<p>I am looking for advice on which colleges I should bother to apply. These are my stats:</p>
<p>Native Language: German, born in Austria</p>
<p>Finished grammar school of natural sciences with high distinction</p>
<p>Diploma (240 ECTS Points, 4yr program) in Software Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, Austria
Overall GPA: 3.885 (top of the class, 4th best GPA ever achieved)
GPA in maths, algorithmics and programming: 4.0
Held a national, merit-based scholarship</p>
<p>Passed final exam with high distinction
Diploma thesis about distributed artificial intelligence in real-time (tough stuff). Entered faculty-wide “thesis of the year” contest (results by December, probably too late).</p>
<p>As of today, 1 year work experience on multi-agent-systems in a military background. Will be 2 years at possible entrance in Master’s programme.</p>
<p>TOEFL paper-based: 650
GRE quant.: 795
GRE verb.: 610</p>
<p>I love teaching and tutoring, so I will definitely go for the PhD at some stage. Actually, I could enter a PhD program in Austria or Germany anytime. However, I prefer to first complete a Master’s program at a top-class US university to broaden my perspective and reinforce my English skills.</p>
<p>I feel repelled by the anti-competitive tenor and desultoriness at Austrian/German universities. I want to work with like-minded students in an environment that acknowledges academic achievement. This is to say that I am looking for a challenge here, not a nice time in sunny california.</p>
<p>Given my stats and determination, to which courses should I apply? This is my current list (ranked top to bottom):</p>
<p>UC Berkeley
University of Washington
Princeton
Brown University
Harvard
Yale</p>
<p>Is there a chance I could get in any of these courses? I would appreciate recommendations for decent universities which would take me with some certainity (as a back-up).</p>