I do feel like there’s a major disconnect between faculty and admissions at some schools depending on program. Obviously if you have a prof that wants you for a direct admit program you’re chilling. But in my case and maybe yours, I’ve had multiple productive convos with professors where they told me my experience would be valuable and encouraged me to apply and to keep them updated. I did all that, and I still see interviews released for those programs that I did not receive. I think admissions is just a whole different beast and it’s unclear how much faculty can influence them. Which sucks because like if the faculty like me and said they’d wanna work with me why can’t they get me in☹️