I am thinking about applying to Alabama. My main area of interest is Popular Music Studies and I would love to study with some of the professors there. But right now I've just applied to UT Austin and the University of Arkansas. I'm finishing up applications for West Virginia University and Appalachian State (for an M.A. in Appalachian Studies). I have undergrad degrees from UT Austin in American Studies and English, a good GPA and good recs, but my GRE scores weren't that hot ( 161 verbal, 149 quant, 4.5 writing). And I will need funding, which apparently Alabama seems to be good at providing whereas my other choices I'm not so sure on. I'm going to give it a few more days thought and possibly apply.
