I'd reiterate the point that you'll get the best idea of what school provides the best "fit" once you attend their interview day. However, from my personal experience, if I could go back and repick the schools I send my primary to, I'd look at the following things:
1. Grading: How many years, if any, is it pass/fail? At the very least, I'd want my school to be pass/fail my first year so I'm not overwhelmed with the med school transition. There's a couple schools that are completely pass/fail (Yale, UCLA that I know), although some people say that's not ideal since residencies will have a tougher time evaluating you. I've thought about that, but I've also realized there's a strong change I won't be an honors med student anyway. Decide for yourself what you'd prefer.
2. Classroom time: If you can find an M1/M2 schedule, it's helpful to see how the students' days are structured. Some schools have students in a lab or classroom from 8 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday. Others give their students every other afternoon off. Do look at both years if you can. One top school I visited has a highly favorable M1 schedule, then the M2s are in class pretty much as a full time job. On a similar note, you can also check how much vacation time you get + how much allotted time you have to study for Step 1. I've seen it go anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks.
3. Special curriculums: Shortened pre-clinical, mandatory "scholarship activities"; these are some things you're bound to find at a few schools. Would you prefer a school where you spend fewer months in the classroom? Do you enjoy research and know you'd like to integrate it into your medical school years? Lots of times you'll read through a school's curriculum and not really understand what the big difference is from one place to the next. But major differences like these exist and aren't too hard to pick up on.
4. What big interests do you have? If you think you might want to do an MD/MPH, look at what schools have prominent programs that allow an easy transition. Did you do some kind of neuro research as an undergrad and you know X School of Medicine has a prominent research department in that field? I'm interested in pediatrics, so schools with well-regarded children's hospital that are well integrated with the medical school and provide ample research opportunities are a nice draw.
5. Tuition with a disclaimer: Which schools give out a lot of financial aid? Tuition from one school to the next isn't that drastically different with the exception of in state vs. out of state. I would of course apply to most, if not all, of your state schools. But look at out of state schools that are well known for giving lots of scholarships. Your app seems pretty solid, so I wouldn't be surprised if some schools threw money at you. An out of state school could end up being just as cheap. Avoid out of state public schools with super low oos acceptance rates or super high oos tuitions, regardless of whether they might fit well in other areas. Chances are you won't get in, and even if you do, do you really want to pay 5 times the amount you would at your state school?
6. Rankings. You gotta start somewhere. Unless you want to research all 100+ medical schools in the country, I'd start with numbers 1-30ish + state schools and see which of those fit what you're looking for. Then add schools you might have special ties to, e.g. a friend goes there, you have family in the area, you love the city, etc.
In the end, if you can narrow down your list to about 18 +/- 5, you're probably in good shape. If you've got a couple legitimate safeties, like 2 state schools that have high acceptance rates and averages much lower than yours, you can cut down that number, whereas if you plan on applying to mostly top 20 schools, you're better off sticking towards the high end. Hope this helps. Good luck.
