California Medicine Scholars Program

Applying

Eligibility Criteria

 

Below are the eligibility requirements for the Inland Empire Regional Hub for Healthcare Opportunity (RHHO) California Medicine Scholars Program. 

  • Applicants must have graduated from high school or completed the equivalent (e.g. GED, CHSPE).  

  • Applicants must be enrolled in one IE RHHO partner community college: Barstow Community College, Chaffey College, College of the Desert, Crafton Hills College, Moreno Valley College, Norco College, Riverside City College, San Bernardino Valley College, and Victor Valley College. 

  • Applicants must be enrolled in or have completed at least 12 units by January 2027. 

  • Applicants must not be currently enrolled at a four-year institution. 

  • Applicants must not have earned an associate or bachelor’s degree. 

  • Applicants must have a strong interest in becoming a physician (MD/DO) 

  • Applicants must intend to transfer to either UC Riverside or CSU San Bernardino for their undergraduate education. 

 

Inland Empire RHHO CMSP focuses on increasing the number of physicians from community colleges to serve Inland Southern California, particularly medically underserved communities. Some of our Mission fit categories include:

  • Economically and/or educationally disadvantaged background
  • English as a second language
  • First generation
  • Ties to Riverside and/or San Bernardino Counties (e.g., attended high school in the region, place of birth, and/or parents’ residence, and/or applicant’s residence)

While not all of these mission fit categories must apply to be qualified, they are taken into consideration.

How to Apply? 

We invite eligible students who are passionate about pursuing medicine and serving the Inland Southern California region to submit an application by the priority deadline October 31, 2026. The application for the 2027 recruitment cycle of the CMSP, Inland Empire RHHO is available now!

To apply, students must create an account using clicking the "New Applicant" hyperlink. We recommend using a personal email address rather than a school email, to create your account. Once your account is created, please select the appropriate program (California Medicine Scholars Program) and term (Annual 2027). Follow the instructions to submit your application!

The application includes submission of unoffical transcripts (pdf), short essay questions, and the option to upload a letter of recommendation. 

For questions about the program and/or application, please email us at cmsp_ierhho@medsch.ucr.edu.

 

Application Preparation Tips

Take your time and complete the application thoroughly. 

Thoughtfully review and prepare your response to the question prompts below. You will be asked to answer these four prompts individually in 250 words or less. We recommend you type these responses in a separate document (Word or Google docs) and copy and paste into your application form.

  1. What are your current educational/career goals? How are you on the pathway to achieving them?
  2. Why do you want to be a physician?
  3. What do you hope to learn/gain from this experience? How will this program help in your growth and development?
  4. Why do you want to transfer to either the University of California, Riverside or California State University, San Bernardino?

Have a digital copy (.pdf) of your unofficial transcript easily accessible to upload with your application.

Disclaimer on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence: Integrity is a core value at the UCR School of Medicine. CMSP IE RHHO highly regards authenticity, critical thinking and personal narratives, some of which can be mimicked by generative AI (e.g., UCR Google Gemini or ChatGPT). Applicants should not receive assistance from any person or entity that writes or completes substantial portions of the work for them.