<p>This one should be a softball for all the vets of this board:</p>
<p>Who generally serves on a graduate admissions committee? I know that the directors of some of the programs I'm intrigued by also happen to be professors and researchers at those institutions. I'm not sure how common this is, but I'm certainly curious about it.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Most commonly, I believe it is the faculty members of that dept and/or of your proposed concentration. Obviously, the graduate school (graduate admissions office) also has a say administratively (i.e., if your GPA and/or GREs are below their cutoff, they can simply toss out your app w/o ever forwarding it to the dept). At some schools, advanced grad students may also serve on the committee in limited ways (e.g., by giving recommendations after interviewing you). The faculty member with whom you wish to study (your POI) is likely to be the one who is ultimately given say as to whether or not you're accepted (since s/he would be the one funding, mentoring and working with you).</p>
<p>apumic has provided an excellent answer.</p>
<p>Directors of Graduate Studies (Program Directors) are always faculty in their departments. They usually chair the admission committee, which is made up of other faculty in that department (sometimes the entire department, sometimes only some).</p>