If I were you I would go to some of the info sessions they hold on campus at the HPAC to find out more about this program and how they select applicants. See http://hpac.ucr.edu/ and https://medschool.ucr.edu/admissions/eap.html Thy also have saved podcasts.
If you don’t already have significant exposure to medicine thru volunteer or paid work I suggest you start on that immediately. An unwritten rule of med school admissions is that you have done so. I don’t if it applies to UCR but I suspect it does and they will bring this up in the interviews for the program.
The academic requirement is just a 3.40 and if you can’t get that you are not going to be a strong candidate anywhere else. The chance I see you take is that you’re rolling the dice on their interviews. Impress them and you’re on your way, if not you’ve lost a year since you can’t apply elsewhere.
Employers, sure, but med schools? I don’t know who told you that. A strong GPA and a MCAT score to show it is no fluke and you are at no disadvantage. In fact I know someone who turned down Cal to go to Riverside, got good grades, and is an M.D. now. Would he have got the same grades at UCLA? He didn’t want to find out.