Tybalt

Different conferences have different levels of prestige and competitiveness, it's true, and when you're on the job market no amount of conferences can make up for a lack of publications. But conferences are a huge part of professional and academic development. Presenting at prestigious conferences means a great deal for your career. And more to the point, conferences are fun! They're a chance to meet and interact with people who have the same academic obsessions than you. You get invaluable feedback on your work, and you'll often be inspired in ways that lead to publishable work. Don't sell yourself short, going to your first conference is something to feel proud and happy about.

And no one does.  That was precisely my point.  With all of one year of MA work under my belt, I had no idea what I was doing at my first conference.  Conference drafts tend to be around 8 or 9 pages and are re-written to be more discursive (ie- points for a stop and expound moment, signposting language, removal of lengthy quotations, etc).  That said, the majority of the presentations at most conferences in our field do involve people reading from a prepared draft.  There are exceptions (I quite liked the SAA's seminar approach, for example), but at this point in my graduate career (ABD, presentations at over a dozen regional, national and international conferences) I feel comfortable in stating that reading papers is still a pretty common standard for conferences in this field.  In fact, the handful of presentations I've seen where the scholar spoke without prepared material drew negative reactions--those presentations came across as lazy and unprepared, and the scholars who gave those talks floundered during the Q and A, as it was clear that they hadn't thought out their project as thoroughly as they should have done.
 
The point, however, is that there are things worth seeing for yourself in a low-stakes environment, because there are always questions you might not know to ask.

It's not a bad idea, but I wouldn't spend too much money on it.
 
My first conference, I thought I was so ready.  I asked all the questions (or so I thought).  Made sure to know how long my paper should be (20 minutes).  Ready to roll.  Until I got to the conference.  I thought all of the presenters had had recent strokes or something.  I was amazed that everyone was speaking SO SLOWLY!  It had never occurred to me that one must read a paper in such a way to make it easy to follow by ear (I know I know, common sense, but everyone has one of those common sense lapses, haha).  My paper was 21 pages long.  I could read that sucker in 20 minutes flat (I even timed it, haha.  Bit of a fast talker over here), but it was more than double the length of the average conference paper.  I was lucky in that my panel was on the second day of the conference.  Still, I had to cut my paper by 60% that night.
 
Moral of the story, there are all sorts of things that you won't know about conferences without seeing them in person.  Find a local conference that doesn't cost much, and give it a go.  It'll never end up on the CV, but you can still network and get your feet wet in a low-stakes environment.

My undergrad was an English/Secondary Ed BS.  I then taught high school for four years and left on a long-term leave to do a 2-year MA in English lit.  I resigned my HS teaching position at that point to pursue the PhD in English lit.  
 
My advice would be to do your MA in secondary ed (that's the one you are starting in the fall, yes?)--if possible, do a track that gives you an administration credential.  At the end of that MA, do an MA in English lit.   You can either go right through, or try to teach secondary for a few years (in some areas, school districts will reimburse you for MA work).  Trying to tailor an education MA into one that will do some of what a literature MA is supposed to do will leave you with an experience that is neither secondary nor lit.  So if you feel conflicted, do both.
Not only will this give you a better idea of which field you really want to be in, but if you DO decide to go for secondary, you will already have your PhD equivalency (because of the two MAs) and won't need to do any more graduate work during your career.
 
 

My undergrad was an English/Secondary Ed BS.  I then taught high school for four years and left on a long-term leave to do a 2-year MA in English lit.  I resigned my HS teaching position at that point to pursue the PhD in English lit.  
 
My advice would be to do your MA in secondary ed (that's the one you are starting in the fall, yes?)--if possible, do a track that gives you an administration credential.  At the end of that MA, do an MA in English lit.   You can either go right through, or try to teach secondary for a few years (in some areas, school districts will reimburse you for MA work).  Trying to tailor an education MA into one that will do some of what a literature MA is supposed to do will leave you with an experience that is neither secondary nor lit.  So if you feel conflicted, do both.
Not only will this give you a better idea of which field you really want to be in, but if you DO decide to go for secondary, you will already have your PhD equivalency (because of the two MAs) and won't need to do any more graduate work during your career.
 
