Yes, medical schools see every MCAT score you’ve earned since April 2003. The AAMC has maintained a full disclosure policy since then, meaning you cannot hide, delete, or selectively report individual attempts. Your scores are automatically pulled into your application the moment they’re released.
How the Full Disclosure Policy Works
When you apply through AMCAS (the application system for MD programs), all MCAT scores from April 2003 onward are included in your application automatically. You don’t send them manually, and you can’t choose which ones to include. Scores from exams taken before 2003 also appear if they were previously released to AMCAS.
The same principle applies to DO programs and Texas schools. TMDSAS, the application service for Texas medical and dental schools, requires applicants to list every MCAT date, including past attempts and any future scheduled sittings. Applicants must request that scores from all tests be released directly by the AAMC. TMDSAS does note that scores older than a few years won’t be considered for the current cycle, but they still appear on your record.
The One Exception: Voided Scores
If you void your exam at the end of test day, that score is never generated and never reported to anyone. The AAMC is explicit on this point: information from voided exams is not included on score reports sent to medical schools. A note that you voided will appear in your personal MCAT Score Reporting System, but only you can see it. Schools have no way of knowing you sat for the exam that day.
This is the only way to take the MCAT without it appearing on your record. Once you choose to have your exam scored, the result is permanent and visible to every school you apply to.
How Schools Evaluate Multiple Scores
Seeing all your scores doesn’t mean every school weighs them the same way. Admissions committees vary widely in their approach. Some focus on your highest total score. Others look at your most recent attempt. A smaller number may consider the average across attempts or look at section-level performance across sittings. There is no standardized reporting structure between institutions, and schools have full discretion in how they interpret retake data.
What most admissions committees do pay attention to is the trend. A significant jump from your first attempt to your second generally reads as a positive signal: you identified weaknesses, studied effectively, and improved. A score that drops or stays flat after a retake can raise concerns about judgment or preparation. Multiple attempts with minimal improvement tend to work against applicants more than a single low score would on its own.
What Retake Data Actually Shows
AAMC data from over 47,000 second-time test takers shows the median gain is two to three total points for students whose first score fell between 472 and 517. For those who initially scored 518 or above, the median gain was zero. That’s a critical number if you’re already in a competitive range and thinking about a retake for a marginal bump.
There’s also significant variation in both directions. Some retakers gained well over four points, while others actually scored lower the second time. A retake is not a guaranteed improvement, and since schools will see both numbers, a decrease creates a harder story to tell in your application.
How Long Scores Stay Relevant
Most medical schools accept MCAT scores from the previous two to three years, though exact policies vary by institution. TMDSAS, for example, will not consider scores older than a few cycles for the current application year, even though those scores still appear on your record. Older scores don’t disappear from your file; they just carry less weight or may fall outside a school’s accepted window.
If you took the MCAT five years ago and are reapplying, schools will still see that earlier score alongside any new attempt. The old score won’t count toward their admissions criteria if it’s outside their validity window, but it remains part of your visible testing history.
What This Means for Retake Decisions
Because every scored attempt becomes a permanent part of your application, the decision to retake should be strategic rather than impulsive. A retake makes the most sense when you can clearly identify what went wrong the first time (illness on test day, insufficient preparation in a specific section, poor timing) and have a concrete plan to address it.
If you’re mid-exam and realize things aren’t going well, voiding is worth serious consideration. You lose the registration fee and the test day, but you keep a clean record. Once scores post, they’re visible to every program you’ll ever apply to through AMCAS, AACOMAS, or TMDSAS. There’s no appeals process, no score deletion, and no way to explain away a number that admissions committees can see for themselves.