Let's just break this down a little bit. VERY FEW planets have the right conditions to support life of any kind. Planets have to be solid, they have to be water, they have to be neither too far nor too close to their sun, their sun has to be the right kind of star, they have to be the right size, their atmospheres have to be composed of the right gases, etc. So VERY few planets are even CAPABLE of supporting life. Even FEWER planets would be fortunate enough to have life spring up on them. And still even FEWER planets would be home to INTELLIGENT life, let alone life that's more intelligent than we are.
So maybe that leaves a few dozen planets that are home to lifeforms more intelligent than we are.
The nearest solar system (not even the nearest galaxy) is more than 4 light years away. Just imagine how far away a planet with life more intelligent than us would be. The chances of it being within a reachable distance are utterly ridiculous. And even IF there existed some sort of incredibly advanced civilization that could traverse hundreds of thousands of light years in a matter of seconds, why would they come to Earth? What use would our planet, a planet of primitive, stupid, smelly flesh sacks, be to them?
The way I see it, there's such an infinitely small chance of us encountering intelligent life (let alone life more intelligent than we are) that it's best to simply disregard the chance entirely.
I am sure that we will not communicate with aliens of significant intelligence for hundreds of thousands of years at the very least - if not, millions. Nevertheless, I do believe that life on the cellular level does exist in many places in the universe - possibly in our own solar system. One of Saturn's moons, Europa, shows signs of liquid water beneath its surface. That, in my opinion, is our best bet for finding extraterrestrial life, if only on the cellular level.