@ucbalumnus I’m sure the pre-med forum has lots of wisdom. I like to tell people that if they survey 10 psychiatrists on the right decision to make, they are likely to get 13 different opinions. I suspect that might be the same with college admissions. All kidding aside, there are many paths to careers in medicine and each person has to follow their own unique path. Since GPA matters and high MCAT scores matter, I encourage anyone to pursue whatever path they need to take in order to ensure those happen. I have a lot of personal anecdotal evidence that prestige of the undergraduate institution does not matter. But I understand that others may dispute that.
My advice to my daughter is based on my own experience, of course. It may or may not be good advice. People have to make their own decision in life as to whether a recommendation is sound counsel or not. BTW, I also advised her against finding an internship over the summer. There is more than enough time to join the rat race. Instead, she found an interesting summer “coding” class to take. Of course, she is not taking this coding class at her rigorous LAC so it may end up being a total waste of time as per future employers… 