How to get accepted into a PhD program

Pragmatically, there's only one reason as to why a professor would want to have you as his or her PhD student. And that is to get some publications out of you. Publications is the most valuable thing in the world for a professor, because his or career largely depends on the quantity and quantity of publications.

So if you want to get into a PhD program, you must demonstrate that you have a great potential for conducting and publishing research. Preferably, you should try to publish a paper or two before you apply to a PhD program. Even a trade press publication might help.

So everything that you write and say during the application processes should be geared towards making a strong case that you can co-author a lot of papers with professors in the department.