The stats (gpa/mcat) reported by the school is a pretty good indicator but as with all stats you have to take it with a grain of salt. In my opinion, the stats that are printed in the aoa booklet that you get with your aacomas are not very accurate. In general, i believe those stats are a little low especially if you are out of state. HOwever, keep in mind that the stats are an AVERAGE. Which means they accepted people with lower numbers as well as with higher numbers. Plus, schools look for the complete package. They want the well-rounded student. Probably the best way to find the most accurate numbers for each school is to actual call up and ask the admissions office. Ask them what were the average stats for this years' MS1 class. You can also tell them your numbers and many schools will give you a honest opinion on where you lie.
Immi, I can't really tell you which school is better than the next. I can only tell you which school i applied to. They were:
Western U, Tucom, uhs/com, azcom, pcom, uohms, unecom, ccom, nova se, kcom. It comes down to what you think will be good for you. You kind of have to establish your own ranking system that correlates with what is important to you. Some things to consider would be the school's geography, reputation, class size, facility, faculty,cost, rotation hospitals/sites, etc.
I turned in my primaries around the third week of june(not as early as i wanted but i'm a bit of a procrastinator). I finished sending out all my secondaries by sept (once again i'm a slacker). I think that it's crucial to get those secondaries out asap. The earlier the 2-andary the faster the committee can evaluate you and hopefully the earlier you get an interview. An interview that's early in the application process increases your chances of acceptances dramatically. The earlier the interview, the more seats that are availabe. Admission committees are a lot more picky around April and May b/c there are fewer seats. All my interviews happened in a span of 6 weeks. My first one was on the second week of october and my last one was mid. november.
I was invited for an interview at western u (aka comp), uhs/com, azcom, ccom, unecom, uomhs, tucom. I went to the first 4 and declined the latter 3. I got into all the schools i interviewed (western u, azcom, uhs) except for ccom. I was wait-listed at ccom and eventually taken off and ccom is where i'll be heading this fall.