i need to do really well in high school and do preparatory work for med school as im sure you know
high school ----> college ---(high school and college things)---> medical school---> doctor
I just need to make sure i do the high school things requirements
Actually, there are definable and major breaks in your little diagram. Let me give you what I think it should look like.
high school --> college (phase 1)
college --> med school (phase 2)
med school --> residency (phase 3)
Each of those phases requires different strategies to succeed in and although you may think they're all one big continuum, they're not actually.
phase 1: to get into a good college you need to do everything superbly in high school (good grades, EC, volunteer, high ACT/SAT, etc). You pretty much have to aim high and show you're an amazing and dedicated student ... short of blowing your teachers. Going to a top 10 college/university doesn't make it any easier to get into med school. It actually may make it harder because of the type of students you're competing against. It may, however, give you more opportunities in terms of shadowing/volunteer/research but it's all about GPA and MCAT which brings us to...
phase 2: in college you don't have to haul ass by taking all the hardest classes available. It's actually to your detriment to take the hardest classes and forgo the easy As as med schools care more about GPA/MCAT then they do your ECs. So don't take Bio700000, just do the basics requirements and sprinkle easy classes along with your harder upper level bio classes (assuming you're a bio major). Be balanced and get some volunteering and shadowing done. Research is a plus but not a necessity as many may like to crow.
Phase 3: you want to do the best possible in your basic science classes but you don't have to honor (i.e. maintain a 4.0 GPA) in your classes. It's gonna be hard cause you'll be competing against the best but your first 2 year's grades don't carry that much weight (yes, yes, I know this is a controversial topic and I do know these grades may come to play a role if you want to do a ROAD competitive specialty but that's a whole new can of worms). You do, however, want to score well in your USMLE step 1 because that and your clinical year grades (especially the grade in your chosen field of specialty) carry the most weight in determining residency placement. Leadership, volunteer, research/publications are all additional pluses.
Well that's my short spiel on the issue. Obviously these are my thoughts on the matter and people WILL disagree (this is SDN) but whatever, I don't really care.
