<p>I'm still a high school senior so I haven't even finished undergrad but I have some questions that's been killing me these past few days. When applying for grad school, do the adcoms only look at what you did your undergrad years, or do they look at your high school stuff too? If they only look at your undergrad, did they take into account versatility or place heavier weight on your GPA? I've heard from some people that, if you were a pre-med for example, you should aim for the highest GPA and do some extracurricular activities that are medical-based and ignore like "Environmental Club" or whatever. I know it's bad, that you should try clubs for your own interests, but I'm just wondering at the moment. </p>
<p>Can people still have a chance to be accepted at well-known univs (i.e. HYPS) despite average high school years? And what factors would allow them to be successful?</p>
<p>For med school, aim for an undergrad GPA of 3.7+. That GPA will require some work, but it’s not impossible. If you have a 4.0 in high school, you’ll need to work a lot harder to get a 3.7 in college. Definitely doable though.</p>
<p>For extracurriculars, you should WANT to find volunteer work in a hospital; don’t just do it to look good. Getting into medical school is very hard, if you don’t enjoy the work involved, you probably will need to work just that much harder. Also, consider joining a research lab, a lot of pre-meds do that.</p>