The AAMC recognizes our responsibility to treat with care the information we collect about you and to respect your privacy relative to sensitive data. The AAMC Privacy Statement explains what kinds of information we collect and how we use this information.
The MCAT program collects personal information to administer the MCAT exam, help prevent fraud, and protect the integrity of the exam and the medical school admission and matriculation processes. The personal data collected may include demographic, contact, and education information; health or other sensitive information related to an application for an accommodated exam; and a digital (biometric) palm scan, a test-day photo, test-day audio or video recordings, a digitized ID document, and your signature(s).
In brief, the AAMC may share your personal information, including your MCAT scores:
- With peer not-for-profit organizations, certifying boards, licensing bodies, and other organizations involved in medical education for research, eligibility determination, verification, and credentialing purposes.
- With third parties for scholarship opportunities as directed by you during registration or use of another AAMC service or program.
- With service providers who assist the AAMC with technology, test administration, or communications management activities.
- As needed to (1) respond to information requests by law enforcement or other governmental authorities; (2) comply with any law, regulation, subpoena or other legal process, or court order; (3) investigate and help prevent security threats, fraud, malicious activity, or inappropriate, unauthorized, or illegal activity involving the AAMC’s services or networks; or (4) enforce or protect the AAMC’s rights and property. In such circumstances, personal information may be disclosed without notice to the individual.
The AAMC retains the palm scan biometric for five (5) years from your last test day, after which the AAMC will permanently destroy it, unless a longer retention is needed due to a court order or an investigation regarding fraud or the security of the MCAT exam, in which case the biometric will be deleted when it is no longer needed for such exceptional purpose. If you took the MCAT exam at a test center in Illinois, the AAMC will not retain the palm scan biometric for more than three (3) years after your last test day and will permanently destroy it after the expiration of that period, unless otherwise required or permitted by law.
Any information published by the AAMC related to MCAT testing is done with aggregate data. Individual test scores are not published or released to third parties unless permitted by the AAMC Privacy Statement or otherwise authorized by you. Unless otherwise noted, once your personal information is transferred to third parties, it will be treated in accordance with the third party’s privacy policies. Your personal information will be transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States and, if you test outside the United States, any country necessary to administer the MCAT exam to you from your selected location.
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