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Thanks, @tinymica--I think I'll take you up on that once I can get some cogent thoughts down!
I didn't have a chance to visit the school where I ultimately enrolled for my MFA because I was literally accepted off the waitlist on April 14 and had a day to decide, and it turned out perfectly fine. (That said, I was accepted to the school whose program itself was my top choice of places I'd been accepted/waitlisted, which certainly made the decision easier.) You can get a decent enough sense of what a place is like through some online sleuthing (lots of cities and towns--not to mention colleges and universities--have pretty active subreddits that can be a good source of intel (and occasional horror)), and if you also have the benefit of speaking to current students and faculty, that's certainly a bonus.
To your larger question, though, location is definitely a contributing factor to how successful you'll be in your program. If you have particular concerns about the place(s) where you've been accepted--that is, both the physical locale and the overall campus climate--I'd write them down and be sure to ask specific questions when your virtual visit rolls around to glean as much information as you can. Good luck! 

I enrolled in the same joint MA at Brandeis (Eng & WGS; graduated last February) without ever visiting beforehand, so definitely PM me if you want to chat! 

FINALLY got an acceptance. Feels really good :) Thankfully, I was able to attend the visit day before all the cancellations.

Sure, but in order for a changed deadline to help significantly, it would need to allow for visits, right? And right now, no one really knows when that would be. At some point, any students admitted off the waitlist need to know before the summer for strictly practical reasons: to find housing, partners who need to apply for jobs, etc. I'm sure it feels extremely unfair and stressful to have to make a decision right now (and it totally is!)--but imagine coming out of whatever's about to happen and being told in July that you should drop everything and move across the country.
Also, this is just a guess, but I'd say professors will be largely quiet for the next week or so. At least at the institution where I'm a graduate student, classes are paused for the next week while undergraduates are (non-optionally) moving out of university housing, and many professors are scrambling to move their courses online in the interim. This isn't to say that everything has dissolved into total chaos, but keep in mind that the most prominent members of many departments are probably the least equipped to teach online courses (they probably learned to teach without many of these tools, and they probably haven't taught or tutored online before). Many of them, at least at my institution, are also volunteering their time and homes to move and house students who aren't able to leave university housing with three/four days of notice (yes, really: they were told after five pm yesterday, and are required to leave before Sunday evening). I agree that it'll get worse before it gets better, but I don't think the slow responses mean you're not a priority. Most likely there's some panic at play, and professors will be more on top of things by next week or the week after. Obviously this is all influenced by the department I'm familiar with, but this process seems to be happening at many of the schools in our region, at least.

The number one thing I learned was that comparing myself to others, specifically on this website, was terrible for my mental health. I logged out after the first week of February when I realized I was feeling absolutely horrible over the success of anonymous strangers.  You are your own candidate. Do the work and feel good about it and f*ck the rest. I’m sure this will be taken down...but really wish I had seen someone saying this when I checked here for the first time back in September.

Pushing back the decision date would unfortunately make things even harder for the people dealing with the uncertainty of waitlists.

Does anyone know if there are whispers of moving the April 15 decision date given coronavirus? I'm not sure whether it would even be possible but it seems insane to me that it isn't being considered given the state of things right now.

According to the Council of Graduate Schools, which is the organization responsible for the April 15th resolution:
CGS’s position is that the April 15 deadline should continue to remain in effect for 2020. Because signatory institutions and programs may be affected differently by COVID-19, and may adjust their admissions and funding decision timelines accordingly, we believe that it is not feasible for the community to agree to a different deadline this year.
I feel like the exact reasons being cited for why they're not adjusting the deadline are actually compelling reasons to adjust the deadline, but whatever. It does seem that individual schools have discretion when it comes to pushing back their own deadlines, but if there's no formal agreement among all signatories to the April 15th resolution, then that's not particularly helpful, I don't think. (More info is available here, but it's none too promising. ? )
Edit to add: Helpful conversation re: the April 15th deadline is also happening over in the 2020 Applicants thread, beginning here.

