Yet another school list- please help me

[phoenixsuns]

okay so the basics first:
California resident
cGPA: 3.75
BCPM: 3.7
-quick note about this, i did really well my first three years, but I had a drop my last year, not because of any really low grades or anything but because I was working on an honors thesis and there were a few classes I got B's and B+'s in. unfortunately, they were all science classes (BCPM my senior year is a 3.4 as opposed to 4.0, 3.8, and 3.7 my first three years). i know this will probably hurt me but I'm hoping that my other three years and my MCAT will make up for it.

MCAT: 13 physical science, 13 verbal, 14 biological science

research experience: 2 years, 20-25 hours/week, a senior honors thesis, and second author on a paper which is still being written (i don't know if this will help me because i'm not sure when the paper will be submitted. can i update schools and let them know if it' submitted in say august or something?)

volunteer experience: 3.5 years working at a clinic for homeless youths, providing medical, dental, legal, etc. services; i worked 5 hours/week here since i was a freshman

clinical experience: shadowed a physician for 8 hours/week for one semester. this was part of an internship and i later became a teaching assistant for this internship for two years

graduating with honors from my school

LOR: one really good one from my internship adviser, one really good one from my major advisor one of the heads for molecular and cell biology at my school, one really good one from my PI who is another head of molecular and cell biology, one from a near eastern studies professor (this one might be a little bit weaker as she doesn't know me as well)

given all this here is my list of school. NOTE: i am really trying to cut this down, but i have the financial flexibility to apply to many schools (for which i feel really lucky for)

Instate:
UCSF
Stanford
UCLA
UCSD
UC Davis
UC Irvine
USC

Top Tier:
Columbia
Cornell
Harvard
University of Pennsylvania
University of Michigan
University of Chicago
Northwestern
Mayo Clinic

OOS:
Mount Sinai
NYU
Tufts
Boston University
Georgetown
George Washington
University of Colorado, Denver
University of Miami
Albert Einstein
University of Pittsburgh
Drexel


I'm worried I'm applying to too many top tier and not enough safeties (and yes, i know there is no such thing as a safety in this process)
please let me know what you guys think

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[witness23]

you should be fine. NYU, Sinai, and Pitt are all essential top tiers in terms of numbers. I would cut of colorado and replace it with something like ohio state. Maybe add an albany or UIC or something. You will be fine as long as you apply early, write well, do well on interviews, don't bring up your crappy basketball team, etc.

Good list, overall.

 

[JJMrK]

Get rid of Colorado; OOS tuition is ridiculous. Your list is top-heavy but so is your MCAT score. A few safeties might be good just to make things less stressful, but you probably don't need them.