 

In my undergrad nerd-herd, I was the Chaucerian.  That was my thing.  I was the one our friends went to for questions on the Tales.  Then I graduated and taught high school for a few years, and I realized something.  While I still loved Chaucer, I wasn't particularly driven by it.  But I lived for the Shakespeare unit.  I couldn't get enough of it--teaching it, talking about it, thinking about it, etc.  So when I eventually went to grad school, I specialized in Renaissance drama.
 
So as far as advice, I would suggest you think about what you might be interested in for a span of 30+ years.  What area/field could you NEVER fully explore in one professional life time, and yet still want to try?  Which batch of literature would you be REALLY bummed to never really get to teach?  The answers to those questions should really filter out the areas that seem interesting because you wrote a really good seminar paper on something (which is great) from the ones where you might be able to write several books.

In my undergrad nerd-herd, I was the Chaucerian.  That was my thing.  I was the one our friends went to for questions on the Tales.  Then I graduated and taught high school for a few years, and I realized something.  While I still loved Chaucer, I wasn't particularly driven by it.  But I lived for the Shakespeare unit.  I couldn't get enough of it--teaching it, talking about it, thinking about it, etc.  So when I eventually went to grad school, I specialized in Renaissance drama.
 
So as far as advice, I would suggest you think about what you might be interested in for a span of 30+ years.  What area/field could you NEVER fully explore in one professional life time, and yet still want to try?  Which batch of literature would you be REALLY bummed to never really get to teach?  The answers to those questions should really filter out the areas that seem interesting because you wrote a really good seminar paper on something (which is great) from the ones where you might be able to write several books.

In my undergrad nerd-herd, I was the Chaucerian.  That was my thing.  I was the one our friends went to for questions on the Tales.  Then I graduated and taught high school for a few years, and I realized something.  While I still loved Chaucer, I wasn't particularly driven by it.  But I lived for the Shakespeare unit.  I couldn't get enough of it--teaching it, talking about it, thinking about it, etc.  So when I eventually went to grad school, I specialized in Renaissance drama.
 
So as far as advice, I would suggest you think about what you might be interested in for a span of 30+ years.  What area/field could you NEVER fully explore in one professional life time, and yet still want to try?  Which batch of literature would you be REALLY bummed to never really get to teach?  The answers to those questions should really filter out the areas that seem interesting because you wrote a really good seminar paper on something (which is great) from the ones where you might be able to write several books.

My gut tells me that you should be looking at MA programs first. You have no coursework in English to show, and probably not close to the credit hours that most programs require. Good news tho! Many people on this board have applied to MAs, so they'll be able to help more than I can. 

 

Hi everyone, thanks for all the congratulatory comments! @redjacobin, thanks so much for your decline, talk about a windfall for me. Crazy how the dominoes fall, isn't it? Well, that's it for me - I am committing to UVa and what can I say, it's been a wild ride. I'll let Purdue, DU and Mizzou know that they can remove me from their lists, if that is helpful to anyone. I sure hope so. I'm likely to sign off for some time only because my relationship with social media is kinda love-hate, but I have appreciated all the trench-like camaraderie and support and humor and you name it. Good luck to all, sincerely.

Any more questions from potential UMD applicants? This is more fun than grading!