The real question is are universities going to push the April 15th deadline? I honestly feel like they'd be crazy not to, but I don't know what difficulties doing so would bring for them. It's just such a weird time and it adds even more pressure to the decision-making process than it already had. I literally go to sleep and wake up thinking not only about what the hell we're going to do but also about what this fall will look like. Will classes all be online? (I actually think that's likely.) In that case, will we still have to move? It's just a big prolonged wtf moment.

Although my visit to Brandeis was cancelled, after talking to the faculty and students I have decided to accept the offer from Brandeis! I'm excited for this new journey to begin!
Thank you everyone for your supportive words of wisdom throughout this application season. Good luck to all of you in your future endeavors and I hope to meet some fellow Grad Cafe members in the future!

SNAPS! Please go vote y'all!

being married to a prince helped

Just wrote to the director of the MA program at NYU to decline their offer. What a weird offer letter they sent, BTW - it essentially said, "We think you're such a great applicant that you probably got into a lot of PhD programs, but if you didn't, pay us money for our MA!" If I'm such a great applicant, why didn't you admit me to your PhD, NYU? Whatever - guess I'll have to go to Yale.  (Just kidding - haven't committed yet!)

Indeed! The program seems to be in full Cash Cow mode now. The fact they are offering this unfunded program at all is cruel and irresponsible
I would say, based on my experience living in DC, that it's pretty much impossible to get by here on anything less than ~25K, and even then it's still extremely unpleasant to live here unless you're making significantly more than that (think $37k+), so to offer an MA in literature in this city that is completely unfunded is absolutely predatory. We're talking total cost of $100k+, while enjoying a very low standard of living throughout. I hadn't looked at the website and did not realize that they are now deliberately misleading people. That is really shameful. 
So, note to all: do not attend! do not even apply! The university is trying to prey on your desire to earn a degree from an elite institution, plain and simple, and ought to be ashamed of themselves 
The part that really gets me about this is that, inevitably, some people who can't afford it (which you have to assume is pretty much everyone in the country) will end up attending because they want it on their resume, or because they think it will lead to a big payoff. This is a payoff that (most here would agree, I'm sure) will probably never come. Thinking of making a separate post on this later to warn future applicants. imo, this is much worse than Chicago's MAPH, which is pretty transparent about cost, and is only 1 year, so is about 50-60K less (!!!), all told.
They really should not offer this program if they can't fund it at all. but they'll continue to offer it because they know that they'll have buyers, basically, and that is completely shameful. They will literally ruin the lives of untold students

I too wish I had known this before applying, as I would not have applied. Frankly, I think it's irresponsible and dishonest of them not to clearly communicate this change on their website, since, as recently as last year, they were offering full funding to a handful of admitted students. What a waste of $117 (application + GRE score report fees). To future applicants: Beware of the now-unfunded Georgetown MA!

WashU for me this Fall!

After a ridiculously wonderful visit at Yale, I've decided not to visit Michigan and Cornell and have officially accepted Yale's offer. SUCH PEACE!

After weeks of sitting on what I thought was an implied rejection from NYU, I've just learned that though I wasn't accepted to the PhD, I have been accepted to the MA. Definitely won't take it (it's only partially funded), but it reduces my number of outright rejections, so that's a comfort to my ego if nothing else.

