I wouldn't say someone should choose the University of MD over Harvard, since many potential employers would not know how to map a 4.0 MD GPA onto a Harvard scale. If you're between Harvard and Penn, and Penn gave you a great scholarship, that's a bit easier. Maybe for UC Berkeley even. But if you get too far out of the ballpark people will (1) assume you didn't get into any top-notch schools, and (2) not know how to compare your success at a lower-ranked school to moderate success of your peers at top-rated schools.
Full disclosure: I went to the top-rated college I got into, and purposely chose not to go to the top-ranked law school that I got into. The difference wasn't huge (UCLA vs Michigan), but it did mean I wasn't in the top-10. But I saved a bunch in tuition, and that allowed me to have the flexibility to leave the law several years later and bootstrap a startup. OTOH, maybe I would have had an amazing legal career had I gone to Michigan!
Full disclosure: I went to the top-rated college I got into, and purposely chose not to go to the top-ranked law school that I got into. The difference wasn't huge (UCLA vs Michigan), but it did mean I wasn't in the top-10. But I saved a bunch in tuition, and that allowed me to have the flexibility to leave the law several years later and bootstrap a startup. OTOH, maybe I would have had an amazing legal career had I gone to Michigan!