Do I have to retake my MCAT?

[glovespurple]

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Hello everyone, I have a really quick question that I was hoping to get some help with.

I took my MCAT in August of 2015. I know that MCAT test scores expire in three years, but the application cycle starts in June, which means that my MCAT wouldn't "officially" be three years old if I submitted my application on the first day. This is probably a school-by-school basis, but in general, would I have to retake the MCAT if I wanted to reapply for the upcoming cycle?

Thanks!

 

[sss1219]

For most schools the MCAT is good for 3 years, so applying with an august 2015 mcat for the june 2018 cycle would be valid. However, there are a handful of MDs and many DOs that have a '3 years prior to matriculation date' rule, matriculation being august 2019 if you apply next cycle so earliest valid would be august 2016 for these schools.

You will definitely want to look this up on a school-per-school basis before making your school list.

 

[Thienyl15]

For most schools the MCAT is good for 3 years, so applying with an august 2015 mcat for the june 2018 cycle would be valid. However, there are a handful of MDs and many DOs that have a '3 years prior to matriculation date' rule, matriculation being august 2019 if you apply next cycle so earliest valid would be august 2016 for these schools.

You will definitely want to look this up on a school-per-school basis before making your school list.

The “3 year by matriculation” point is for calendar years, so any MCAT in 2016 would be valid for 2019 matriculation.

There was a wrinkle this year, in that the new MCAT took effect in April 2015, so many schools limited to that date.

 

[sss1219]

There was a wrinkle this year, in that the new MCAT took effect in April 2015, so many schools limited to that date.

I don't think this is universally true. I took the first sitting of the 2015 mcat (april 2015) and had at least 3 autorejections this year for not reading the rules about mcat expiry before submitting my primary to the school, those being SUNY Downstate, PCOM, and Marian. Each school had a 3 years prior to matriculation limit, which did me in since august 2015 would have been the earliest I could take it.

So I would still check each school and call the office beforehand if you are not sure if your score is valid, just in case.