Among other grad schools, I did a "safety" application to the school I had received my undergrad. My mentor and former professor was even a rec (he taught undergrad and grad.) Oh, and not only was he a professor who taught me AND a faculty member at the same school I was applying to AND a solid recommendation, he was on the selection committee for grad school. After getting the rejection letter, I approached him and he said, "You're work is great but we tend to seek out students who didn't just graduate from this school." Days later, several peers in my undergrad program approached me excitedly to say that they had been accepted to the grad school...