diff --git a/pavelib/prereqs.py b/pavelib/prereqs.py
index f4eb48a2d9..b0132c6577 100644
--- a/pavelib/prereqs.py
+++ b/pavelib/prereqs.py
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ def install_node_prereqs():
 # To add a package to the uninstall list, just add it to this list! No need
 # to touch any other part of this file.
 PACKAGES_TO_UNINSTALL = [
+    "MySQL-python",                 # Because mysqlclient shares the same directory name
     "South",                        # Because it interferes with Django 1.8 migrations.
     "edxval",                       # Because it was bork-installed somehow.
     "django-storages",
diff --git a/requirements/constraints.txt b/requirements/constraints.txt
index 550e610fff..b21f82763f 100644
--- a/requirements/constraints.txt
+++ b/requirements/constraints.txt
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ six==1.11.0
 # Convert text markup to HTML; used in capa problems, forums, and course wikis; pin Markdown version as tests failed for its upgrade to latest release
 Markdown==2.6.11
 
+# mysqlclient 1.5 is scheduled to change internal APIs used by Django 1.11
+mysqlclient<1.5
+
 # required by edx-lint and pinned explicitly here because newer versions don't guarantee python 2 support.
 # Can be removed when we get to Python 3.
 pylint-plugin-utils==0.3
diff --git a/requirements/edx/base.in b/requirements/edx/base.in
index 1921dab3b1..fefaeb15ad 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/base.in
+++ b/requirements/edx/base.in
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ mailsnake                           # Needed for mailchimp (mailing djangoapp)
 mako==1.0.2                         # Primary template language used for server-side page rendering
 Markdown                            # Convert text markup to HTML; used in capa problems, forums, and course wikis
 mongoengine==0.10.0                 # Object-document mapper for MongoDB, used in the LMS dashboard
-MySQL-python                        # Driver for the default production relational database
+mysqlclient                         # Driver for the default production relational database
 newrelic                            # New Relic agent for performance monitoring
 nodeenv==1.1.1                      # Utility for managing Node.js environments; we use this for deployments and testing
 numpy==1.6.2                        # Fast numeric array computation, used in some problem types
diff --git a/requirements/edx/base.txt b/requirements/edx/base.txt
index ef1f7228a7..59bc0e33db 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/base.txt
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ markupsafe==1.1.1
 maxminddb==1.4.1          # via geoip2
 mock==1.0.1
 mongoengine==0.10.0
-mysql-python==1.2.5
+mysqlclient==1.4.2.post1
 networkx==1.7
 newrelic==4.14.0.115
 nltk==3.4
diff --git a/requirements/edx/development.txt b/requirements/edx/development.txt
index 6066cb1985..797d2ab2da 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/development.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/development.txt
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ modernize==0.7
 mongoengine==0.10.0
 more-itertools==5.0.0
 moto==0.3.1
-mysql-python==1.2.5
+mysqlclient==1.4.2.post1
 networkx==1.7
 newrelic==4.14.0.115
 nltk==3.4
diff --git a/requirements/edx/testing.txt b/requirements/edx/testing.txt
index 3c8879b6b8..283bb3f25e 100644
--- a/requirements/edx/testing.txt
+++ b/requirements/edx/testing.txt
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ mock==1.0.1
 mongoengine==0.10.0
 more-itertools==5.0.0     # via pytest
 moto==0.3.1
-mysql-python==1.2.5
+mysqlclient==1.4.2.post1
 networkx==1.7
 newrelic==4.14.0.115
 nltk==3.4