Is NCSU within my reach ? And other "safety schools"

[instrument.santosh]

Hey guys,

i am an industrial engineering student from india studying in one of the top 5 colleges down here (NIT only next to IIT's). I am applying for 2015. and i have selected few schools as of now. I just wanted to make sure is the list i have is "okay" 

My profile as of now - 
1 Journal articles in physics (general relativity)
4 Projects in physics (2 summer and 2 winter projects) (general relativity and Quantum mechanics)
1 Statistical Math Project
1 project to mathematically model product life cycle (used physics model for solving industrial engineering problems) 
1 conference (this summer)
1 Lecture course by Prof michael berry (this summer)
1 Summer school in advance quantum mechanics IMSc (institute of mathematical sciences)

Over all GPA now in indian system = 7.2/10
GRE 315
PGRE yet to take.

Selected schools - 
Ambitious - CMU, Zurich
Moderate- NSCU , SCSU, WUSTL

Other list - SUNNY Buffalo, University of Tennessee - Knoxville, University of Kansas, Michigan State, SUNNY Stony Broke, Univ of Toronto

I want to select couple of more univs from the "other list" that i would have a shot on.

please do tell me if these selection are over ambitious or okay-ish or too low for my profile.

And if i am applying (sending my scores and stuff) to department of physics for masters of physics program, do i have to apply separately for the astronomy(or any other physics) program or would mine be automatically considered for it too ?

Thanks a lot in advance

[astroyogi]

When you say GRE 315, how much of that is math/how much of that is english? I know for international students applying to US schools, a lot rides on the PGRE, so that might be a determining factor for you -- also, I don't mean to nitpick, but it's "SUNY" as in State University of New York, and spelled "stony brook" -- I've seen applicants land themselves in trouble when they start misspelling program names in correspondence with the school, so I would advise against getting into the habit even on casual forums like this one. While in some cases schools will "send your application on" to a different department if it looks like you might have a better shot there (as in, send it to applied physics or astronomy if they won't take you in physics), only a few schools I applied to stated this directly, and even of those I'm not sure how many actually do this. In most cases I've seen, you need to apply to both departments -- and in some cases, the school will only allow you to apply to one. 

[RedneckPhysics]

Wow, I'd love to hear how you decided on Physics after ISE!

 

How was your physics GRE? I assume they're requiring that for admission. If you're in the 90th percentile or higher in math on the general subject test, that might help get you past not having the PGRE under your belt yet. Hope you applied and got into the school! It's definitely a nice place for those who want to be exposed to a little bit of everything.