@ucbalumnus, Thanks for the input. That’s exactly what I meant by “still decent”. So, for example, if you are pretty set for Ph.D., would you recommend an academically strong enough for UC Berkeley student to aim for UC Santa Cruz, and not worry about those 14 holistic review points of UC Berkeley during high school? Especially if a student just want to take more community college math and science courses during Summer instead of internship, volunteer, art portfolio, etc, etc?
What if you are just set for M.S.? Would it be very different?
By the way, why would law and medical schools be different? Don’t they even more focus on GPA regardless which ug school you got it?