Help me with my school list! :)

[GoBriightly]

Hi Everyone!

I've been a long time lurker in this forum, but I finally decided I turn to you all for some wisdom! I'm applying MD/PhD this year. I've been researching schools for almost a year now... I have finally cut out a bunch and am now down to 35 schools. That's obviously waaay too many to apply to, so I'm looking to cut out some. I am also worried that I am aiming too high and that my list is very top heavy.
I've read Neuronix's what are my chances sticky as well as searched through this forum for people with similar stats, so I know my GPA and research are excellent and my MCAT is okay... I'm mostly worried about my MCAT holding me back at schools.

State of residence: VA
GPA: 3.8, sGPA: 3.7 (i started with a 3.9 freshman year, got 3.5s both semesters of sophomore year, and then have been getting a 4.0 every semester since... I'm going to be starting a fifth year this August)
MCAT: 33Q
Research:
Neuro/Physiology research: 4 years; working on honors thesis, one second author publication, 10+ oral/poster presentations (most first author) at national, regional, and school wide conferences, wrote a national grant that was funded
Virology research: 4 years; one publication, three poster presentations at regional meetings, another manuscript in progress
International REU: during the summer after my freshman year; two oral presentations, one first author publication in press.
Einstein SURP
Microbio research: one year; one publication accepted with minor revisions, oral and poster presentation, currently writing two grants
Currently interning at one of the top biotech/pharma companies working on pre-clinical trials for a new drug in the metabolic disorders division.
I also did biochem research for a year during my freshman year... and then decided it wasn't for me... I didn't get any posters/papers/etc, but it was definitely important in helping me decide what I want/need in a mentor/PI

Clinical/Other ECs:
Triathlon: I'm on my school's team, I do a couple of marathons/half marathons and half-ironmans/shorter triathlons per year
Free Clinics: 3+ years of free clinic volunteering
Shadowing: 50+ hours
Big Brothers Big Sisters: 5 years
TAing/Tutoring: every semester for 3 years, going on 4
Music: was in band for 3 years of college... it ended up being too much time (20+ hours per week in the fall), but it's still a great hobby for me


I am mostly interested drug/therapeutic development, so I'm thinking a PhD in Pharmacology although I'm pretty open to anything. I'm especially interested in developing therapeutics for metabolic disorders or cancer.

School List:
Einstein
UVA
VCU
Duke
UNC-CH
Wake Forest
Emory
Dartmouth
Wash U- St. Louis
Harvard
Jefferson
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Baylor
Mount Sinai
NYU
UPenn
UCLA
UCSF
UCSD
Colorado
Maryland
UMass
Miami
Nebraska
Pitt
Wisconsin
Tri-I
Yale

Possibly applying to, but not entirely sure?:
MUSC
Columbia
Ohio
Stanford
Stony Brook
UAB

I'm also open to any other suggestions for schools that have strengths in the programs I'm interested in... I also would prefer to go to a MSTP, but I have no problem going to a non-MSTP as well!
Thank you guys for all your help

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[Piper9132]

I would narrow down based on (1) Research strengths, (2) Even distribution of Dream schools (i.e. Harvard/Yale, etc.), Reach/realistic schools (UNC-CH, Emory, etc.), and safety schools (i.e. VCU, MUSC, Nebraska). and then (3) Location preference, do you really want to live in NYC/SF or is a colllege town like UNC better?

Also consider the length of the secondaries and fees. I only applied to one $100 secondary fee school out of principle haha.

Your GPA and research background are great. Unfortunately your MCAT may get you "screened" out of some schools which sucks I know. Any chance you could re-take, but only if you would be able to realistically raise your score 4pts. or so?

Hope that helped some, best advice is to narrow it down to 15-20 schools, and apply broadly across those categories I mentioned above. I would say you should be absolutely fine to get into "safety schools" and probably even reach/realistic schools with your research background and GPA.