Agreed with many points above re: the SoP. I'd also say put more weight on the WS. I always thought the SoP was the most important thing, but as it turns out, the WS is often what my AdCom and PoIs remember best about my application. It makes sense because people would latch onto things that resonate with their own work and that have concrete arguments and analyses. The WS is also where you prove that you are capable of doing the level of thinking and writing that you discuss in the SoP. 
I used my MA thesis, which was a good piece of work. I found it extremely difficult to cut it to the required length, because I wanted to include my introduction, which is long but includes a lot of theoretical and historical research that frames my argument. After seeking advice from a friend from my MA, who was very successful during their app cycle last year, I decided to forgo the introduction and used 2 chapters which analyzed 2 different texts instead. It was an agonizing decision but it worked out for me, as the WS ended up showing my ability to analyze different literary forms using different theories, while still containing some outside research. So my advice if anyone finds themselves in a similar dilemma, is to choose the writing sample that has more "close reading" than historical/theoretical framing. As I used an excerpt from a longer work, I put notes in the beginning of the WS to explain how it fits into my larger argument in the thesis.
Also, regarding prestige and whether to apply to Ivies: I wouldn't say anyone should not apply to Ivies simply because they are a nontraditional applicant or didn't come from a prestigious undergrad institution. If a school has multiple faculty working on the things you have done/hope to be doing, is in a location you want to live in, etc. and which is an Ivy, you should apply, as you never know what may happen. But I would also not apply to an Ivy school just because of their prestige. For certain fields/subfields, they simply may not be it (anymore). For example, my main field is postcolonial studies, and 2 of my recommenders went to Columbia and were students of Spivak. Both of them told me that I could consider Columbia but it's no longer particularly strong in PoCo, which I confirmed by scanning the graduate students' profiles besides the faculty's. Other top-ranked programs that are known for my field are UCLA, UPenn, and UT Austin, but the time periods that their faculty work on are different from mine. When I found NYU, however, it was a perfect match - strong in PoCo with a contemporary, Global South bend, and Robert Young is still there as the theoretical powerhouse. So really digging deep, knowing the state of the field, and looking at faculty's recent research, are very important for picking the right programs for your 1. theoretical frameworks and 2. time period.
Finally, apply to at least 8 programs! It is ultimately a numbers' game.  
 
 

So I'm a recent college grad with a BA in English. While my eventual goal is to continue on to a PhD program, I decided to apply to (terminal) MA programs instead for Fall 2020--my undergraduate GPA was good, but not amazing (just under a 3.6), I did no internships, I really worked on only one larger research project, etc. etc. etc., and I decided that I'd have a higher chance of getting into a top-tier PhD program (like Columbia or UCLA) if I took the time to work my a** off in a Masters and take advantage of every research opportunity available.
I've received offers from all three English Lit MA programs I've applied to (which is both exciting and pretty stressful in terms of making a decision!); of the three, two (School A and B ) are offering me partial funding, and of those two, School A is offering me a TAship. School A doesn't have as high an academic reputation as School B, however, and though I could apply for a TAship at School B for my second year, it would not be guaranteed I'd get it. Both schools offer about the same type of research grants/opportunities for independent studies, and both are in cities I like (so location doesn't really factor into this for me), and both are within my range of affordability.
My question is this: if I want to get into a really, really good English Literature PhD program, do you think it's better to get my Masters at a university with a more well-known rep, potentially with not as high of a GPA and potentially without a TAship under my belt, or would a slightly "easier" school probably give me just as much of an edge?

Me reading my Penn rejection: ahhh the sweet release of death

I was just accepted to the MA at ASU! Excited to be able to say "I'm 100% going to grad school", even if I haven't heard back from everywhere yet!

Email updates...
NYU DGS Robert Young responded to me but said notifications go through GSAS centrally and that they don’t notify students directly. Based on last year I guess we have to wait until mid-March for the official rejections. 
 
No response from Maryland DGS Gershun Avilez. 

Well, I got offered a MA spot at Boston College (same thing they offered last year - scholarship of 11K). BC was my dream school when I was in high school many moons ago - my god, the architecture - and it was hard to walk away from the offer last year.  However, as much as my heart wants to accept on aesthetic alone, I don't know if going into more debt is worth it. However, however, it opens the possibility of getting into a """better""" PhD program afterwards with a stronger writing sample and teaching experience. However, however, however, I'm also very, very tired of this process and want to just start the damn PhD already. 
Hey! Hey, Boston University! Yeah you, ya punk! I need you to hurry the F up and make my life either easier or even more indecisive! 

Same here. That pretty much puts an end to my cycle! I felt like I had a good fit there. Like Penn, GWU has some stellar women of color working on Shakespeare and the History of Race, but that program was more or less a back-up plan (in a world where there are no back-up plans, of course). At this point, I'm ready to go on these visits and begin developing my Imposter Syndrome Defense Starter Pack™. But first, more wine. ?