Confusion and Link

[pavelbuet]

I am pretty confused about university selection. Let me share my profile with you guys....

AGRE: *wish to attend in december*
GRE: 1450 (800 Q, 650 V, 4.0 W)
TOEFL: 273
CGPA: 3.72/4.0 ( CS major gpa 3.9+)
12th grade: 83%
10th grade: 91%

Final year project: A medium scale web search engine
Research Paper: No

Job experience: 1) Programmar (Quantitative finance)...7 month
2) Software engineer (Web application)...8 month(ongoing)

Others: National level awards in computer programming contests

Area of interest: Theory > system > AI

So, I think I have got a medium level profile for phd in CS with financial aid.

1) But the real show has begun when I started to look at universities. Which are safe for me...is it the universities below 50 in the rank? or moderate?
I have a tentative thought..its,
risky<20<=moderate<50<=safe
Please help me out guys with your comments on the inequality above.

2) One more point; we know that CMU/stanford/mit/berkley's unofficial rule is not to accept any applicant without good papers. Is there some other universities following the same rule? Please shed some light on this point.

3) And if you think any particular university will be a good choice for me please let me know. I am hungry for suggestions in this regard.

BTW, I have found a nice link where you can get a good summary of information needed for prospective grad students for a particular university. Check it out http://www.petersons.com/gradchannel....asp?sponsor=1