MCAT Timing and Medical School Application Cycles

U.S. medical school applications are submitted through two primary services: AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) for MD programs and AACOMAS (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service) for DO programs. Both services open for application submission in late May/early June of the application year, and AMCAS transmits verified applications to medical schools beginning in late June. Medical schools receive applications, conduct initial screening, and send secondary application invitations on a rolling basis beginning in late June through September. The rolling admissions structure means the absolute earliest applicants (submitting verified applications and secondaries in late June through early August) have the greatest advantage — interview invitations and admissions offers begin in August and continue through February. MCAT scores take approximately 30-35 days from the test date to be released. This creates a critical timing constraint: to have MCAT scores available when AMCAS submits verified applications in late June, test-takers must sit for the MCAT no later than late April or early May of the application year. An MCAT taken in June means scores are not available until late July or August — during the rolling admissions window, but significantly disadvantaged relative to applicants whose completed applications were transmitted in late June. July or August MCAT dates push scores into September or October, by which time many interview slots are already allocated.