How do you actually select colleges for Ph.D. application
I spoke with a few professors for informational talks and they helped me find professors doing research of interest.  One professor I spoke with, I mentioned my research interests and she gave me a list of all the professors who do that research and their schools.  That ended up being the list of schools I applied to.  The most important thing for acceptance into a PhD program is a professor who wants to work with you (and ideally willing to fund you).  I would say base where you apply on the professor(s) in a program you'd like to work with based on topic AND personality. Also, when reaching out to professors for informational meetings please do some research on them.  I find it frustrating when I have potential students reach out who clearly haven't done a basic review of my research area. When I was applying I would normally check the website out before writing an email and then read the abtracts of 1-3 papers that interested me before I met with them.