Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to post an update. For anyone with similar experience, I believe that it will be very useful.
I got my admission letter in the beginning of February. So, just wanted to summarize my experiences here.
1. If you are an international student, like me, make sure to apply only the universities with diverse faculty members and phd students. I realized later on that some of the universities that I applied to had no international faculty members or Ph.D. students. Never heard back from them.
2. Gmat is an important criteria, but I believe that speaking skill is weighed a bit heavily after the first selection is made. So, if you got 700 on Gmat, your speaking skill will get you in front of the que later on. So, make sure to practice speaking.
3. Interview:
They usually last 15 min to 30 min.
Make sure to write down your answers and practice telling them at least 3-4 times before you interview.
Common questions.
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why phd
- Why this field
- your research topics (at first just a couple of sentence, but detailed question might come up on the second interview.)
- Make sure that you tell them about anything particular that sets you up. Maybe technical skills? Programs that you know of?
So, I got an admission. I thought I would be relaxed now, but I am more nervous than ever.

Anyway, best of luck to all fellow Ph.D. applicants.