<p>JJ scholar AFAIK means very little and you get very little from it. Don’t make it a basis for any decision</p>
<p>Your concentration about prestige is completely off re-med school; GPA and MCAT is most of your admissions, your comparative undergrad program has minimal effect especially given the pool of schools you mentioned. A high GPA means a lot more than a highly ranked institution, and you will have a tough time in all of these schools’ premed programs, that’s just the nature of trying to do premed in highly ranked places. </p>
<p>I think you’re underestimating what it means to get into Columbia or Penn’s med school. Med school is nothing like undergrad admissions. Most people would be lucky to get close to the top 20, and I’m talking about people at schools like Columbia and Penn. Don’t even worry about trying to get to top 10 schools based off an undergrad decision. If you actually have the talent to compete for this level of med school it’s going to be in the effort and dedication you make in your 4 years, not whether Princeton or Columbia is more prestigious. </p>
<p>There’s a reason why a lot of people take 1 year off before applying to med school and its not necessarily such a terrible thing. I think you’ll come to better terms with this as you go through college and approach med school apps. </p>