>perfect test scores, 4.0 GPA, spending youth striving towards

While this generally increases acceptance odds, by no means do medical schools require this. I always recommend fact-checking tidbits of K-12 daycare lore. Once upon a time, I believed the 'impossible to enter unless perfect stats' rumors too until I looked at the actual data. Apply early in the cycle and broadly to many schools and the numbers quickly turn in your favor.

>t. 30-something who got into a US medical school with closer to a 3.0 (although a 4.0 in the prereqs), a ~50 percentile MCAT, and a soft science bachelors, focusing less than 2 years in late twenties to do so.