Would you attend a program if the department seems to have a strained relationship with the administration? Or if they seem disorganized? In particular, if a few faculty members have been "forced to retire" recently and some others are struggling for faculty-status. How important is this if the actual content of the program is a good fit, and students seem happy?
Has anyone heard from University of Tennessee (Knoxville)? Do they do interviews? I'm not confident of my chances regardless but the wait is killing me.