<p>Son was invited to “finalist” weekend. Invite makes no reference to interview, how do they decide on acceptances?</p>
<p>If he was invited to a finalist weekend, chances are there’s an interview. Since you didn’t identify the program or the degree level (MA vs PhD) it is impossible to answer your questions, but I’m willing to bet that there is indeed an interview and also some organized activities. Professors (and sometimes grad students) observe the prospectives at these activities and select the ones that they’d like to have in their labs based on research interests and personality factors.</p>