Entering neurosurgery residency is a lot like entering a professional sports league draft (i.e NBA draft). You have your number 1 picks like Lebron James and Kobe Bryants (in our field, the residents at UCSF, Barrow, etc.) who ultimately live up to the hype and become world renowned. However, you have other number 1 picks like Kwame Brown who don't live up to the hype.
Going to a great undergrad/med school doesn't always lead to success. Look at a guy like Robert Spetzler who was one of the best neurosurgeons of his era. Dude went to a random undergrad (Knox college) and an average med school at the time (Northwestern). Similarly, look at a guy like Geoffrey Manley. He was a high school dropout, went to a CC, and transferred to the University of Kentucky (
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/educ...91212.html). Now, he's one of the most academically productive neurosurgeons in the country.
For more recent examples, just look at the academic profiles of some of the UCSF residents. Some of them have publishing records that are just laughable for the number 1 program in the country (PGY-3 HMS graduate with 7 publications, with no papers in the past 1.5 years?).
In my own short career so far (currently a resident), I've been many individuals not live to the hype. This includes a valedictorian and other top ranked kids from high school who are just working typical jobs, undergrads who I thought were smart but failed to make it to med school, the list goes on and on. Overall, my point is that your pedigree doesn't always lead to success.