Let's stop playing coy. Yes, my 3rd grade cousin knows a 3.8 is better than a 3.6 and worse than a 4.0. Why is it so hard to answer these questions instead of trying to pretend as if the concept of the question itself is somehow offensive?
What the OP is clearly asking is whether a 3.8GPA is one that should make him feel confident about himself applying to these top 20 schools (considering the rest of his application is what you would expect of a top 20 school applicant) or whether he should feel like he is going to need to compensate for his GPA.
OP, le'ts just say a 3.8 will not hold you back. A 3.8 is around the median for a lot of these schools if not a bit below. You will wow none of these schools with your GPA and it probably will not be considered a strength in your application but merely meeting some standard requirements, much like having some basic levels of volunteer or clinical experience. This is not at all to say that your scores will put you in the dog house...That said, you will be expected to have EC and MCAT scores that will impress.
Nonetheless, like apumic was saying, there's a lot of diminishing returns at the higher GPAs. I would personally consider the difference to become negligible at the 3.9+ range and not necessarily the 3.8+ range. However, look to the stats that were posted to get a better quantitative understanding of what you're looking for.
that's ridiculous
