What's a Good Score on the MCAT Test?

Question: What's a Good Score on the MCAT Test?

Answer: Every medical school has a different understanding of what constitutes a "good" MCAT score, but all schools emphasize the MCAT during the admissions process. Thus your first step should be to research the average MCAT score of the students who were accepted into the specific medical school you're interested in. Most med schools publish these numbers online, so find them and take note of the average scores for each section. It's a good idea to aim higher than the average to make yourself a competitive candidate for admission into that school.

Let's start with the possibilities: every tester will score between 3-45 on the MCAT, because each of the three objective sections counts for 1-15 points. The possible scores for the Writing Section are J-T, graded alphabetically. The MCAT is scaled, so the national average on the MCAT is 8 for each objective section. You should aim above that average on each section to be considered a good candidate for medical school admissions.

If you score higher than 30, with a score close to 10 on each section, and have a writing score of P or Q, you'll be considered a competitive candidate almost anywhere. Keep in mind that schools look at the score for each section and want to see your score relatively balanced between the 3 sections - a Verbal score of 15 will not make up for scores of 7 and 8 on the science sections. Public state medical schools often accept students with averages slightly below 10 in each section, with a writing average slightly below P. The top private medical schools usually show an average of one or two points above 10 in each section, with a writing average above P.

If you need motivation to engage in MCAT test prep, remember that the MCAT is the one component of your medical school application that you can boost in a relatively short amount of time. It took you at least 3 years to build your college GPA, but you can prepare to score high on the MCAT in just a few months, and your MCAT scores will be just as important as GPA in the admissions process! High college grades may boost a mediocre MCAT score a little bit, but they won't make up for a bad score - MCAT scores are weighed very heavily during the medical school admissions process.