what is the consensus on how multiple MCAT attempts are treated by adcoms

Do med schools have a standard policy on multiple MCAT attempts or there is a fine print for each school?

I checked Columbia University and they said they select the greater of the MCATs.

There is no universal policy about how multiple MCATs are viewed by med schools.

AMCAS/AAMC strongly recommends averaging all attempts since there’s data showing this gives the best approximation of a student’s actual performance (and has the best correlation with STEP scores). However, individual med schools may choose to implement any MCAT policy they choose.

I will note that although a school’s official policy may state they only consider the most recent or the highest score, AMCAS records all MCAT scores on every application, and individual admission officers/reviewers will see the multiple scores and are free to interpret them in any they choose.

For MSAR reporting purposes, med schools commonly only use highest scores.

I don’t have specific knowledge of this. However, med schools publish their MCAT stats, so they can use the highest score, so the highest score is probably most important. Similarly, they want GPA regardless of school or major. In general it is best to study and take practice tests, and not take the real test until you are ready and not retest a bunch of times.