2027 MCAT Registration Groups: Which Day Does Your State Register?

Post By

Ryan Brownlee

– Founder of AspiringMD

Which 2027 MCAT registration group is your state in? A current medical student explains Group A/B/C dates, state lists, waiting room, and opening-day strategy.

If you are registering for the MCAT in 2027, your registration opening day depends on where your testing center is located. The AAMC is opening the entire January through September 2027 MCAT testing year over three days: Tuesday, October 20, Wednesday, October 21, and Thursday, October 22, 2026, all at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.

For U.S. students, the easiest way to think about the system is that most eastern states are in Group A on October 20, the remaining U.S. states are in Group B on October 21, and international locations plus U.S. territories are in Group C on October 22. The important detail is that AAMC assigns the registration group based on the location of the test center you are trying to schedule, not necessarily where you live, where you attend college, or what state you claim as your permanent residence.

That distinction sounds small until you live near a state line. A student who lives in one registration group but plans to test across the border in another group may need to enter registration on the opening day assigned to that testing center. I would therefore decide which centers you would realistically use before October instead of assuming your home state’s registration date automatically covers every location you might consider.

I am a current medical student who has already gone through the MCAT and medical school application process, and I remember how much unnecessary stress can come from trying to interpret AAMC registration instructions while thousands of other students are attempting to schedule at the same time. My goal with this guide is to make the 2027 regional opening system much easier to use: find your state, confirm your day, understand what time to log in, and know what to do if the testing center you want is located in a different registration group.

If you are still figuring out the broader exam process, my complete AspiringMD MCAT guide covers studying, content review, Anki, practice exams, timing, and application planning. I also have a separate guide explaining how the MCAT registration waiting room works and another on how quickly MCAT test dates fill up, so this article can stay focused specifically on which 2027 registration group applies to you.

When Does 2027 MCAT Registration Open?

Registration for all January through September 2027 MCAT exam dates opens from October 20 through October 22, 2026, depending on testing-center location. Each regional opening begins at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.

Group A opens Tuesday, October 20. Group B opens Wednesday, October 21. Group C opens Thursday, October 22.

This is worth emphasizing because older MCAT registration articles can describe a different system. In previous years, students sometimes registered for different portions of the testing year during separate registration periods, but the AAMC is opening the entire 2027 January-through-September calendar during this October registration window.

If you are planning a spring or summer 2027 MCAT, you should therefore be thinking about registration in October 2026, not waiting until the spring to see when your preferred date becomes available.

Which MCAT Registration Group Is My State In?

Here is the complete 2027 state-by-state lookup based on the current AAMC regional assignments. The District of Columbia is included because AAMC lists Washington, D.C. separately within Group A.

All of these openings occur at 12 p.m. ET, so the calendar date is only half of what you need to know. Someone in California should not wait until noon Pacific Time; Group B registration begins at noon Eastern, which is 9 a.m. Pacific.

Which States Are in MCAT Registration Group A for 2027?

Group A opens on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET. AAMC places Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia in Group A.

If the testing center you want is in one of those locations, October 20 is the opening day you should plan around. That applies even if your permanent residence is somewhere else.

For example, imagine that you attend college in Georgia but your permanent address is in Alabama. A Georgia testing center is in Group A, so that location opens October 20. An Alabama testing center is in Group B and opens October 21. The meaningful variable is the testing location you are trying to schedule.

Which States Are in MCAT Registration Group B for 2027?

Group B opens on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET. The AAMC places Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming in Group B.

This includes several of the most populous testing markets in the country, including California, Texas, Illinois, and much of the western United States. A large registration group can produce an intimidating waiting-room number, but that number represents students looking for many different test dates across many different cities.

Your actual competition is much narrower than the total queue makes it look. Someone trying to take a March MCAT in Dallas is not necessarily competing for the same appointment as someone trying to take an August MCAT in Seattle.

What Is MCAT Registration Group C for 2027?

Group C opens on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET and covers the international locations and U.S. territories listed by the AAMC. For 2027, those locations are Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Guam, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

If you are a U.S. applicant who plans to take the exam in Canada or another international testing location, do not assume your U.S. home state’s Group A or Group B date controls your scheduling. You are trying to reserve an appointment at a Group C testing location, so that center follows the Group C opening.

