What MCAT score do you need to get into medical school? That’s a fair question, but one that’s difficult to give an easy and precise answer to. That’s because it depends. A higher MCAT score, all other things being equal, is going to improve your chances for admission to medical school.

Your MCAT score is not the end all be all, but it is the single most heavily weighted factor in medical school applications. That being said, you don’t need a 528 to get into a top university.

Let’s explore what score to aim for, how to assess when you’re done studying, and decide whether or not you should retake the MCAT.

Medical School Matriculant MCAT Averages & Stats

Data from the AAMC on medical school applicants indicate that the average applicant to medical school has an MCAT of 506.4, and the average successful matriculant has an MCAT of 511.5 with a standard deviation of 6.5. That means over 84% of matriculants had an MCAT above a 505.

In terms of category breakdown on each section, the averages for medical school matriculants were:

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (Chem/Phys): 127.8

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS): 127.1

Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (Bio/Biochem): 128.1

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (Psych/Soc): 128.6

Knowing this, it’s clear that with an MCAT of 504, it’s not impossible, but highly improbable to be successfully admitted to medical school. But does that mean everyone should be aiming for a 525? Not quite.

Other Factors Influencing Your Target Score

There are multiple factors you must consider when determining your target MCAT score. And it’s not just a matter of how ambitious or competitive you are.

Target Schools

The AAMC MSAR database is the official resource and best guide in determining where you are compared to successful matriculants at each medical school. You can see the average MCAT, GPA, and standard deviation for the schools you are hoping to attend.

The MSAR is a great tool not only because you get detailed information on each of your medical schools of interest, but also because you can learn of some other medical schools you weren’t even considering but may be a great fit.

MSAR is not free, costing $28 for one year or $36 for two. As an alternative, many medical school admissions websites post average GPA and MCAT score statistics which can be accessed free of charge. However, MSAR may still be worth the investment, as it contains the most up-to-date data and allows for more detailed analysis, such as describing score differences between all accepted applicants and matriculants only.

GPA

Your GPA is the second most important factor in predicting your ability to handle the academic rigor of medical school. Your MCAT and GPA are the two most important objective measurements in a medical school application. Whether that’s fair to you as a premed is not the point, as you are much more than your “numbers.” But when medical school admissions committees need ways to sift through thousands of applicants, they cannot listen to everyone’s story — they need a shortcut, and GPA and MCAT cutoffs help filter down the list to a more manageable level.

If your GPA is lower than the average GPA for matriculants at your target schools, you’ll want to aim for an above-average MCAT score to make up for it. This helps to reassure medical schools that you can in fact handle the academic rigor, and perhaps your suboptimal GPA was simply due to an adjustment period early on in college that brought down your GPA or other hiccups that arise in one’s academic life.

U.S. Allopathic Medical School Acceptance Rates by GPA and MCAT

Total GPA	472-485	486-489	490-493	494-497	498-501	502-505	506-509	510-513	514-517	518-528	All Applicants
3.80-4.00	1.3%	1.7%	6.6%	18.2%	29.7%	43.7%	59.2%	73.2%	80.5%	86.6%	64.6%
3.60-3.79	1.1%	1.2%	4.6%	11.3%	23.0%	32.3%	46.4%	62.1%	72.2%	78.6%	46.4%
3.40-3.59	0.8%	1.5%	3.2%	10.0%	18.2%	25.6%	36.0%	49.5%	61.1%	69.7%	32.4%
3.20-3.39	0.4%	0.9%	2.3%	7.1%	14.3%	21.8%	29.2%	40.3%	49.0%	56.7%	22.1%
3.00-3.19	0.5%	0.6%	1.9%	6.0%	13.8%	20.7%	25.9%	33.5%	43.3%	54.3%	16.9%
2.80-2.99	0.7%	0.6%	1.7%	3.9%	11.0%	17.0%	21.5%	26.3%	30.7%	45.2%	11.0%
2.60-2.79	0.0%	1.6%	0.9%	4.7%	10.6%	15.2%	21.2%	23.4%	37.3%	18.8%	8.1%
2.40-2.59	0.0%	0.0%	1.7%	3.2%	5.4%	10.0%	23.4%	23.7%	33.3%	–	4.9%
2.20-2.39	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	3.3%	11.6%	11.1%	16.1%	13.6%	–	–	4.3%
2.00-2.19	0.0%	0.0%	3.1%	0.0%	–	10.0%	–	–	–	–	2.0%
0.00-1.99	0.0%	–	0.0%	–		–	–	–			1.2%
All Applicants	0.5%	1.0%	3.1%	9.8%	19.9%	30.5%	44.5%	60.1%	71.7%	81.4%	42.3%

Soft Components of Your Application

The soft components of your application are those that you cannot easily put a number to — think of your personal statement, secondary essays, letters of recommendation, and of course your work & activities on your AMCAS and extracurriculars, including research. At this stage, you don’t need to worry about your essays, as you’ll be able to handle that closer to when you submit your application. However, you should fairly assess where you stand in terms of the other factors. Are you able to get truly stellar letters of recommendation that make you look like the best thing since sliced bread? Are you crushing your extracurriculars and have substantial research to back it up?

When looking at applicants, these are the factors that help sway the decision of the medical school admissions committees in whether to consider you for an interview. Students that have incredible stories, such as starting a successful non-profit for the underserved populations in a metropolis while publishing a few articles in immunology research, are the ones who don’t need to score in the 90th percentile to have a chance of getting accepted.

If you’re a student with average soft components, including extracurriculars, research, and letters of recommendation, you have more to gain with a strong MCAT score. For many of these students, a 515 or higher is a good goal to aim for, again with higher scores being better.

The Takeaway

Ultimately, there is no single target score for every student. The score you should aim for depends on two main factors: how strong the rest of your application is, and which schools you’re hoping to attend.

With approximately half of medical school matriculants scoring at a 512 or higher on their MCAT while still putting in the work on their extracurricular and research front, this isn’t the time to get complacent and pat yourself on the back for having a few clinical experiences and 1 publication.

You also shouldn’t feel overwhelmed and believe that you cannot achieve an excellent score. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years in tutoring and mentoring thousands of students through Med School Insiders, it’s that your study approach and techniques are more important than anything else — even intelligence, which neuroscientists are discovering is more malleable than initially thought.

In becoming doctors ourselves, we’ve seen first hand how inefficient and flawed current medical education is, including MCAT prep. As medical school becomes more and more competitive, students simply don’t have the time to bury themselves in books, when they also need to be attending to volunteering, clinical exposure, research, and earning a strong GPA. That’s why we developed Memm, to cut through the noise and deliver what students need — a single, easy-to-use tool that focuses on just the content you need to know for the MCAT, using the most effective methods in learning science, to deliver results fast. We’ve seen prior students jump 10 points in just 1 month of use. Learn more about how Memm can help you achieve your target MCAT score at memm.io.