If you are from a US Med School and have done reasonably well, your chances should be good. Not to say that FMG and DO candidates don't match there, but it's just more difficult. If you reveal some of your med school numbers and board scores, it would be easier to assist you. If you really want to go back to California and are worried about not being AOA or not scoring 250 on the boards or not being top 10% of your class, I would do the following: 1. Make sure to apply at every program in California. There are a couple of programs that aren't all that competitive (Drew in LA County and possibly Kern in Bakersfield: although Drew is in one of the roughest parts of LA and Bakersfield is Bakersfield). 2. Make sure you have a well rounded and complete application. Although things like research aren't usually what ED applicants like to do (I didn't do any in med school), those are the things that help create a well rounded application and sure wouldn't hurt in the more academic centers like UCLA-Olive View. 3. Apply early: get your stuff ready and have your app in during the first or second week of August (it can only help you to have your app in right out of the gates). 4. Do EM rotations at a couple of the places that you want to go and do well. 5. You've already heard all the stuff about board scores, LOR's, clinical grades, etc. so I won't emphasize the obvious. 6. You don't need to be AOA.
Any other questions, I would be happy to try to help.
My stats: Hope this helps you: I matched at my first choice in Phoenix, AZ, but I got interviews at 4 Cali programs: Stanford, UCSF-Fresno, Kern-Bakersfield and Drew in LA. I believe that I could have gone to Cali if I wanted, but Maricopa has too fantastic of a program and Phoenix is where I wanted to be. I wasn't AOA and didn't do any research. My board scores were 228 and 242. I am at Wake Forest and was in about the 20th percentile of my class.
