Feeling stuck (another "what are my chances" post)

[purplemermaid]

Hi guys, I know lots of people have been posting these already so I was hoping to get some feedback as well. 

I just finished my 4th year of UG and I decided to do a 5th year to bump up my GPA.

For reference, my GPA is:
1st year GPA: 3.52 
2nd year: 3.74
3rd year: 3.79 
4th year: 3.83
UofT wGPA: 3.86
Queens (2YGPA): 3.81
MCAT 1st try: 504 (127/122/128/127); Retake: 510 (130/125/126/129) 

Although my GPA trend shows an upward trend, it wasn't ever a great improvement to 3.9+ so it sucks I kind of plateaued there, but hopefully I can get at least a 3.9 in my 5th year if I really just focus on school. I think my ECs are a bit average too: 
- lots of volunteering experience with science outreach for kids, pre-med conference co-chair, volunteered with TBI patients, summer camps, doing some work with Indigenous youth as well, and just some other small club involvements 
- I did a surgery observership with a neurosurgeon for about 50 hours 
- 2 years of research experience, 1 pub (but not 1st author), 1 summer research grant, presented at a few conferences 

I'm IP for Ontario, and from GTA, so I don't fall in any of the special pools (i.e. swomen). I decided to take this summer off from MCAT and just continue research/ECs this summer but I'm afraid that I will need to retake to improve my CARS score because McMaster, Western, Alberta, and Calgary all need 128+ and then from the Queens thread, it looks like I need 515+ overall. My GPA is also still too low for Ottawa, so that is not an option. My only one left is UofT, but I don't think my GPA is strong enough for that. I just feel really lost in terms of where I should start to improve my application? I feel like I'm in this awkward pool since I'm falling average in everything but do you guys have any suggestions on what I can constructively do to improve? Should I retake the MCAT next summer and start working on my CARS now and throughout my 5th year to really improve? What can I do to make myself stand out in terms of ECs? (i.e. more volunteering, more shadowing, more advocacy roles??)

Thanks in advance!

[helicase]

I don't know if you necessarily need a 515+ for Queen's, but your 125 CARS may hold you back. 

[Potentiate]

You seem to be in one of those awkward situations where everything is good, but not good enough. I've always looked at medical school applications as being defined by their best aspect. If someone has a 4.0 gpa, MCAT becomes less relevant (UofT/Ottawa). If someone has a 520 on their MCAT, GPA becomes less relevant (Queens/Western/Mac). If someone has absolutely stellar ECs, then academic scores become a little less important (Queens). If someone is simply a good, all-rounded applicant, well, that's where they get lost in the sea of other premeds. 

You can try to focus on achieving a stellar MCAT score to be competitive at three schools within Ontario (Queens/Western/Mac). ECs will matter more once interviews role around, but the MCAT needs to be great in order to field interviews in the first place. Feel free to message me with any more specific questions!