It's a good thing you posted this. You are an exceptional student; your SAT scores, which puts you in the 99.7th percentile, are a testament to that. It's great to have safety schools, but there's no reason to apply to Purdue, Syracuse, UI--all that you listed except Stanford and Cal Tech. Maybe keep one of those for a safety school, because you're a shoe in at them.

Your chances at Stanford and Caltech, nonetheless, are not great. But that's true for anyone. Top tier schools (i.e. the Ivy League, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, U of C, Duke, JHU, etc.) are a gamble for anyone. I'd say your chances at one are around 30% (which is FAR greater than the average applicant's). To ensure that you have a few to choose from, I suggest applying to a lot more top schools. There's the Wharton School of UPenn, the FU Foundation of Columbia, Cornell Engineering, MIT, Hopkins, and, of course, the infamous Harvard.

Being an international student does not help. In fact, at many schools it hurts you if you're applying for financial aid. I believe, I'm not sure, but I think UPenn is need-blind for internationals, but many Ivies are not. Colleges will, however, know that other countries use different grading systems than we do. Does your school rank? If not, maybe have your rank included in your counselor's LOR (assuming your rank is a selling point. Top 10% is a must, and top 5% is definitely good to have.) Have you taken any IB or AP classes? If not, consider taking some AP tests. Also, if you have taken the most rigorous courseload, which I hope you have, have that included in your LOT also.
- godfatherbob

hey thanks. My school doesn't "rank" per se, but the transcript shows your grade next to the class highest and the class average, so that should be good enough.

So you think I should apply to more top schools? MIT is definitely right up there where I'm concerned, but aren't my chances of getting in even less?

Also, how much financial aid do you think it's safe to apply for, considering my circumstances?
- sreejagpt

many schools are not need blind for internationals - meaning the more you cost the less of a chance you have at acceptance. find out which ones are, that's my advice.
- renix

definitely. Thanks for that.
- sreejagpt

Your chances at MIT are probably slightly less than at Stanford or Caltech, but my point was that the more top schools you apply to, the more you'll be accepted to, and the more choice you'll have. If you apply to three, chances are only one will accept you. And it's even possible that none will. But, if you apply to, say, eight, then you'll almost certainly be accepted at one, and most likely will be accepted at two or three, giving you a choice among top schools.
- godfatherbob

yeah i see what you mean. So I'm also including Cornell, MIT, and Northwestern...and I'm keeping Purdue as a safe. That makes my list so far: Stanford, MIT, Cornell, CalTech, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers NB, UIUC.
I'm going over some more good colleges, and plan to add one more really good (read: insanely hard to get into) college in a bit.
- sreejagpt

fyi Brown has a great CS department - one of the more reputable. Brown has very close ties to Pixar. Google and Microsoft recruit here. And Andy Van Damm teaches here.

"The character of Andy in the film Toy Story is supposedly named for Andy Van Dam. Supposedly the filmmakers, many of whom had Andy as a professor, wanted to pay tribute to his pioneering work in computer graphics. This story is told during admissions tours at Brown University and has made it in the IMDB trivia for Toy Story page. Andy denies this rumor. Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice appears on Andy's bookshelf in the film, which may be the origin of this rumor. "
- renix

how do you read my mind??? I'm doing Computer Science solely for Comp Graphics! Ok I'll review Brown...it isn't need blind, is it?
- sreejagpt

nope :(
- renix

Wait a minute, the film makers went to CALARTS in Valencia, my parents alma mater. What film makers on Toy Story had him as a professor? Was he teaching at Cal Arts? Or, are you speaking about the production staff? I can ask and find out if there is any merit to the story. They always put in special messages in the films. You just have to look for them. However, beyond looking for staff, I have never heard of any deep connections between Pixar and Brown. They have close hiring connections with many universities. They are looking for talent not, school names.
- cameron

They hire many CAL ARTS animation students because it is considered one of the top animation schools in the nation.
- cameron