<p>I am a professor, and although I don’t take on PhD students directly, I have done independent studies and research projects with undergraduates and graduate students.</p>
<p>Several things you list are bare minima - good enough undergrad GPA, good enough GRE score, good enough recommendations. But the key for me, even when I will only be working with a student for one semester, that is 3.5 months, is whether I can get along with the student, whether they are interested in the work, and whether they might be a major bother. You can see that is even more important if you are planning to spend 4 or more years directly supervising the student.</p>
<p>My school and several others give teaching assistantships in exchange for tuition remission and a small stipend. Master’s students do not have access to either. I know of cases where a PhD student did not pass their qualifiers, and the university tried to recoup the money paid out, but it was difficult.</p>
<p>The doctoral candidate interview is more important than any of those factors, you have to be able to work with the person for many years. </p>
<p>As for earning tenure, it is beyond tricky at our school. The department has to get permission to hire someone tenure-track, and even then, when it comes time to determine if tenure will be offered, the university can say a flat-out “NO!” as in “we haven’t heard of this guy or gal, and therefore, they aren’t doing their job and should not get tenure” (= fired). Regardless of whether they met the criteria our department sets, and regardless of the fact that the university signed off on hiring a tenure-track employee.</p>
<p>Getting tenure is very difficult, but it does depend on where you are and what your connections are. Connections to the university’s administration are more important than connections within your department save the chair and the tippy top. Waste no time schmoozing colleagues unless you know they have pull.</p>