Courtney Dunford (formerly Lewis) joined MSHQ in July 2022, after having worked in medical school admissions for years, many of which were spent serving as the Director of Admissions at Burrell COM. During her time as Director of Admissions, she participated in the accrediting process of the medical school, which received full accreditation status, and subsequent approval from two additional states’ higher education boards for the COM to expand and have campuses and medical students there. She also helped establish a Pathway program with a local undergraduate university into the medical school. While under her direction, the cohort size increased, and underrepresented matriculation grew to over 20% of each cohort, while admissions stats increased. Many of those admitted medical students have gone on to match into highly competitive residency and fellowship programs.
Courtney also held two nationally elected medical admissions standard committee and admissions officer council positions, serving as Vice Chair-Elect before joining the MSHQ team. Serving in these roles required her to develop a thorough knowledge and understanding of MD, DO, and TMDSAS admissions processes, policies, and evaluation standards to promote consistency across the platforms and amongst the medical schools.
As an advisor, Courtney strongly advocates for increased transparency and accessibility for students in medical school admissions processes and requirements. Pulling from her own experience growing up underrepresented in underserved, low socioeconomic areas as the oldest of eight children, she recognizes how many challenges and barriers many students may face along their path. Having had to navigate her own educational journey without guidance and advice, she understands the complex and sometimes complicated nature of higher educational systems and is passionate about providing students with information on how to navigate this system in a way that works for them.
In her personal life, she enjoys spending time with her husband, traveling the world, trying out new local restaurants, attending professional/college sports games, reading fantasy fiction, and finding picturesque hiking trails or motorcycle routes to explore in the PNW.
As an MSHQ Expert Premed Advisor:While with MSHQ, Courtney has guided her students to be incredibly successful in obtaining interviews and being accepted into a myriad of competitive MD and DO medical schools all across the country. She can adapt to working with premed students coming from any path, whether traditional or nontraditional, looking to apply to any medical school using AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS. She has also helped students be successful in gaining acceptance into Early Assurance and Early Decision programs.She appreciates strategic planning and working with students who want to be thoughtful about their approach.
Thinking through questions – “What schools do you want to apply to? What gaps are in your application for those schools? How do you craft your essays to stand out to those schools? Why are medical schools asking you to get experience in certain areas?” She prefers to do live essay feedback/review so content and suggested edits can be discussed in real time, and she can act as a sounding board for revision ideas, if desired. Guidance is tailored per-student, so each student has a customized game plan to fit their goals.
