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DrJonesenberg

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What does it take to get into a UWashington or Ventura family med program? Current M3 here

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I applied to Ventura on a whim and was surprised to receive an interview offer. My stats are nothing special, average for family med scores. I did feel the program was looking for a certain type of person though. They want someone who is willing to work hard and also has a passion for full-scope medicine to work for resource-limited populations. If that's what you want to do, then make sure you express it somewhere on your application. If there's anything I've realized during this process, it's that you just have to be yourself and focus on the things that really matter to you. We'll see how well it pans out for me on Match Day...
 
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What does it take to get into a UWashington or Ventura family med program? Current M3 here

Try to do a sub-internship or acting internship during your 4th year. You have to apply for this elective rotation 1 year in advance, that helps your chances of showcasing yourself. You might get a courtesy interview or application looked at just by your interest as a 3rd year.
Good luck!
 
Mission is very important at Ventura. Like extremely important. The residents there work very hard for their patients, who are extremely resource limited. They work harder, they work longer, and the whole thing is honestly a bit impressive. Usually they have higher numbers, but more important to that is mission. If it looks like your interests and goals overlap, then they will overlook average or below average scores.

If you want to have a good shot at any FM programs, get the best scores you can. If you have average step scores (not average for FM, average for the step) then you won't be kept out of any program because of them. That said even with decent scores, you may be ignored by some programs based on whether or not you seem to match their mission. Mission/fit is huge on FM, certainly more important than your scores (provided you passed everything).
 
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USMD from a mid-tier school with no red flags who interviewed at UW. Step scores nothing special, +GHHS, great LORs as far as I know, lots of community engagement, expressed interest in academics.
 
I agree that mission is huge at a lot of places, especially Ventura. I can't tell you what it takes to match there (as I don't have any plans to go there), but I can tell you how to get an interview. Above national average board scores + honors on a couple clerkships at least, some research, some ECs in the community, fantastic LORs and ,specifically for ventura, a passion for full spectrum FM. Honestly, if you do the above (the last point is optional), you should be invited to every program you apply to. Oh and also, I think Med school prestige matters a little. When I interviewed at these "top programs", there were a lot of applicants from top tier Med schools.
 
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