Updated April 12, 2016. These days you may need just a tetanus shot, or a vaccination against tetanus, diptheria and pertussis. Tetanus is a bacterial infection of the nervous system, also known as lockjaw. Symptoms include muscle stiffness, difficulty swallowing, muscle spasms and seizures.
The average MCAT score each year is somewhere around a 24 (8 in each section). A good (competitive at most MD schools) score is around 30 and a stellar score is somewhere above a 34 to 36 (competitive at the top medical schools in the country). A score of 36 or better would put you in the top 2% of the country.
If DO programs or certain international med schools are a good fit for you, your MCAT goal may be different. The average MCAT score for DO program matriculants in 2014 was 27.2 with an SD of 3.13. As such, if you're targeting DO programs, by our calculations, a safe bet would be in the range of 505-509 (a 28-31 on the old MCAT).