How important is the MCAT?

A frequently asked question, many wonder how important the MCAT is and how much of an impact it has in medical school admissions. Next to GPA, the MCAT is often cited as one of the most important factors and most highly correlated with quantitatively measurable standards of success in medical school [1]. This is particularly appealing to medical school admissions committees, as it gives them an impartial method of evaluating applicants in addition to the undergraduate GPA, which is often highly variable and dependent on the undergraduate institution regardless of the applicant's individual potential.

The table below provided by AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) shows the percentage of applicants admitted into at least one medical school given a certain MCAT and undergraduate GPA [2]. For the sake of simplicity, we will regard this as a table of acceptance rates, or an applicant's chances for acceptance given a certain MCAT and GPA.



Given a GPA of 3.80-4.00, we can see that admissions success is highly dependent on the MCAT score. A score of 27-29 meets the requirement for having better than a 50% of admittance, and a score of 30-32 shows a significant improvement for acceptance, sitting at 82%. Scores higher than the 33-35 range show a modest improvement in acceptance rates. An MCAT score of 39-45 with a GPA of 3.80-4.00 shows the highest acceptance rate at 91%.

At a slightly lower GPA range of 3.60-3.79, a score of 33-35 corresponds to an 80% acceptance rate, and scores higher than this range show only minimal improvement.

One common question that arises is whether a high MCAT score can make up for a lower GPA. If we look at the 3.40-3.59 GPA range, which is below the average undergraduate GPA for matriculants, a modest score of 30-32 shows only a 56% acceptance rate. However, at the 39-45 range, the rate shoots up to a respectable 79%. Thus in short, disregarding other factors, a higher MCAT can in fact help an applicant's chances given a lower GPA.

The chart also shows a positive correlation between GPA and MCAT score. If we disregard this to simplify our analysis, we can break down acceptance rates by MCAT score. A score of 24-26 corresponds to a 25% acceptance rate, 27-29 to 43%, 30-32 to 62%, 33-35 to 73%, 36-38 to 81%, and 39-45 to 86%. It is also notable that greater still are the discrepancies of acceptance rates between GPA ranks, confirming that GPA is still a very important factor.

In conclusion, MCAT is very important for medical school admissions. A higher MCAT score can offset a lower GPA to a certain extent. At higher GPA ranks, MCAT scores higher than the 30-32 range for a GPA of 3.80-4.00 and MCAT scores higher than 33-35 show only modest to minimal improvement in acceptance rates.

1. Validity of the Medical College Admission Test for Predicting Medical School Performance
2. Using MCAT Data in Medical Student Selection