MS Finance for international student interested in equity research/asset management

I am new on here and this is my first post. I am a senior economics undergrad student from South Asia. I am planning to do MS Finance program next year to re-brand my profile and to relocate. My career goal is to work in asset management firm mainly in equities. I am also fine with working in IB where they have equity research programs for new grads. I will sit for CFA level 1 this December hopefully and I don't have any internship experience at all.

I did some research on linkedin, evestment, wso and other online sources to come up with some programs which I think are good for me.

1. UT Austin Mccombs : I have chosen this school because it is considered as a good school and is dominant in Texas region. I don't know if there are many AM firms located in Texas, but have heard there are some like Dimensional Fund Advisors. It is relatively cheaper to other business schools. It also has an experiential learning module in which students get to work on projects with local finance firms.

2. Brandeis University (IBS) : It is not a reputed school neither it is considered as a target. It has a 2 yr long program in which I would get time for internship. Boston has lots of opportunities and firms like fidelity, state street, eaton vance etc are located there. It provides generous scholarships and my senior got full ride at this university for the same program last year. I will attend it only if I get a good scholarship. It has majority of students from Asia making me compete with not only domestic students but also other international students to for FT employment. It mainly has a location and opportunity for internship factor.

3. University of Minnesota (Carlson) : In most forums I got mixed views on Carlson. Advantages for me to attend this school are its presence in Minneopolis Area, On linkedin, I found Ameriprise financial, RBC AM, Sit Investments and some MM IB firms like Piper Jaffrey are located. Also its grads are well represented in MN. It is a 16 month program which would give me time to look for some intern opportunities.

4. Ohio State University (Fisher) : I recently got to know about its program. I don't know much about it. I could not find much info about its alumni in AM.

I know about Columbia, MIT, Princeton, BC, and other great schools have MS Finance programs too but I am not their kind of student neither I can afford their tuition fee. I checked the placement of Boston College for MS finance and it is not good for international students though it places well for undergrads and mba in AM.

In worst case scenario, I am happy with working for investment consultancy firms so there is not rigidity on my side unless the job is somewhat related. Let me know if I am wrong somewhere and any more info regarding these schools and locations. I would also apply to business schools in other countries but I will have a different post for it. I will apply to only two-three schools in US.