The AAMC also publishes a separate international and U.S. territories testing calendar because not every exam date offered in the continental United States is necessarily offered internationally.

Does Your MCAT Registration Group Depend on Where You Live?

No. The AAMC repeatedly describes the 2027 opening as registration by testing-center location. It is not assigning you a permanent Group A or Group B identity based on your home address.

This is probably the most useful distinction in the entire article because the phrase “registration groups” makes it sound as though the AAMC places every applicant into a group. It is more accurate to think of the testing centers as belonging to groups.

If you live in North Carolina and want a North Carolina center, you are effectively registering with Group A on October 20. If you live near the North Carolina–South Carolina border, both sides are Group A anyway. If you live in Tennessee but decide that an Arkansas testing center is easier for you to reach, the Tennessee centers belong to Group A while Arkansas belongs to Group B.

That means students who are willing to cross a state line should look at the group assignment for every center they are seriously considering before opening day.

What If I Want to Take the MCAT in Another State?

You can take the MCAT at an available testing center outside your home state. The registration opening for that center follows the center’s location.

This can become especially useful if you live near a state border or in a metropolitan area that crosses state lines. A slightly farther testing center may give you a more convenient date, and I would much rather consider another reasonable center than move an otherwise well-planned MCAT several months earlier or later simply because the closest Pearson VUE location filled.

I would decide before registration whether you are comfortable driving 30 minutes, an hour, or perhaps staying near a farther center the night before. Trying to make that decision while the registration screen is open and appointments are disappearing adds pressure that you can easily avoid with a little preparation.

If availability is your main concern, my guide to whether MCAT test dates fill up quickly explains how I would choose backup dates and centers and what to do if your first choice is unavailable.

What Time Does MCAT Registration Open in 2027?

All three regional openings begin at 12 p.m. Eastern Time. That means the opening corresponds to approximately 11 a.m. Central, 10 a.m. Mountain, 9 a.m. Pacific, 8 a.m. in Alaska, and 6 a.m. in Hawaii on the applicable registration day.

I would keep the AAMC’s noon ET time written beside your local time rather than relying on memory. Missing the initial randomization window because you accidentally interpreted “12 p.m.” as noon in your own time zone is a very avoidable problem.

Students in states containing more than one time zone should use the actual local time where they will be on registration morning. The safest reference point remains the AAMC’s published 12 p.m. ET opening time.

What Time Should I Log Into MCAT Registration?

For 2027, AAMC recommends entering the registration system no more than 15 minutes before registration opens. Everyone who is already in the waiting room at 11:50 a.m. ET will be randomly assigned a position in line, while applicants entering after 11:50 are placed behind that randomized group. Logging in much earlier does not improve your position.

I would personally aim for roughly 11:40 to 11:45 a.m. ET. That gives you enough time to confirm that the page loads and your internet connection is stable without spending your entire morning staring at a countdown screen.

Do not interpret “randomized” as “timing does not matter at all.” Getting there at 11:30 instead of 11:45 does not buy you a better random position, but arriving after the 11:50 cutoff can put you behind everyone who was already there.

My MCAT registration waiting-room guide goes much deeper into queue randomization, what a high queue number actually means, why logging in hours early does not help, and what recent applicants experienced while waiting.

Does Group A Get Better MCAT Dates Than Group B?

No. Group A registering one day earlier does not mean Group A students are receiving access to all of the nation’s MCAT appointments before Group B students.

The regional system opens testing-center inventory according to location. Students registering on October 20 are scheduling centers in Group A locations, while Group B centers open October 21. A student in New York cannot simply take all the California seats the day before California registration opens because the California testing centers themselves belong to Group B.

This is another reason I would avoid thinking of the groups as a national ranking system where Group A applicants receive a 24-hour advantage over Group B applicants. The staggered opening divides the scheduling demand geographically.

Why Does the AAMC Split MCAT Registration Into Groups?

The most practical reason for regional openings is traffic management. MCAT registration brings an enormous number of examinees into the scheduling system over a short period, and staggered registration reduces how many testing locations are being scheduled simultaneously.

The waiting-room system serves a similar purpose once registration begins. Applicants are placed into a queue before they enter the actual scheduling interface, which prevents every person from attempting to search and purchase appointments at exactly the same second.

