Pittsburgh:
The following is what our graduate committee looks for when recommending admission: the quality of your school; the strength of departments in which prior education was obtained; quality and depth of your preparation in mathematics, statistics, computer science and at least one outside area (e.g. economics, biology, etc); the grades received; letters of recommendation from knowledgeable people (primarily your teachers); and, finally, experience in scientific research (physical, biological or behavioral) and particularly experience in applying statistics in scientific research, are the factors that influence our choices among otherwise equivalent candidates.
For international students, the apparent ability to handle teaching duties in English (as measured by TOEFL and TSE), and other evidence of your ability to communicate in English is very important to us.