MCAT Tutor in Houston

Houston has three MD schools, and the LCME, the accreditor for MD programs, dates them very differently. Baylor College of Medicine has been accredited since before 1942 and McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston since 1970, while the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine holds provisional accreditation (2020), a new school's step before full accreditation (LCME).

Fertitta has the steepest ratio of applications to places among the three. In 2025-26 it received 5,247 applications for 60 places, about 87 per seat, against about 27 at Baylor (6,073 for 224) and about 25 at McGovern (6,104 for 240) (AAMC FACTS, Table A-1). All three took at least 87.5% of their entering classes from Texas, McGovern the most at 94.2% (AAMC FACTS, Table A-1).

Facts about Houston

Accreditation: LCME directory.

• Baylor College of Medicine's MD program moved to the Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS) for the 2026 admissions cycle and sets no minimum GPA or MCAT to apply. (Baylor College of Medicine)
• For the 2027 entering class Baylor accepts MCAT scores from September 2024 to September 9, 2027, reviews the most recent score when an applicant has tested more than once, and closes its supplemental application on November 1. (Baylor College of Medicine)
• Texas law limits nonresidents to no more than 10 percent of the class at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, and TMDSAS assigns each applicant's residency classification. (University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine)
• Fertitta requires the MCAT by September of the application year, accepts scores up to 5 years old and sets no minimum GPA for application. (University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine)
• McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston gives its class of 2029 as 240 incoming students averaging 512 on the MCAT and 3.84 in GPA, 227 of them Texas residents, from 66 undergraduate schools. (McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); Baylor College of Medicine, MD Admissions FAQs (checked November 1, 2026); University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, Admissions FAQ (checked November 1, 2026); University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, Admissions Requirements (checked November 1, 2026); McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Facts and Figures (checked November 1, 2026).

How Baylor and UH Fertitta handle the MCAT

Baylor College of Medicine's MD program moved to the Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS) for the 2026 admissions cycle; its MD/PhD program stays on AMCAS (Baylor MD admissions FAQs). Baylor sets no minimum GPA or MCAT to apply and sends applicants to AAMC's MSAR for its median and range. For the 2027 entering class it accepts MCAT scores from September 2024 to September 9, 2027, and when an applicant has tested more than once the admissions committee reviews the most recent score.

Baylor's supplemental application opens on June 1 and closes on November 1 at 5 p.m. CST, with a $100 fee, and a file is not reviewed until the TMDSAS application, the supplemental, letters, MCAT and CASPer scores have all arrived (Baylor MD admissions FAQs). The last CASPer sitting that reaches Baylor in time is September 15, 2026.

The University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine requires the MCAT by September of the application year and accepts scores up to 5 years old (UH College of Medicine admissions requirements). It has no minimum GPA. Out-of-state applicants can apply, but Texas law allows no more than 10 percent of the class to be nonresidents, and TMDSAS, not the school, assigns each applicant's residency classification (UH College of Medicine admissions FAQ).

What "most recent score" means for a Baylor retake

Because Baylor reads the latest MCAT rather than the best one, a retake is a replacement, not a second chance that can only help. A student who scored well once and retests lower hands Baylor the lower number. Before a Baylor applicant books a second sitting we want several full-length practice scores above the first result, not one good week.

Fertitta's five-year window is longer than Baylor's, so an older score can still count there after it has aged out at Baylor. McGovern publishes its own class figures: its class of 2029 is 240 incoming students averaging 512 on the MCAT and 3.84 in GPA, 227 of them Texas residents, from 66 undergraduate schools and 52 majors, aged 21 to 50 (McGovern facts and figures). AAMC counts 6,104 applications for those 240 places (AAMC FACTS, Table A-1).

Across all three Houston schools at least 87.5% of the entering class came from Texas (AAMC FACTS, Table A-1), so the averages to beat are the Texas ones above. We plan Houston students' test dates against the September deadlines both Baylor and Fertitta set, and we start from section scores, since a 510 with one weak section needs a different schedule from an even one.

Medical schools in and around Houston

Total for the three Houston-area MD schools: 17,424 applications, 524 first-year seats, 33 per seat (AAMC 2025 FACTS, Table A-1, AAMC short names; DO schools apply through AACOMAS, outside AAMC's data).

Houston's DO option: Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Conroe (founded 2019, public). DO schools also accept the MCAT, so the same Houston prep covers both routes.

Most applications: UTHealth Houston-McGovern (6,104). Largest Texas-resident share of a new class: UTHealth Houston-McGovern (94.2%).

Other Texas MD schools Houston applicants weigh

Across all 13 of Texas's MD schools, 1,932 students started in 2025-26; the Houston schools above account for 27% of those seats (AAMC Table A-1).

Of 5,446 Texas applicants in 2025-26 (Houston included), 1,700 (31.2%) started at an MD school in Texas, 402 (7.4%) started out of state and 3,344 (61.4%) did not start at any US MD school that year (AAMC Table A-5).

Texas pre-meds by the numbers (the pool Houston applicants are in)

A Houston applicant's competition is mostly Texan. Between 72.4% and 81.7% of applications to the three Houston schools came from Texas residents, and 12 of the state's 13 MD schools drew at least 84.5% of their new students from Texas; only TCU-Burnett, at 18.3%, did not (AAMC FACTS, Table A-1).

That makes the Texas averages the ones to compare yourself with. Of 5,446 Texas applicants in 2025-26, 2,102 started at a US MD school, and they averaged 512.7 on the MCAT and a 3.84 GPA, against 505.6 and 3.67 for the whole pool (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-19 and A-20). The Texas gap of 7.1 MCAT points splits unevenly: 2.0 on Chemical and Physical, 1.9 on Biological and Biochemical, 1.8 on Psychological and Social and 1.4 on CARS (AAMC FACTS, Tables A-19 and A-20).

MCAT section averages for Texas applicants vs. new students

Ten years of Texas medical school applicants, as seen from Houston

Source: AAMC 2025 FACTS, Tables A-3 and A-4.

What MCAT score Houston applicants need

AAMC's acceptance grid is national and pools three cycles, 2023-24 to 2025-26, so it does not describe Baylor, McGovern or Fertitta on their own (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). Texas applicants averaged 505.6 with a 3.67, right on the line between the 502-505 and 506-509 columns of the 3.60-3.79 row, where 34.7% and 45.4% were accepted.

Texans who started medical school averaged 512.7 with a 3.84, which is the top GPA row at 510-513, accepted 70.5% of the time (AAMC FACTS, Table A-23). Staying in the 3.60-3.79 row, a move from 502-505 to 510-513 raises the rate from 34.7% to 60%, which is the part of the gap a Houston pre-med can close with study time.

National AAMC grids (acceptance by MCAT and GPA, six years of averages): MCAT tutoring by city.

How many people in Houston search for MCAT tutoring

Houston ranks 32nd of 209 US metro areas on Google Trends for the share of searches about the MCAT over the past five years, with a score of 21 out of 100 (retrieved October 2026). The Houston tutoring phrase is tiny beside the generic one: Semrush estimates 10 US searches a month for “mcat tutor houston” and 1,600 for “mcat tutor” (October 2026).