People applying to multiple countries: How are you choosing the school?

[Bayern]

I am thinking of applying to multiple countries i.e. US, UK, and Canada, to decrease the risk of not entering a decent program, and also having the option of going into a good program somewhere in the world. Anyone with the same experience, or planning to do something similar, how are you choosing your schools in countries other than the US... i.e. how are you comparing the rankings and going on to select the schools? How did you close on to the school of your choice?

[asianeconomist]

IMHO, instead of segregating your applications based on countries, it would be more useful to consider them in terms of rankings, for instance 1-3 schools from top 10.....