“My first roommate in medical school dropped out after it became clear that he lacked sufficient reading skill to get past the first two weeks. Think about that.”
So how did he do on the MCAT? How did he get in?
From kindergarten through college he crossed every T and dotted every i, made no waves, completed his assignments on time and kept out of trouble. Then, when he got into a situation where those things weren't enough, he suffered.
The details of his background are not important to my main point and I’ve chosen not to discuss them - how he got in is a separate issue.
The point is, you can’t take non-doers and convert them into doers by awarding credentials.
Medical school was, and to a degree still is, a place where people who shouldn’t be there (at least academically) don’t graduate. The situation with personality and fitness for the work as markers of ability to graduate has, sadly, deteriorated.