CD has been a so helpful with my PhD application, so I wrote this summary as a thank you note to previous contributors. And I wish future users could benefit from my experience. Some thoughts and suggestions are summarized below:
 


1.    Timeline


  At the very least you should have recommendation letter writers (>=3), your school list and the almost final version of your Statement of Purpose ready before the beginning of Dec, because you need to communicate with your professors and letter writers and start the application online.
  You still have chance to retake G/T test and wait for your fall term transcript to be updated before or even after the application deadline (although not recommended). But keep in mind that some schools do not allow any updates of any materials after the submission.
 
  The best advice here is that be as much as prepared as early as you can, before December. Earliest deadlines are Dec 1st, most top programs end at/before Dec 15th, good programs around Jan 1st. Latest deadline I have is around Feb 1st.


2.    School list

  Of course, you can put your BG here and ask for suggestions from forum users. I think the better ways are to talk to your LOR writers and find out where previous graduates ended up at. Applicants from same programs have similar trainings. Committees have opinions of people from different programs. Most of us are not outliers. And you will know it if you are an outlier, significantly better or worse.
 
  There are no safe choices. The safest programs in my opinion gave me rejections directly, without interview. I have interviews from programs higher than I end up with. Based on my experience here, most people go to the matched programs. Maybe it is a better to choose more matched programs.


3.    Package

  Recommendation letters are most important among all the factors. If you are currently at US schools, please take every chance you have to approach professors, attend seminars and ask for RA chance. You should be active in preparing your application and you cannot expect Professors come to you. If you could find letters from influential professors, please do so. If not, please have your letter from somebody knows you well and describe your potential honestly. How to define influential? 1) honored professors >professors > associate professors > assistant professors; 2) number of citation from google scholar; 3) active or not.
  Different programs have different preferences on work experience. For Accounting applicant, if you want to make your work experience as a shining strength, please have CPA at least.  You can find out their tastes by viewing current students’ CV to see if they prefer CPA/master/Accounting degree/else.
  Interviews seem to be a necessary part now. I am still confused how important it is. I feel that most programs have almost decided even before the interview. But I might be wrong here. By almost decided, I mean rank of the applicants. If this p