Lingistics acception criteria

[Aydzemnig]

Hello, 

First of all, congratulations to everyone who got accepted for grad school. I just got rejected from Yale and I guess I will be rejected by other institutions I applied (NYU is the one that makes me feel the worst), I need some help to make better my application for the next year, I just wanted to know a little about the application forms of PhD candidates who are accepted to Yale, or any other American institution. Is GRE that much important? (as a foreign student) is there a min score for TOEFL (though it says that there is not in Yal's site, apparently there is a min score, isn't it?) ? Are grades that much important (because i'm a turkish student, studying in Paris since the bachelor's and master's degree, that's why my grades are not mind blowing)? To sum up, can you please help me to classify what is crucial, how to prepare the SOP etc. please? How was your application forms? what do you think caught the eye of the committee..? 

Thanks a lot in advance,