Oh, it's definitely not the case anymore. Anecdotes about students in competitive disciplines falling back on medicine are usually multiple decades old. Today

Oh, it's definitely not the case anymore. Anecdotes about students in competitive disciplines falling back on medicine are usually multiple decades old. Today, there's no such thing as medicine-as-a-fallback. If you aren't solidly and deliberately premed for several years, building relationships with people who can write strong LORs, doing and documenting volunteering hours, and getting everything else in order, you don't stand a chance at admission to a competitive school.