Faculty advisor/ graduate student relationship "fit"....

I recently talked with a PhD student, in his fourth year, to try and grasp the "advisor/student" relationship in graduate school.  When applying to a graduate program, the admissions office looks at GPA, GRE scores, work experience, research experience, and how well YOU "fit" into the program.  Throughout the PhD program, students work on research with an assigned advisor that shares similar research interests with the student.  From informational interviews I've conducted, the degree of "fitness" between the student and advisor has a significant influence on, not only admission to the program, but to the success (burnout, motivation, satsifaction, etc.) of the student.  This seems to be a grey area for potential students applying to such programs, as none of this information is online.  Sure, you can scroll through the different interests listed under the faculty page on the universities website but their interests are usually vague and do they really reflect the current interests of the faculty advisors?  Some common themes I have heard from interviews with PhD students is that advisor interests change, just like everyone's interests change.  Another theme is that programs can change rapidly.  Don't believe the U.S. news statistical ranking for your program because the senior faculty member might have left that very year, resulting in new faculty and a reorganization of the structure.  Who knows what the current culture, research opportunities, and applied opportunities are at your  potential program?  The current students.  I submit that as you prepare to apply to graduate programs, do your research online and then call or email some current students.  Reach out to them and get them on the phone so you can ask them hard questions like "What don't you like about the program?" and "What kind of applied/research opportunities are there" or "What companies are you interning for?" so you can get real answers to your questions (emails can be misleading).  From what I have gathered, most of the applied/research opportunities exist because of a relationship that someone (i.e. school itself, a particular advisor, alumni, etc.) has with the company and you should be asking if that relationship will exist when you get there.  The last thing you want to walk into is a 4 year commitment with an advisor that isn't interested in your research or who doesn't have connections/network that will help get you on your desired career path.

Some additional helpful material here: http://heibeck.freeshell.org/Grad_Advice/how2b/how.2b.html