MartinRanger

So I got introduced to thegradcafe by a friend who just arrived at orientation for her master's program, and figured I'd throw out a question and hope for the best. I'm a rising senior at a small liberal arts school in the Midwest, majoring in history with a concentration (because we don't do minors for some reason) in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. I've studied Latin and French, and am on my way to being somewhat proficient with each. As the end of my undergraduate career is bearing down at a rather alarming pace, and I'm sure that I want to at least attain a master's or equivalent post-graduate degree, if not go on to a Ph.D. eventually, I'm finding myself feeling rather adrift at the moment. I spent a term in Oxford at a research and writing intensive program this fall, and fell in love with England. At this point, I'm looking at a number of possibilities both in and outside of the states. Typically, I decided to become enamored with a somewhat obscure time period (Late Antiquity in western Europe), or the Dark Ages, as some insist on calling them. Anyway, getting to my actual question, as I've looked at schools in England, my lack of familiarity with that country's higher education has left me a bit confused. A lot of the schools I'm looking at offer both research-based degrees (which tend to be called MPhils) and taught-based degrees (which tend to be called M.A.s). Requirements obviously vary from school to school, but I'm not entirely sure what the difference is, besides the obvious (the MPhil is more based around a big research project. Or not. I'm not entirely sure). Does anyone have a feel for how M.A.s and MPhils are seen by Ph.D. programs in the US? Since I'd heard from another friend that it's hard to get a job as a professor in the U.S. with a UK Ph.D., I'd been thinking I'd finish my education in the states (any comments on that are welcome as well). Would one leave me in a better or worse position for applying to a Ph.D. program? Is one easier or harder to do full-time than the other? Any help anyone could offer, even sympathetic remarks, would be appreciated.