2016 after the fact that applicants enter in Fall 2016 (after all, nobody yet knows the matriculation values for the current cycle!). It was a very even split because many people applying Summer 2015 took the test before the new version debut in January 2015.

I think for this cycle (the "2017 cycle") it will be more like a fifth or a quarter of people carrying old scores.

Ah yes, I forgot about that confusing naming system.

 

[efle]

Ah yes, I forgot about that confusing naming system.

My favorite is the MSAR naming, where the 2017 Edition is for applicants to use in summer 2016 and is based on the 2015 data.