Might have to re-apply with OLD MCAT - which schools?

[Mister Pie]

I really hope I'm not re-hashing some old thread-- I probably am, but searching for "old MCAT" and various other permutations hasn't helped me very much.

Anyways, as the title says, I am basically looking at the likelihood of re-applying. I am on several waitlists but it seems like this year (like any other year, haha) has been awfully competitive and so I can't help but start preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, I took my MCAT August 2005, which from what I can tell, means that my scores are about to expire at very many schools. Does anyone here have a list of schools which take MCAT scores that are older than three years?

I'm very on the fence on immediately re-applying this year, since I would ideally like to contact some of the schools and see what I can do to improve my application, but I'd like to at least keep the choice open if possible.

 

[Mister Pie]

Does my post smell funny or something?

 

[nick_carraway]

I asked a med school counselor at the U. of Michigan if they accepted scores more than 3 years old. They said that it wasn't a school-to-school decision, but rather a rule passed down from AMCAS.

 

[Depakote]

I think you might find a few schools (Texas?) that take MCATs older than 3 years, but you will be substantially limited and if you aren't a resident the odds against you are even worse.

I would recommend you re-take the MCAT if you want a fighting chance. Sorry.

 

[goosie]

I really hope I'm not re-hashing some old thread-- I probably am, but searching for "old MCAT" and various other permutations hasn't helped me very much.

Anyways, as the title says, I am basically looking at the likelihood of re-applying. I am on several waitlists but it seems like this year (like any other year, haha) has been awfully competitive and so I can't help but start preparing for the worst. Unfortunately, I took my MCAT August 2005, which from what I can tell, means that my scores are about to expire at very many schools. Does anyone here have a list of schools which take MCAT scores that are older than three years?

I'm very on the fence on immediately re-applying this year, since I would ideally like to contact some of the schools and see what I can do to improve my application, but I'd like to at least keep the choice open if possible.

Hi,

So my fiance applied this cycle with the MCAT from Aug 2004. He only ran in to a problem with a handful of schools about this. Although the 3-year rule is an AMCAS rule, the schools can decide exactly what "3-year" means. For this previous cycle, most schools defined this as "3-years when you apply"- so the 2004 MCAT was fine b/c my fiance submitted everything in 2007. There were some schools (NYMC, Dartmouth, Penn State, Tufts- we really only applied to New England schools) that wouldn't accept his application b/c they defined the rule to mean "3-years from when you matriculate," so his MCAT was too old for them.

I think the new MSAR is out, it might be worth coughing up the $25 to see which schools will accept your score. I don't know if schools change their policy year to year, but my fiance was able to apply to 17 schools with his "old" MCAT (and received 10 interviews and 2 acceptances, so I really don't think the schools considered his scores "old" at all...)

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Pedsbro]

It is definitely a school-by-school decision, not an AMCAS one. I don't have my new MSAR in front of me, but I definitely saw schools that took pretty old MCATs...I was very surprised. The reason I looked specifically for that myself is because I'm in a similar situation...I took mine in April 2006. There are a few schools that specifically say they'll take back to either all of 2006, only August 2006, and some only take MCATs as old at Jan. 2007 (when it went fully computerized...LAME!). But there are a handful that were taking 2005 tests (for this next cycle). So get the new MSAR and check it out or check out the website of each school you're interested in. Re-confirm the info with every school you're interested in too (see below)


Some notable mistakes in the new MSAR 09-10 (i emailed these schools and confirmed the mistakes):

Univ of Cincinnati
Southern Illinois Univ
UC San Francisco

All three of these schools will take MCAT scores from all of 2006 (April+August), not just August 2006 as listed in the MSAR.

 

[ChePibe]

I was in a very similar situation as you are now. I actually took the MCAT back in 2004 (10V, 12P, 12B) so I actually had to reconsider taking the exam (I applied once since then but had to withdraw due to personal issues). After contacting a lot of the schools it seemed as though a few of them required the exam to be 3 years old from the application but the vast majority like it to be from the time of matriculation. In any case, the message in I got from all the schools was to retake the exam and do as well or better than last time. I personally did not want to limit my chances of acceptance so I retook it with a good outcome.
Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Shoot, now I'm glad that I chose to take the MCAT last September to replace my Aug 2005 score. I didn't think it would be a huge factor with most schools but like someone else posted, a few schools interpret the rules differently.

 

[Mister Pie]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I'm gonna have to cross my fingers extra hard now to get off some waitlists. In the meantime, I should probably start planning to retake my MCAT so I can apply in 2009.