5.0
Just gonna give my flowers to Sean. I was straight up LOST in the middle of my journey to taking Step 1. He helped me make a plan, pass on my first attempt, got me then through all my clinical rotations to pass my Shelf exams on the first try, got me a good Step 2 score, coached me on my Interview season (where I got a good amount of interviews bc of my scores) and just matched into Residency. Literally one of the smartest people I know. When he’s been busy, he has other people who are extremely smart and helpful too. Some of the smartest people I know! Thankful for everything they have done for me and literally getting me to this point. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be at this point without him. They are people I know I can contact whenever I need advice
Three of the Boston area's four MD schools are in Boston (Harvard Medical School, Boston University's Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Tufts, all LCME-accredited since before 1942); the fourth, the University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine, is in Worcester and has been accredited since 1971 (LCME).
In 2025-26 Boston University's medical school drew 11,429 applications for 138 first-year places, about 83 per seat, and Tufts 15,455 for 204, about 76; Harvard drew 8,275 for 165, about 50, and the Worcester school 5,630 for 233, about 24 (AAMC FACTS). The share of each entering class from Massachusetts runs from 15.2% at Harvard to 61.4% at the Worcester school (AAMC FACTS).
Facts about Boston
| School | City | LCME accreditation | Next full survey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard Medical School | Boston | Full, since before 1942 | 2026-27 |
| Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine | Boston | Full, since before 1942 | 2026-27 |
| Tufts University School of Medicine | Boston | Full, since before 1942 | 2029-30 |
| University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine | Worcester | Full, since 1971 | 2027-28 |
Accreditation: LCME directory.
- Tufts University School of Medicine's class of 2030 enrolled 204 MD students, 163 on the regular Boston Track and 41 on the Maine Track, with a mean MCAT of 514 and mean total and science GPAs of 3.84 and 3.80. (Tufts University School of Medicine)
- Tufts accepts MCAT scores from the five calendar years before enrollment, prefers the last three, considers every score in that window and notes the highest total; scores from exams taken after September are too late for that cycle. (Tufts University School of Medicine)
- For what it calls its entering Class of 2025, Boston University's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine received over 11,000 applications for about 97 four-year MD seats in a class of 138; that class's mean GPA was 3.79 and its mean MCAT sat in the 94th percentile of all examinees. (Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine)
- BU requires the MCAT by September of the application year, considers only scores from within four years of matriculation, and also requires the CASPer test by October. (Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine)
Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); Tufts University School of Medicine, Class Profile (checked November 1, 2026); Tufts University School of Medicine, MCAT (checked November 1, 2026); Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Four-Year Program (MD) (checked November 1, 2026).
What Tufts and BU publish about their classes
Tufts posts a class profile. Its class of 2030 enrolled 204 MD students: 163 on the regular Boston Track and 41 on the Maine Track, with 21 in the MD/MPH program and 4 in the MD/PhD (Tufts class profile). The class's mean MCAT was 514, its mean total GPA 3.84 and its mean science GPA 3.80. Students came from 31 states and the District of Columbia and from 77 undergraduate schools, and the average age is 24.
Boston University's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine reports its numbers in a different form. For what it calls its entering Class of 2025, it received over 11,000 applications for about 97 four-year MD seats in a class of 138; the mean undergraduate GPA was 3.79 and the mean MCAT was in the 94th percentile of the national examinee pool (BU four-year MD program). BU says about one of every four AMCAS applicants to US medical schools has included it on their list. That class was 53% women and came from 27 states and 16 countries of origin.
Harvard and the UMass Chan school in Worcester are covered on this page by AAMC's figures above; we did not find a class profile from either that we could read and cache, so we quote neither school's own averages.
How Tufts and BU treat MCAT timing and retakes
Tufts accepts MCAT scores from the five calendar years before enrollment but prefers the last three, and applicants with an older score are asked to explain the gap on the secondary application (Tufts MCAT policy). It considers every score in that window and notes the highest total. A score from an exam after September is too late to complete an application that cycle; interviews run from September to the end of March, which leaves room for applicants whose scores arrive later in the summer.
BU's window is shorter. It considers only scores from within four years of the planned matriculation date, and an applicant who has not taken the MCAT by September of the application year cannot be considered (BU four-year MD program). BU also requires the CASPer test by October. Its Early Decision plan takes applications between June 1 and August 2 and gives decisions on or before October 1.
Read together, the two rules point to the same plan for a Boston applicant who may retake: sit the first exam by spring, keep the second inside the summer, and finish before September. Because Tufts notes the highest total, a second attempt there can only add; elsewhere, check each school's own rule before you book a retake.