Recent Reddit discussions show why the system is necessary. During the 2025 opening, students reported queue positions in the tens of thousands, including numbers above 20,000. Those numbers can look frightening, but many applicants with large queue positions still reported eventually obtaining a preferred or acceptable date.

Are All 2027 MCAT Test Dates Opening in October?

Yes. AAMC says registration for the entire January through September 2027 testing year is opening during October 20–22, 2026.

That is important if you are planning a June, July, August, or September MCAT. You do not need to wait for a separate spring registration opening to schedule those dates.

AAMC has already published the 2027 U.S. MCAT calendar with test dates, 60-day deadlines, 30-day deadlines, 10-day deadlines, and score-release dates. If you already know roughly when you want to apply to medical school, I would choose your preferred date and a few realistic backups before registration day instead of deciding while you are in the scheduling system.

Are Some 2027 MCAT Dates Only Offered at Certain Testing Centers?

Yes. AAMC specifically warns that January 30, May 14, July 9, and August 28, 2027 are available only at select testing locations.

This creates an important second layer to the registration-group question. Knowing that your state is in Group A or Group B tells you when that state’s testing centers open, but it does not guarantee that every testing center in that state offers every date on the national calendar.

If one of those four dates is your first choice, check the AAMC’s current list of participating cities before building your entire study schedule around it. A student can correctly identify their registration group and still discover that the nearest center does not administer that particular date.

What Should I Do Before 2027 MCAT Registration Opens?

AAMC recommends completing the first five tabs of the MCAT Registration System before opening day, and its opening-day guidance also tells students to make sure they know their existing AAMC login, have an acceptable ID available, choose alternative dates, and have their payment information ready. AAMC specifically warns students who already have an AAMC ID not to create a second account simply because they forgot their password.

I would also decide your preferred testing center, two or three acceptable backup centers, your ideal date, and at least two nearby backup dates. The worst time to decide whether you would rather drive an additional 45 minutes or test three weeks earlier is while you are watching appointments change on registration day.

Your preparation should still drive the date. AAMC’s own registration guidance says to schedule for a date when you believe you will be ready to test, and I agree with that much more than grabbing an earlier appointment simply because it happens to be available.

Should I Apply for AAMC Fee Assistance Before MCAT Registration?

If you think you may qualify for the AAMC Fee Assistance Program, handle that before you register. AAMC says you must already be approved to use Fee Assistance benefits for MCAT registration, and its current opening guidance says review takes about five business days. Benefits are not retroactive.

That means I would not submit a Fee Assistance application the morning your registration group opens and expect the discounted registration fee to appear immediately. Give yourself enough time for approval before October 20 or October 21 if you plan to register on opening day.

I have a separate AspiringMD guide to the AAMC Fee Assistance Program that walks through the broader benefits, including MCAT and application-related savings, if cost is part of your planning.

What If My State Does Not Show Any MCAT Testing Centers on Registration Day?

Before assuming every appointment in your state disappeared instantly, confirm that your state’s registration group has actually opened.

This exact confusion happened repeatedly during the 2025 registration opening. Reddit users reported logging in during the Group A opening, searching for western states, and becoming convinced that every local seat had already vanished. Other users pointed out that those Group B testing locations simply had not opened yet.

If you are in California and you enter the system on the Group A day, for example, the absence of normal California inventory does not mean California sold out before its registration opening. California is Group B.

Once your group’s registration has actually opened, a lack of appointments becomes a different problem. At that point, broaden your testing-center radius, check nearby dates, and consider the AAMC appointment-notification system if the combination you want is full.

Can You Register for the MCAT After Opening Day?

Yes. Opening day is when scheduling begins, not the only day you are allowed to schedule. AAMC explicitly says the MCAT Registration System remains open for available appointments after the regional registration opening.

If you do not yet know when you will be ready, I would rather have you choose a thoughtful MCAT date later than register on October 20 solely because you feel pressured to participate. The disadvantage is availability: popular dates and convenient testing centers can fill, so waiting may reduce your choices.

There is therefore a difference between “I do not have to register on opening day” and “there is no advantage to registering early.” If you already know that you want one particular spring date at one convenient testing center, I would be ready when that location opens.

What If My Preferred MCAT Date Is Already Full?

A full testing-center appointment does not necessarily mean that date is permanently unavailable. Students reschedule and cancel, and AAMC has an appointment-notification system that can alert you when a specific date-and-center combination becomes available.

