QUESTION: Top Finance/BA Masters US/UK

The purpose of this post is twofold. I am 1. Trying to understand what the top schools are for PE,IB and HF recruiting. 2.) What are the main things (apart from top grades and solid experience) that are going to get me though the door.

Some context: I'm currently looking at the prospect of applying to a masters Programme in either BA or Finance in either the US or the UK. Besides the top schools such as Harvard and Wharton I'm trying to look at others to apply to and I keep getting mixed results. Some people tell me NYU Stern is really solid while others tell me to go for Yale/Princeton. I understand that all of these are top schools but I'm really trying to come up with a list from top to worst, based on one independent variable which is: "% chance of getting into IB-PE-HF".

I'm trying to simplify my list as much as possible to just express that requirement. Another way to look at it would be:-A list from top to bottom that best express the answer to the question of: "what school should I go to where "I can't go wrong". ?"

Then comes the question of what I should value most when aiming for these schools apart from experience and grades. Some people told me that recommendation letters matter most. Others tell me that letters don't weigh as much and the GMATs are the most important. Others tell me a recommendation from an Alumni is the key. Again, I want to draft a list that would tell me which element of an application is valued most, so I know what to most concentrate on.

I know that each school is different and trying to generalize it is hard, but if anyone with experience/knowledge could at least give me a really rough estimate I would really appreciate it.