Warelin

I think this helps to prove that fit is ultimately, a very weird thing and is not only determined by how well faculty matches, but where the department is hoping to be (which is really an impossible thing to determine in any given year. Applying broadly to schools that have a major interest to you is a very important thing to do as you'll never know where you might fit into a school's puzzle. The ivies have often been said to recruit from the same pool but @punctilious' husband earned 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection from the Ivy League and had mixed results elsewhere. It's important to not apply only to top 10 schools, but also to not discount schools just because they are ranked highly. Faculty fit + Institutional goals + class profile all play a much larger role which may be invisible during the whole process to us as applicants.

I think this helps to prove that fit is ultimately, a very weird thing and is not only determined by how well faculty matches, but where the department is hoping to be (which is really an impossible thing to determine in any given year. Applying broadly to schools that have a major interest to you is a very important thing to do as you'll never know where you might fit into a school's puzzle. The ivies have often been said to recruit from the same pool but @punctilious' husband earned 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection from the Ivy League and had mixed results elsewhere. It's important to not apply only to top 10 schools, but also to not discount schools just because they are ranked highly. Faculty fit + Institutional goals + class profile all play a much larger role which may be invisible during the whole process to us as applicants.

I think this helps to prove that fit is ultimately, a very weird thing and is not only determined by how well faculty matches, but where the department is hoping to be (which is really an impossible thing to determine in any given year. Applying broadly to schools that have a major interest to you is a very important thing to do as you'll never know where you might fit into a school's puzzle. The ivies have often been said to recruit from the same pool but @punctilious' husband earned 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection from the Ivy League and had mixed results elsewhere. It's important to not apply only to top 10 schools, but also to not discount schools just because they are ranked highly. Faculty fit + Institutional goals + class profile all play a much larger role which may be invisible during the whole process to us as applicants.

I think this helps to prove that fit is ultimately, a very weird thing and is not only determined by how well faculty matches, but where the department is hoping to be (which is really an impossible thing to determine in any given year. Applying broadly to schools that have a major interest to you is a very important thing to do as you'll never know where you might fit into a school's puzzle. The ivies have often been said to recruit from the same pool but @punctilious' husband earned 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection from the Ivy League and had mixed results elsewhere. It's important to not apply only to top 10 schools, but also to not discount schools just because they are ranked highly. Faculty fit + Institutional goals + class profile all play a much larger role which may be invisible during the whole process to us as applicants.

I think this helps to prove that fit is ultimately, a very weird thing and is not only determined by how well faculty matches, but where the department is hoping to be (which is really an impossible thing to determine in any given year. Applying broadly to schools that have a major interest to you is a very important thing to do as you'll never know where you might fit into a school's puzzle. The ivies have often been said to recruit from the same pool but @punctilious' husband earned 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection from the Ivy League and had mixed results elsewhere. It's important to not apply only to top 10 schools, but also to not discount schools just because they are ranked highly. Faculty fit + Institutional goals + class profile all play a much larger role which may be invisible during the whole process to us as applicants.

Just committed to Michigan :^)

I don't believe that ranking does matter at the MA level. A lot of this is due to schools not being ranked at the MA level.
However, these are things I'd ask about both programs when comparing the two:

1) Placement rates:  You mentioned that both have great placement rates. How updated is their information? Where do students get accepted after finishing the MA? What percentage of students apply for the PHD? Are these the types of schools that you're interested in?
2) Professionalization experience. Does the school offer funding for conferences? (At my current school, funding is not guaranteed by the department but everyone who applies for it, generally gets it as long as the funds are there. It's been my understanding that the funds run dry around mid-spring. If you apply before then, they'll reimburse all costs (transportation, food, hotel, conference registration) up to $1000 total. The limit is even higher for international conferences

3) Do they offer opportunities to teach? Be an RA? Tutor at the writing center?

4) Program: How big is each cohort? Can you take programs in other departments of interest? Can you be happy in the city that each is located in? What times do they offer most grad courses? How many courses are you expected to take each semester? Do students seem happy there? How closely will you work with professors?
 

