<p>Im currently a rising senior in hs. And i was thinking about my future aspirations of becoming a Medical Doctor. I understand that only the cream of the crop of all college applicants will get into a medical school (even for the obscure less well known ones). So knowing how important my future college GPA will be I began to have serious questions. FYI I currently reside in a rural and also less competitive high school( I know becuz I went to a ultra competitive HS in CA for a short while(I did ok A-B average) and therefore, its pretty easy for me to get straight A's. Basically with the excellent grades I have received and in combination with my stellar SAT's (hope for a 2250+) I believe I am more than able to get me into a decent UC (I want to go 2 UCSD)!It is acceptable to say that the better the university is, the harder it will be to get an awesome GPA that will get me into med school.
SO THE QUESTION IS: IS IT BETTER for a hopeful future med student TO GO TO A CSU AND GET STRAIGHT A'S there, or is it better to get a less perfect grade record at a far more prestigious institution such as UCSD? I'm kinda scared that UCSD might be too overwhelming for me due to the fact that I went to a mediocre HS.</p>
<p>Prestige of the school does not necessarily carry a significant weight when it comes to applying to med school. Your GPA is definitely more important than where you go. If you get all A's at a CSU it'll look a lot better than a 3.0 at a UC. Despite your "mediocre" high school preparation, I believe it's possible to do well at any school. It's really about how much work you put into it. I took classes my freshmen year in which maybe 200/400 of the people had already taken the course in high school. I hadn't -- and I still got an A. That means I did better than a lot of people who already took it. </p>
<p>If you work hard, it doesn't matter where you go. If you go to a UC, you might have to work a bit harder than a CSU. Both are good institutions, despite the disparity in relative prestige.</p>