Cali applicant with 3.8 looking to go to Cali MD school, what MCAT score should I aim for?

Question

Obviously I should try my best, but the best FL I've done is 510, should I be getting around 518 to be a competitive applicant for California?

Answer 1

Hey Olivia,

Your stats sound fantastic so far, so don't panic! Your question depends on a couple of factors:

1) Are you a California resident currently or not? If you are out-of-state, you will likely only be competitive with a 90th percentile score. If you are in-state, your GPA sets you at a nice advantage to be competitive even with a 510.

2) Most importantly, what does the rest of your application look like? Do you have a lot of extracurriculars, shadowing, research, volunteering, leadership experience? If the answer is yes to most of those, then you are likely in good shape as is regardless of whether or not you are in or out of state. If you answered no to most of those questions, aim for nothing less than 90th percentile.

I would like to add that you did not mention which type of practice FL you took and scored a 510 on, but if it is Kaplan or NS you are likely to already be in the 90th percentile on the AAMC version--if your critical thinking skills are as sharp as your memory. Be sure to purchase the AAMC FL's and do all of them during your final month of studying (if you have not already purchased/used them). You can thank me later. Hope this helps!

Best,

Jean-Marc