I officially accepted an offer from IU-Bloomington! It's so hard to believe that the process is finally over.

you're entering a field where you will essentially commit to a lifetime of learning, or perish in irrelevancy. Though I have certainly been in graduate courses that were not as great as I could have hoped, I have benefited from every graduate course I've taken. This can be in the general, "I know am better qualified to teach X" statement for courses not tied to my research OR have been able to apply aspects and writing from a course to my own research. The more graduate courses you can take, the more chances you have to vet your research and make connections with professors.
Yes, all the credits you earn during your MA won't significantly reduce your time to degree with a PhD. It depends on the specific PhD program, though; some will take 2 classes top, others count 3-4 semesters worth. This actually makes a great deal of sense, given no university teaches the same exact graduate class. In English/lit, there seems to in fact only be a consistent one or two courses that most universities touch on. The rest varies greatly.
If you're looking for a career that has a clear, quick path that can be easily managed and predicted, academia isn't it. Yes, people experience fatigue and drop-out. This is the nature of the career path though; even those who finish their doctorates in under 5 years can still experience burn-out with academia after completing their degrees. Coming off of UG, it might be tempting to see the whole MA/PhD question in the same vein that most UG folks see their lives -- "the faster I finish my B.A., the faster I can start my actual career." In other words, it seems like the mindset of runners with distance events (i.e. sprint, 10K). The reality is academia is a life-long distance event that, though there are desired goals (finish PhD, get on the TT, get tenure, etc), doesn't really stop until you die or retire. Further, you have already started your career. This is it. Though you are incredibly limited in what you can do, research and teaching-wise, you are know basically considered a member of the academic profession.
Returning to my distance event analogy, with your BA you've essentially completed a 5K. Though you may be able to, why jump straight to one 10K (MA en-route to PhD) while training for a Marathon? Knock out a 10K before you start training for that Marathon. Yeah, you'll need to do more running, but you'll be better prepared for the marathon. Plus, you aren't doing just one marathon in this analogy; you're entire life will be marathon after marathon (publishing, getting tenure, publishing more, etc) until you're physically or mentally unable to run anymore marathons.
All of this is to say that another year or two between now and getting your PhD is not as big a deal as I think you think it is.
 
Instead of most well-known, you might instead consider if the professors are a good fit for your specific interests. Just because a program is X rank on USNWR, doesn't mean that the faculty will be able to help you develop as a researcher. Then consider funding. Some may disagree, but I think a well-fit program with full-funding and profs who don't have PhD students to wrangle is a far better option than  having partial- to no-funding in a big program where you'll be competing with PhD candidates for attention.
 

I hope you're wrong and that you get accepted at UCR!
From my interactions with talking to multiple programs this year, most seem to be accepting fewer applicants outright and a few have managed to better utilize their waitlist because they're no longer accepting twice as many people as they have spots.

Thanks for the link. I've come across that link before and have used it at one point to determine LWR but a professor told me that it was outdated. The ratio given back for Austin and Boulder seemed to be off due to their recent spikes in prices. She said that MIT's living wage calculator was the most accurate tool she has found to date with cities she's familiar with.

Ooooh! Yes! I was so concerned about getting another Master's!

It reflects the purchase power of the stipend in that city.

From my understanding, fellowships are not taxed during the semester, but you are responsible for paying federal taxes on it when you file taxes. Stipends and Fellowships are not taxed social security or medicare because grad students are exempt. However, each school may have various fees that you are responsible for, a portion of the healthcare bill you're responsible for paying and the cost of books throughout the semester. I think a fair estimate is that you'll be taxed 10-12 percent of your stipend. But International rules of stipends earned in the US may vary country to country so it's best for you to consult someone at your school that specializes in that to determine what, if any, portions should be saved for such a case.

The current living wage for each school does not tax anything, so everything listed is pre-tax.

@maengret's first link is how I've been calculating it since it seems to be the most recently updated version.Living Wage *2080. Stipend divided by yearly cost of living should get you an "avg" cost of living. A cost of living of "1" means you're at the cost of what a living wage is for that city. A living wage below 1 doesn't mean that the stipend isn't livable. However, a score closer to 0 might mean that you'll need to room with roommates or live farther away from the university or the city. I felt adding the column would be useful to show how far different amounts get in different places and to show that a higher stipend doesn't always mean a higher offer.

@maengret's first link is how I've been calculating it since it seems to be the most recently updated version.Living Wage *2080. Stipend divided by yearly cost of living should get you an "avg" cost of living. A cost of living of "1" means you're at the cost of what a living wage is for that city. A living wage below 1 doesn't mean that the stipend isn't livable. However, a score closer to 0 might mean that you'll need to room with roommates or live farther away from the university or the city. I felt adding the column would be useful to show how far different amounts get in different places and to show that a higher stipend doesn't always mean a higher offer.

Small note here: The April 15th rule only applies to schools that offer you a stipend package. It doesn't apply to schools offering no package- those deadlines vary unfortunately.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.

Accepted at WUSTL.