I'm thinking I may have a somewhat better chance at a couple of the "lower tier" schools in my state (most of them also have a very strong in-state bias), but we'll see. Haha.
Good luck to you!
Question: Guess what they call the guy who finished last in his class at the "lowest tier" school in his state?
Answer: Dr.
Most patients never worry about where their doctor went to school. Doctors eventually make good money in the US as long as they went to school in the US and passed the boards.
Seriously, you probably already know it can be pretty tough to get in anywhere. So, if you get an interview at the "lowest tier" school, the place that might now you might rank as your last choice, then be genuinely delighted.
Here is probably more advice than you are looking for:
Do your research about specific details of the MD program where you get an interview and come up with some reasons that sound really genuine about why that school is, in fact, your first choice.
Write these down by hand, along with some questions you have about that program, on the
last sheet of a small notepad. Take that with you to the interview. Reread what you wrote the night before and maybe rewrite it more neatly on the second-to-last page. Now you are well-prepared for the interview, so be confident! That way, if you get put on the spot with "do you have any more questions", respond with "yes I wrote some down here in my notes while I was reading about your program" and you can quickly an easily flip to that page to refer to your notes. No interviewer will respond negatively to that.
From my experience interviewing people, the red flags in interviews are:
1) candidates who can't tell me anything specific about why they are interested in our specific program.
2) candidates who can't come up with a question.
3) candidates who can't explain what they did in a listed research experience or can't articulate what they learned from a previous patient-contact, volunteer, shadowing, or job experience in detail.
4) candidates who seem primarily motivated for the "wrong" reasons (money)
5) arrogant candidates who seem to take it for granted that they will get a position; this is why you need to be able to express things about the program that really interest you and be able to say that it is among your top choices of schools.
I understand the benefits of a Roth IRA for retirement. I was ideally looking for something to help generate income for the more immediate future. But I'm probably getting ahead of myself here.
If it's really needed for the immediate future (like med school tuition next year), then seriously just put it in a money market account or CD. I might go for the employee stock purchase program for a small amount of my savings, but I'm not sure. The additional money you might gain in a year by investing in the market is not worth the risk to the principle on money needed in such a short time frame.