bsc

1) How are admissions committees generally broken up by subfield? Do departments generally try to have an even subfield distribution or is that not relevant? Also, do committee members only read applications from within their subfield? 2) How much weight do the professional/personal relationships between professors have in terms of evaluating recommendation letters? I know this probably varies greatly, but in your experience do recommendation letters coming from professors who have established relationships with a member of the committee generally get taken more seriously? Thank you!