I know strong students from our high school who went to higher level colleges because they got in, then they felt they weren’t strong enough there to compete for the med school slots, so gave up. They told me they gave up because they didn’t feel they were strong enough students in their freshmen weeder classes.
I’ve often wondered if those same students had picked somewhere where they were in the Top 25% of incoming students if they’d have had a different outcome. I’m not coming up with any who were in the Top 25% of incoming students and wanted to be pre-med who didn’t make it into med school if they chose to apply. Some of these have had SAT scores in the 1200s and low 1300s. (There are some who decided med school wasn’t for them, but not due to grades - just due to finding something else appealing.)
It’s a strong enough correlation from what I’ve seen that I always now highly recommend students be in that Top 25% if they are serious about pre-med. Perception of how you fit in with your peers means a lot in those early classes. If Top 25% means a top level school, go for it if you want to.