Basically you are trying to put Cali schools in the same tier as HSS, Iowa, Duke, Wash U with your suggested credentials and sadly (I know I have the potential to get slammed with this one) that is, in my opinion, far from the case.
That being said, CA certainly has some "good" programs, but nothing that warrants if you grew up in New Hampshire and never left, a need to have a 270, junior AOA, 15 first authors to get an invite out there. The locations is desireable of course, which brings in more apps then say, places in the midwest, but in general- Cali isn't exactly stealing all of the top tier applicants, from my experience.
I was east coast, never left, didnt rotate outside of east coast, but had strong scores and grades (250+, senior AOA). I got invites at some of the big name California schools that I had zero ties to, and so did my classmates who were less competitive than myself. My medical school was also not a top tier and I didn't have a ton of research so I'm not tooting my own horn saying I was a superior applicant.
Of course, those of us who rotated out there got a little bit more love, but thats the same anywhere. I know this sounds monotonous, but this really is an unpredictable game, you really never know what exactly they are looking for. Strong grades will certainly not hurt, but there are no gurantees.
