Opera major headed to medical school

Anyone who draws a hard distinction between art and science never met senior Grace Chaffins.

The soprano auditioned for a spot in FIU’s music school in advance of her freshman year and quickly embraced practicing for campus recitals and opera productions.

But in between memorizing arias and learning to sing in foreign languages, as is required of vocal performance majors, another interest kept pulling at her heart strings until she could no longer ignore it.

The gnawing feeling one day precipitated a formidable decision: She would set the stage for eventually earning a medical degree, all the while keeping up with her music theory and history classes, rehearsals and concerts.

Spoiler alert: Chaffins, who graduates in the spring from the Wertheim School of Music, the Honors College and the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, has earned acceptance to several medical schools and will choose one to start in the fall of 2026.

Renaissance woman

Reared on “reading and storytelling” and outings to musicals and symphony concerts, Chaffins grew up taking voice lessons and participating in children’s chorus and church choir.

Then, beginning in high school, she fell hard for anatomy and other science classes.

“Sometimes they’re viewed in two different spheres,” she says of her twin loves. “I don’t really view it that way. Art is all about encapsulating what it means to be a human being, and I think medicine is exactly the same thing.

“The heart of medicine is communication and really understanding people's stories and where they come from and meeting them where they are at.”

A beautiful, almost lyrical sentiment, for sure, but the question remains: How in the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart does she do it all?

A planner par excellence

Arriving with an associate degree from Miami Dade College (as part of dual enrollment studies) helped get several prerequisites out of the way but did not reduce the time it took for Chaffins to accomplish all that she has demanded of herself at FIU.

On top of immediately joining the Honors College, which features challenging, interdisciplinary classes designed to foster critical thinking and requires a capstone research project, Chaffins formally added a natural and applied sciences major after her sophomore year. Meeting the requirements of three different programs entailed serious attention to scheduling, both with regard to her academics and her life.

Her status as a student on a pre-med track – a sequence of coursework designed to prepare one for admission to medical school regardless of major – presented still more requirements, two of the most time-consuming falling outside of classes: studying for months to score well on the standardized Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, and fulfilling hundreds of hours of voluntary clinical experience, which she completed by making hospice visits and still continues today. (And like most FIU students, she worked part-time, as well as took singing jobs, for pay.)

Looking back as she heads into the home stretch, Chaffins states what might be surprising to many: “Music, honestly, was the harder major. It was so intense just because of the amount of classes we have to take,” she explains.

“All of our ensembles, including opera, which is six hours a week, and choir, which is another six hours a week, are one credit each. It just took a lot of time and some big commitment.”

A reflection of her name

Part of what got her through, she says, is the tight-knit vocal performance community within the Wertheim School of Music.

“I was very grateful to have had a lot of people who were really supportive, not only just academically, holding my hand and making sure I got where I needed to get, but also emotionally,” she says.

Associate Professor of Music Robert Dundas has known Chaffins her entire FIU career. Having seen her occasionally “tired” in the midst of her many pursuits, yet always enthusiastic, he appreciates both her character and her abilities.

“Grace, right from the start, struck us all as an amazing student,” he says. “The way she writes, the way she expresses herself, she's really top-notch. And then on top of that, she's got a beautiful voice.

“She's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet,” he continues. “She holds herself very professionally in every situation. She's always very attentive and very focused. She's exemplary in many, many ways.”

The future Dr. Chaffins

Now, a semester from walking the commencement stage, Chaffins looks forward to her final music course, vocal pedagogy, which will close the loop on her unique undergraduate experience.

“We're going to go into a lot of the mechanics of the anatomy of the vocal cords,” she says, “which I'm very, very excited for.”

Thinking she’ll specialize one day in pediatrics or maybe ear, nose and throat, she imagines that music somehow will remain a part of her life as she practices medicine.

That she could take a wide approach to her studies has meant the world to her, she addss.

“It's really a testament to FIU. You can really do anything here, combine all of your interests. You don't have to be stuck in a box.”

As the anti-diva prepares to leave one stage for another, those watching from the orchestra seats can only respond, “Brava.” 🎶