I would first look at nearby testing centers on the same date, then nearby dates that preserve your study plan. I would avoid jumping dramatically earlier just because an appointment exists if your full-length scores and preparation say you are not ready.

This is where registration planning and actual MCAT readiness need to stay separate. Securing a seat is important, but the seat is only useful if you are prepared to sit for the exam.

What Reddit and r/premed Say About MCAT Registration Groups

For this article, I searched Reddit broadly, including r/premed and r/MCAT, for discussions about MCAT registration groups, states not appearing in the scheduling system, regional opening days, waiting-room timing, and what happened when students misunderstood which day applied to their testing location. The most detailed group-specific conversations were on r/MCAT, while r/premed had more discussion about broader MCAT timing and application consequences.

One of the clearest themes from the 2025 registration opening was that students genuinely did not realize the country was divided into regional opening groups. One highly relevant r/MCAT thread was posted specifically because the author was seeing multiple students panic that their state’s testing centers had disappeared. The explanation was much simpler: their registration group had not opened yet.

Another student described believing they might need to fly to another state because the system was not showing the local locations they expected. They later realized their region was scheduled to open on a different day. That is exactly why I think the testing-center-location rule deserves more attention than most MCAT calendar pages give it.

A second recurring theme was misunderstanding the waiting room. Students who logged in hours early were sometimes shocked to receive queue positions above 20,000, while people who entered closer to the cutoff sometimes drew much better numbers. That experience matches AAMC’s official policy: everyone already in the waiting room at 11:50 a.m. ET is randomized, so spending the entire morning logged in does not move you toward the front.

The Reddit takeaway I would actually use is not “copy exactly what one stranger did.” It is that most opening-day panic comes from a few predictable misunderstandings: using the wrong regional day, assuming a huge queue number means your seat is definitely gone, or believing that logging in several hours earlier beats the randomization system.

What Student Doctor Network Says About MCAT Registration

I also searched Student Doctor Network for discussions about MCAT registration days, waiting rooms, test-center availability, and what students did when their first-choice location was unavailable. Many relevant SDN threads are older, so I would not use them to determine the current 2027 dates or technical rules. Those should come directly from the AAMC.

The useful recurring advice on SDN is much more general: know the registration opening in advance, expect a queue, register early when your date matters, and have alternatives in mind. In a 2020 MCAT registration discussion, one applicant advised marking the exact registration opening on the calendar and emphasized remembering that AAMC’s published time was Eastern Time.

A 2021 registration-day thread similarly focused on having a backup plan if the preferred appointment disappeared. One participant recommended reserving a later workable date rather than remaining completely unregistered while waiting for the ideal appointment to reopen.

I would use SDN for those long-running applicant lessons while ignoring outdated details about old registration interfaces. The 2027 AAMC page should always win whenever an older forum post conflicts with the current process.

What Admissions Experts and Prehealth Advisors Say About MCAT Registration Timing

I searched specifically for current commentary from admissions officers, former admissions committee members, and prehealth advisors on the 2027 registration-group system. I did not find credible evidence that a medical school admissions committee cares whether you were in Group A or Group B, which makes sense because these groups are simply an AAMC scheduling mechanism.

The admissions-relevant issue begins only if a scheduling problem changes when you actually take the MCAT. Dr. Mario Tomei, a physician and former medical school admissions committee member, describes MCAT timing as both a preparation and application decision. His guidance is that students should balance the potential value of being complete earlier at rolling-admissions schools with the more important requirement of being adequately prepared to earn a competitive score.

That applies very directly here. If your ideal April testing center fills, the answer is not automatically to grab an available February appointment and sacrifice two months of preparation. Look at other centers, nearby dates, and later availability before allowing registration logistics to make the academic decision for you.

Current prehealth advising offices are also already building the 2027 MCAT into their application planning. The University of Maryland’s current application timeline, for example, tells upcoming applicants that MCAT registration opens in October and places that registration inside the much larger process of studying for the exam and preparing an application.

Grinnell’s Health Professions Career Community similarly circulated the AAMC’s 2027 registration opening information and specifically encouraged students to complete their registration-system information, review the AAMC guidance, and handle financial assistance before opening day.

The practical message from both the admissions and advising side is that October registration should protect a sensible MCAT plan, not dictate one.

