Any tips for the application process in general? I'm finishing up my GRE prep at the moment, but I need to write my statement still (will get on that ASAP after the GRE).

Get ready to take a hit financially. My schools ran between $50 and $90 per application, in addition to two GRE's; one general and one subject, I think those were around $100 each? I can't remember, because I've been trying not to, and I guess it's worked. Also, you'll likely move, unless you commit "academic inbreeding", i.e. getting your PhD from the same institution as your undergrad. Moving costs money too.

Find some clever way to deal with all of the passwords and usernames you're going to accrue. There're many different online application systems with varying degrees of brilliance, but most often, very little. PAY ATTENTION to mailing addresses, I sent two out of my five transcripts to the wrong address, and wasn't guaranteed that those two would be received. It's worth calling the office of every grad department you apply to for confirmation of the correct mailing address. In my case, transcripts from one of my undergrad schools cost money (ten bucks each!), while the other school sent them free of charge.

Take your GRE relatively early in the year (sounds like you're doing this). When I got my score back in late November and knew it was competitive, it was a whirlwind process of applying before the application deadline, which is typically around the year's end. And don't forget that the registrar's offices are totally dysfunctional after the students leave for winter break, for transcript sending.

For your statement, lay it all out there. Tell them what made you decide to go for your PhD. Give a brief history explaining what led you to this moment. Don't hesitate to brag about all the cool shit you've done so far. Was there a rough patch for you? I wasn't shy about my lack of focus and conviction for the first couple years, as reflected in my undergraduate grades. lil helped me a lot with my statement, and was "badged" accordingly, which was nowhere near compensation enough for the trouble of analyzing a clumsy 1.5 page wall of text and providing excellent feedback. If you want, I can PM you my statement of purpose as an example, even though it would still probably make lil cringe, were she to read it. Edit: Both caeli and lil have both said it, and I agree; if you tailor your letters to each individual school, that can be powerful. For example, "I have always been interested in ____, and Dr. ____'s work in that area fascinates me." That's actually a terrible template, and you should only target things that genuinely DO interest you, but you get the idea. If you have interests and especially come from a background aligned with something that their department excels at (or wants to excel at), that's a huge bonus in your favor.

Edit 2: Letters of Rec. Edition. You're going to need at least two people in academia and a third person who is of note in your community, or even involved in professional work related to your field. And as was noted elsewhere, the more the author is known in the field you're interested in has serious sway.

Also, what made you decide to get your PhD? I am confident that I want to go for one, but I realize it's a big life decision.

The selfless component is that I passionately want to contribute to the knowledge base of our species. The selfish component is that I'll hit a glass ceiling in both salary and opportunity if I don't do this. The outcome is that I get smarter (good for me), and I become a greater asset to humanity (good for everyone).

There are some systemic problems with academia and the university system in every country, sure. But in its most simple expression, education/educated = good.

Any tips for the application process in general? I'm finishing up my GRE prep at the moment, but I need to write my statement still (will get on that ASAP after the GRE).

GRE advice: Study so that you can get a score that's not too low, but don't waste time studying to get a perfect score because it doesn't matter. Also don't panic! When I took the GRE a girl in the room literally had a panic attack and had to leave. Unfortunately for her that's $200 straight down the drain. Just remain calm and remember that the GRE is not the most important part of the application, and probably not even in the top 4 most important things. Speaking of the most important things, this is what I think they are (not in any particular order):

1. Statement of Purpose. Focus on the 3 F's: Focus, Fit, and Future. What are you interested in and why do you know it's what you want to do? What does this program in particular have to offer that fits your needs, and what do you have to offer that fits their needs? And what are your plans for the future? My SOP was by far the thing faculty commented on the most during the interview process. In email interview invites they said things like "I enjoyed reading your research statement" or "Based on your statement of purpose you seem like a great fit", etc. Given that this was the thing I got the most positive feedback on, I'd say it's very important to nail this!!

2. Letters of Recommendation. Nailing the SOP is great, but they've only got your word. What do scholars in the field (your research advisors and professors) think of you? Approach the professors you know best (ideally, in the next month or two so that it's not right before applications are due) and ask them if they can write you a strong recommendation letter. Ideally these should be either from research advisors, or professors you've taken a class or two with and chatted with a lot.

3. Research Experience. The whole point of a PhD is to become and independent researcher, and as such you'll be doing a lot of research. So potential advisors are looking for someone who already has a bit of experience doing research in the field (or in any field, at least). There are two primary reasons for this: 1) If you've done research and liked it, you're less likely to drop out of the program. If you don't know what research is like you're at risk of figuring out you don't like it and leaving the program, which is a waste of time and not good for either party. 2) It's easier to train someone to do research in a particular field if they already have some experience. EDIT, there's another reason, 3) having research experience also benefits YOU! Doing research on a number of different topics helps you figure out what you do and don't like. This in turn helps you craft an excellent statement of purpose, and also leads to meaningful relationships with professors which means awesome letters of rec.

4. Some Sort of Connection (this looks really awkward with capitalization anyway--). You want your potential advisors in each department to sort of know who you are. There are many ways to accomplish this. One is by getting lucky and having an undergrad research advisor who happens to be ultra-famous. A letter from someone your potential advisor respects and trusts is a HUGE advantage. Another, more realistic, way to form connections is to reach out to your "professors of interest" (POIs) in the form of an email a couple months before the application deadline (looking through my past emails, the first time I did this was end of August last year and the last time was mid-October). You should do this anyway because you want to make sure your potential advisor is actually taking on a new student for the next year, because otherwise applying there is a useless waste of time and money. BUT, it's also a chance to introduce yourself and give them an impression of what kinds of topics you're interested in and why you think you're a good fit for them and the program.

Also, what made you decide to get your PhD? I am confident that I want to go for one, but I realize it's a big life decision.

I had my first lab research internship my junior year of high school and never looked back. I LOVED the process. I used to slice rat brains every day and it was so cool that I was laying the groundwork for (eventually) understanding how alcohol addiction influences the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, even if the groundwork was grunt work ;). I've done just a teensy bit of a field change since then but the passion for the research process and the thirst for a deeper understanding of the world around us never left me. It calls to me every day, I am never happier than when I'm doing research. I cannot imagine doing anything else all day, every day for the rest of my life.

(translation: I'm unhealthily obsessed with research)

Whew, I didn't expect this to be such a long post. I hope that helped somewhat!

The free drinks are awesome! Out of all the schools I visited Brown was the craziest with this. They gave us like 4 drink tickets each for dinner alone, and then we went to a bar afterwards and drank more...it was ridiculous lol.