Medical schools in and around Boston
| School | Degree | 2025-26 applications | Applicants from Massachusetts | New students | New students from Massachusetts | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard | MD | 8,275 | 8.3% | 165 | 15.2% | 57.6% |
| BU-Chobanian Avedisian | MD | 11,429 | 8.6% | 138 | 32.6% | 52.9% |
| Tufts | MD | 15,455 | 7.4% | 204 | 26% | 64.7% |
| Massachusetts-Chan | MD | 5,630 | 20.3% | 233 | 61.4% | 66.1% |
Total for the four Boston-area MD schools: 40,789 applications, 740 first-year seats, 55 per seat (AAMC 2025 FACTS, Table A-1, AAMC short names).
Most applications: Tufts (15,455). Largest Massachusetts-resident share of a new class: Massachusetts-Chan (61.4%).
Of 1,465 Massachusetts applicants in 2025-26 (Boston included), 266 (18.2%) started at an MD school in Massachusetts, 478 (32.6%) started out of state and 721 (49.2%) did not start at any US MD school that year (AAMC Table A-5).
Massachusetts pre-meds by the numbers (the pool Boston applicants are in)
| 2025-26 | Applicants from Massachusetts | New students from Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|
| Number | 1,465 | 744 |
| Average total MCAT | 509.8 | 514.5 |
| Average total GPA | 3.71 | 3.81 |
Massachusetts sent 1,465 applicants into the 2025-26 cycle: 478 started at an MD school out of state, more than the 266 who started in Massachusetts, and 721 (49.2%) did not start at any US MD school that year (AAMC FACTS, Table A-5). Over ten years the pool moved from 1,411 to 1,465, peaking at 1,550 in 2021-22, while new Massachusetts students rose from 659 to a ten-year high of 744 (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-3 and A-4).
Massachusetts residents who started medical school in 2025-26 averaged 514.5 on the MCAT and a 3.81 GPA, against 509.8 and 3.71 for applicants (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-19 and A-20). The gap is widest in Chemical and Physical (1.3 points) and narrowest in CARS (0.9), with Biological and Psychological at 1.2 each (AAMC FACTS).
MCAT section averages for Massachusetts applicants vs. new students
| Section | Applicants | New students | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical and Physical (CPBS) | 127.3 | 128.6 | +1.3 |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning (CARS) | 126.6 | 127.5 | +0.9 |
| Biological and Biochemical (BBLS) | 127.6 | 128.8 | +1.2 |
| Psychological and Social (PSBB) | 128.4 | 129.6 | +1.2 |
Ten years of Massachusetts medical school applicants, as seen from Boston
| Year | Massachusetts applicants | Massachusetts new students |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | 1,411 | 659 |
| 2017-18 | 1,250 | 646 |
| 2018-19 | 1,269 | 612 |
| 2019-20 | 1,298 | 624 |
| 2020-21 | 1,311 | 648 |
| 2021-22 | 1,550 | 658 |
| 2022-23 | 1,479 | 728 |
| 2023-24 | 1,380 | 683 |
| 2024-25 | 1,373 | 729 |
| 2025-26 | 1,465 | 744 |
Source: AAMC 2025 FACTS, Tables A-3 and A-4.
What MCAT score Boston applicants need
There is no Boston split in AAMC's acceptance grid; it pools every applicant nationally from 2023-24 to 2025-26 (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). Put Massachusetts on it and the average applicant, 509.8 with a 3.71, lands at the very top of the 506-509 column in the 3.60-3.79 row, at 45.4%. One more MCAT point moves that applicant into 510-513, where the rate is 60%.
Massachusetts residents who started medical school averaged 514.5 with a 3.81, which puts them in the top GPA row at 514-517, accepted 77.2% of the time, 31.8 points above the applicant cell (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). GPA matters as well: at 506-509 the top GPA row accepted 57.1%, against 45.4% one row down.
National AAMC grids (acceptance by MCAT and GPA, six years of averages): MCAT tutoring by city.
How many people in Boston search for MCAT tutoring
Boston is a top-ten MCAT metro: Google Trends puts the Boston MA-Manchester NH area 8th of 209 US metro areas for the share of searches about the MCAT, with a score of 29 out of 100 (retrieved October 2026). Few searches add the city: Semrush estimates 20 US searches a month for Boston MCAT tutoring phrases such as 'mcat tutor boston', against 1,600 for 'mcat tutor' (October 2026).