Is 2027 MCAT Registration Different From 2026?

The dates are different, but the general regional structure is very similar. For 2026 testing, the regional openings occurred October 21–23, 2025. For 2027, the corresponding opening dates are October 20–22, 2026.

That one-day shift is exactly why I would not use a screenshot or social-media post from last year’s registration morning as your calendar. The state groupings may look familiar, but the dates you need to put on your calendar are the current 2027 dates.

The waiting-room rule is also current for 2027: be in the waiting room by 11:50 a.m. ET to be included in the randomized initial queue, and do not assume arriving hours earlier gives you a better position.

My 2027 MCAT Registration Recommendation

I would start by choosing when you realistically expect to be ready for the MCAT. Once you have a target date, identify your preferred testing center and several centers you would actually be willing to use. Then check which registration group each of those centers belongs to.

If all your realistic centers are in the same group, the planning is simple. Put that opening day on your calendar, convert noon Eastern into your local time, make sure you can access your AAMC account, complete the advance registration information AAMC allows, and have backup dates written down before you enter the waiting room.

If your possible centers cross a Group A/Group B border, write down both opening dates. I would not assume your home state determines the answer because the AAMC explicitly organizes the opening by testing-center location.

On registration morning, I would enter shortly before the 11:50 a.m. ET randomization point rather than logging in hours early. Once your queue position appears, do not panic if the number is enormous. Thousands of people ahead of you are spread across many test dates and many testing centers.

If your first choice is gone when you reach scheduling, I would preserve your preparation timeline as much as possible. Search other centers on the same date, then nearby dates, before moving the exam substantially earlier or later.

The MCAT is already stressful enough without adding avoidable registration confusion. Know the group, know the date, know the Eastern Time opening, and have a few alternatives ready. Once those decisions are made beforehand, registration day becomes much more manageable.

What Day Does California Register for the 2027 MCAT?

California is in Group B, so California MCAT testing centers open for registration on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET, which is 9 a.m. Pacific Time.

The registration opening applies to testing centers located in California, not simply applicants who list California as their residence.

What Day Does Texas Register for the 2027 MCAT?

Texas is in Group B, so Texas testing centers open on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET. For most Texas students, that is 11 a.m. Central Time.

If you are considering testing across a state border, check the group assigned to the actual testing center before assuming the Texas date applies.

What Day Does Florida Register for the 2027 MCAT?

Florida is in Group A, so Florida MCAT testing centers open on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET.

Students in the Florida Panhandle should remember that AAMC publishes the opening in Eastern Time even if they personally live in the Central Time portion of the state.

What Day Does New York Register for the 2027 MCAT?

New York is in Group A, so New York testing centers open on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at noon ET.

Because the New York metropolitan area has many students and several testing-center options, I would still have more than one acceptable center in mind before your turn arrives.

What Day Does Georgia Register for the 2027 MCAT?

Georgia is in Group A, so Georgia testing centers open on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET.

AAMC also lists Atlanta among the locations offering several of the limited-location 2027 exam dates, so students targeting one of those special dates should check the specific participating-center information before registering.

What Day Does Illinois Register for the 2027 MCAT?

Illinois is in Group B, which means its MCAT testing centers open on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at noon ET, or 11 a.m. Central Time.

Do not accidentally enter on October 20 simply because many eastern states are registering that day.

What Day Does Pennsylvania Register for the 2027 MCAT?

Pennsylvania is in Group A, so testing centers in Pennsylvania open on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 12 p.m. ET.

If you live near New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, or another nearby Group A state, those locations open the same day, which can make cross-state backup planning somewhat easier.

Does It Matter Which MCAT Registration Group I Am In?

Your registration group matters because it determines the date on which the testing center you want becomes available for scheduling. It does not affect your MCAT score, medical school application, or how admissions committees view you.

The useful thing to know is therefore not whether Group A is somehow “better” than Group B. It is whether you will be in the right waiting room on the right day for the center you actually want.

What Happens If I Miss My MCAT Registration Group’s Opening Day?

You can still register after opening day as long as appointments remain available. AAMC keeps the registration system open following the regional opening period.

The potential downside is simply that some high-demand date-and-location combinations may already be full. If that happens, widen your search and continue watching for cancellations rather than assuming you have permanently lost the ability to take the MCAT that year.