(( Character Development Expectations ))
Mount Zonah Medical Center | Los Santos, San Andreas


This topic explains the expectations that the hospital faction has for the development of your character. Before applying, make sure that you read and understand this topic, and use it as a guide for the development of your physician character.

This information pertains to RageMP and SAMP.

Proper Age and Education
We seek to maximize realism with respect to character development. You must roleplay your character being in the last year of medical school before applying for Residency. When you become a Resident, you must then roleplay that your character has graduated from medical school.

A few things to keep in mind - before one can enter an American medical school, one must first receive a bachelor degree in any field. Medical school then lasts for four years. As such, upon applying for our faction, your character should be at least 26 years old. One or two years younger may be defensible in the case of "early graduation" or "skipping a grade" in a character's younger years, but you may be asked to defend your character's age. One can enter medical school late in life, so 26 years old is a minimum. Theoretically, there is no maximum age.

You may pick any undergraduate institution that is accredited in the United States. You may pick any majors or minors for your character. Generally, medical schools have high Grade Point Average (GPA) requirements for entry (GPA is on a scale out of 4.0 in the American system). So, if you claim your character had a 2.5 GPA in college, you should not also roleplay having attended a prestigious medical school.

You may pick any medical school accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for your character's medical school. The LCME is the body that accredits medical schools in the United States. While you are allowed to roleplay a brilliant character, keep in mind that very few physicians actually attend Harvard, Yale, or Columbia. Also keep in mind that the MCAT score (discussed below) should be commensurate to the school. A low MCAT score will not result in admission to a prestigious institution.

You may roleplay your character having a master's degree in some scientific field. This move is conceivable, but unusual. Some scientists may enter medical school after a few years in research, or academically oriented students may want to pursue graduate education in the sciences before matriculating into medical school.

California vs. San Andreas for Character Background
Per server administration, California does not exist in the LS-RP world. As such, do not list any "University of California" schools (or schools with "California" in the name) for undergraduate, graduate, or medical schools. If you are applying for transfer, do not list any "University of California" teaching hospitals for your previous Residency. You may list "University of San Andreas" or "University of Los Santos" in lieu of the California names. In our server lore, those institutions would be accredited by the LCME.

If you are applying for transfer, do not list "All Saints General Hospital" or "County General Hospital" as the hospital that you completed your Residency at. Those hospitals only existed in the universe of our SA-MP server, but have not been carried over to the LSRP:V universe.

Per server lore, your character may not have a background from other fictional GTA locations, such as Liberty City or Vice City.

Proper Exam Scores
The application asks for a few scores. The first is the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). This exam covers basic science and logic and is the exam used to determine entrance into medical school. The range is 472-528. The average score is 500. Very few people score in the 520s range. Roleplay a high score sparingly - even if your character is a "genius," he or she may or may not be good at standardized tests. The MCAT score should align with the prestige of your chosen medical school.

The application also asks for your character's United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) score. This exam, which tests substantive knowledge of medicine, is taken in the last year of medical school to determine eligibility for Residency programs throughout the United States. Basically, the final score is tallied between 150-300. An average score is about 230. There have been zero recorded cases of someone scoring a perfect 300, so do not roleplay that.

Mount Zonah Medical Center is based on Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, which boasts high rankings and respectable residency programs. As such, scores should be a little bit above average and you should roleplay your characters being on-par with one of the most reputable hospitals in the United States.

Proper Standard of Living
Doctors are generally paid well, especially in California; however, your character is in Residency. Your character is a "full" doctor, but he or she is still being trained. We follow the real life standard of residents making somewhere around $60,000 a year. Likewise, Fellows aren't paid much more. Keep in mind your character most likely has about $200,000 in debt from medical school. Some Residents live paycheck-to-paycheck; however, their loan payments are often deferred or generously lowered until Residency is completed.

Basically, you should not roleplay as wealthy by default until you are an Attending Physician. Any character wealth should be explained by outside factors like family wealth. It is not disallowed to roleplay as wealthy, but you should be able to explain it for reasons other than being a Resident.

The generous paychecks come in as an Attending Physician, which we max out for in-character purposes at about $355,000 in this faction. Some Attendings make much more in real life, but somewhere in a six-figure salary is standard. These doctors likely have a comfortable lifestyle. This may include houses in well-off areas and expensive vehicles. Keep in mind that some Attending Physicians pay around $50,000 per year in malpractice insurance and some are just starting to pay off their medical school debt, which may mitigate some of the wealth building for at least a few years.