Squiddles

Hello everyone! I'm currently an English major with a creative writing concentration and a Philosophy minor at Fordham University. I'm in my second year of undergraduate study but I'm definitely going to be graduating a year early. So, basically, I have to apply to grad schools for my English PhD in the fall and take my GRE as soon as possible. I'm just totally overwhelmed because the normal timeline of how to apply/what to do/when to test don't seem to apply to me. I currently have a 3.6 GPA, but I'm confident that I can raise it to approximately a 3.7/3.8 by the time I graduate. I have a ton of extracurricular activities in which I hold leadership positions in, as well as internships and outside experience in related and semi-related fields. I'm positive I'm going to get some great references from my professors, seeing as I talk to professors more than I do students my age. I'm also going to do an independent study to write a senior thesis that should be completed in time to send in with my applications. I feel like I'm in an okay position to apply to grad schools, but my graduating a year early is throwing me off. Will grad schools look down upon it because I'm younger? Will it look like I'm rushing through things, or just that I'm ambitious? What should I start doing now in preparation for my applications? Also, what kind of schools should I apply to? I plan to stay in the Northeast. Cornell is my absolute top choice because of the combined MFA/English PhD program they have. Other schools I want to apply to are NYU, CUNY Graduate Center, Yale, etc. Any suggestions? I don't have much guidance on how to navigate the application process, so I'm turning to GradCafe - I'll be ecstatic to receive any advice at all!