Stats: 511 MCAT | 3.5 cGPA / 3.3 sGPA / 3.95 MPH
CA resident | ORM | FAP recipient

Focus: Primary care, underserved communities, community health

Degrees: BS (Environmental Biology), MPH

Applied broadly (~45 MD/DO schools). I went into this cycle expecting it to lean heavily DO given my stats, but ended up with multiple MD acceptances, and to freaking UCLA!!

Key ECs:

~1600 hrs Community Health Worker (AmeriCorps, LA County — resource navigation, public health outreach)

~900 hrs Volunteer Medical Assistant & Scribe (primary care clinic)

~450 hrs Volunteer Japanese medical interpreter

~1500 hrs teaching (bio, physiology, public health at undergrad level)

~800 hrs research (independent project through fellowship)

Founder — One Health Student Initiative

Takeaways:
I think what helped most wasn’t any single activity but having a very cohesive narrative. A lot of my application tied back to growing up first gen low-income, becoming independent at 16, and then working directly in monolingual immigrant communities facing the same barriers I experienced growing up.

My experiences were all longitudinal and pointed toward primary care + healthcare access + trust-building in underserved communities. My MPH also helped me connect clinical medicine with population health!

This cycle honestly felt unpredictable. I thought my GPA would hold me back more, but it seemed like schools valued fit + mission alignment more than I expected!

Happy to answer and questions and feel free to PM me!