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[Twixmoment]

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[Med Ed]

What is your big selling point for gaining entry into a SoCal school?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Interesting. Let me ask first how flexible your advisor is when it comes to supporting you if you apply RD to the West Coast schools. How successful have they been?

 

[Goro]

If your mental health is that fragile that leaving California will cause it to be affected in a negative manner, then this is not the right path for you.

 

[gyngyn]

You already know the answer.
California is a net exporter of pre-meds, not an importer.
Even stellar CA residents usually have to attend school elsewhere.
This needs to be a big part of any risk anaysis.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree with above. The odds of any individual applicant getting into a SoCal med school are low. if you have an opportunity to get in now, and wouldn't need to take the MCAT, that is a slam dunk.

 

[karaya]

It's kind of wholesome, the collective decades of SDN experience telling you to take the linkage. Banking on these 4 schools is a pipe dream, you know that. MSAR says that ~1% of OOS applicants matriculate at each of those schools. Think about the profile of a successful OOS applicant. The odds are deeply against you, especially in the absence of a strong hook. Do you have one?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you take the linkage, you get your MCAT requirement waived.

Or you can roll the dice, even with a solid MCAT.

It's a tough call, but the easier path is taking the sure thing. That is a benefit you likely considered when you got into the postbac program, even knowing it would take you away from home. But California exports premeds.

If your mental health is wavering being on the East Coast, read all the posts from applicants anxious about their applications this cycle... not that they have mental health problems, but you must be mentally resilient.

 

[Goro]

OP, always go for the sure thing

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Go for the sure thing!

You're not the kind of platinum-grade rock star that has an excellent chance at a Top 20 school, not with a 3.6 GPA and ECs that, while good, probably aren't jaw-droppingly extraordinary. The only way that this makes sense is if you've got truly impressive ECs (military service, world-class athletics, professional musicianship, overcame immense childhood adversity) and a 523+ MCAT. You'd probably also need a strong upward trend, too. And even then it would be a crapshoot, unless you were willing to go to a DO school in Cali.

Simply having a killer MCAT will make you pure pack fodder at these schools, not a platinum-grade rock star.