Yep, I took a good long break and not only that - when I went back, I did so switching from International Relations/Political Science into English Lit. Then I went for an MA before applying to the PhD, and that too came with a break. I think these breaks have done me well, but I'll echo what xolo said about getting your academic references. If you can shore those up, then the rest is all up to you, and passion can fuel those other bits - SoP, writing sample, etc. 
I will say a quick word about how a break between my MA and PhD was perceived/discussed/etc vs how it played out in reality. I had a proseminar in my MA, which was fantastic, and which I was told in no uncertain terms that there was essentially zero reason to worry about the wait to apply that I was facing (I knew that I would wait at least 2 years to apply to PhD programs, and here I am). And...yeah, I have had moderate success in my PhD application cycle, and things have gone well. But the distance in time between me and my recommenders did become a factor. The writing I did for my writing sample without the guidance of mentors became a factor, even though I am incredibly proud of it and it is headed for peer-review publication. I guess what I am saying is that there is nothing on paper, or in the conventions, or inherent in the profession, that looks down upon the gaps between degrees, and a dose of experience may help you stand out as an applicant (your 5-year rundown shows that you are an impressively industrious soul)...but also that however life and relationships may evolve in those intervening years is a total wild card. The fact that you're here, asking this, tells me that those intervening years haven't derailed you, and you should absolutely go for it. And if I'm reading you right, you're beginning w/ the MA, which is fantastic. I was a non-traditional 30-something when I went for my MA in English Lit and will be every bit the non-traditional 40-something PhD graduate. For me, it simply wouldn't have worked if I was emerging from this whole process as a 26-year old or whatever. I wouldn't be the same applicant, and for me - as I suspect for many of the non-traditionals - that's part of the beauty. Embrace it.

Yup.  This.  You aren't there to impress them.  You've already done that.  When you meet with the professors, chat about your interests and see how they react to those interests.  I had a meeting with a prof once who heard about my interest in stage fools and immediately connected it to something in his field in an excited way.  It was a great conversation.  I had a meeting with a different prof at a different school, and he couldn't have been less interested in my areas of research (even though we were in the same historical period). 
 
The key to a visit (hell, part of the key to graduate school) is starting to think of yourself not as a student who needs the approval of the instructor, but as a junior colleague who wants to learn under a more established mentor.

My initial reaction when I was accepted into the M.A. program at UMD last year was literally an eyeroll. I initially thought something akin to "gee thanks, toss me a crumb when I want the whole loaf..." I hadn't applied to any M.A. programs -- only Ph.D. programs -- so when I saw the M.A. acceptance, I just figured it was a consolation prize, and also suspected it was offered to every rejected Ph.D. applicant.
It turned out, of course, that I love UMD -- love its intellectual environment and culture, love its collegiality, and most importantly, love its fit for me. Even the location was perfect, given that my wife and I were also already on the distant outskirts of D.C. It also turned out that, while I still feel confident that I could have excelled in a Ph.D. program, I can't deny that going through the M.A. first is doing some great things for me, and will surely make for less of a learning curve when (when!) I get into a Ph.D. program next year.
So my blooper was thinking a major boon was a major blow-off. Glad I figured out the truth of the situation before I rejected the offer out of pure ennui...

Yup.  This.  You aren't there to impress them.  You've already done that.  When you meet with the professors, chat about your interests and see how they react to those interests.  I had a meeting with a prof once who heard about my interest in stage fools and immediately connected it to something in his field in an excited way.  It was a great conversation.  I had a meeting with a different prof at a different school, and he couldn't have been less interested in my areas of research (even though we were in the same historical period). 
 
The key to a visit (hell, part of the key to graduate school) is starting to think of yourself not as a student who needs the approval of the instructor, but as a junior colleague who wants to learn under a more established mentor.

I wouldn't worry too much about what you wear. I would advise you mostly to look clean and put together, but not necessarily even business casual. Honestly, if you've been admitted, they are selling you on the school, and, so long as you don't dress as if you couldn't give a shit to be there, then you'll be fine. 

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english

While February IS a bit too early to give up hope entirely, the key to approaching this is perspective.  Your programs did not reject you, your personality, your intellect, or your potential.  They rejected your application.  As such, the key is to take a bit of time away from it (a couple of months) and then go back to the application.  Find people to send it out to for feedback.  Figure out what the problematic part of it was.  Maybe you'll discover that you were looking at programs that weren't a great fit?  Maybe you approached the SoP in a way that didn't fit?  Maybe your writing sample was too vague?  All of these things happen.  In the last five years on here, I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone get rejected everywhere one year and, by doing the above, end up with multiple acceptances to top programs a year or two later.  I also second the advice of looking at a funded MA if you do not already have one.  Those app deadlines tend to be later and you could possibly still get in under the wire there.  My old MA program has a very strong track record of placing its graduates into good PhD programs.  It's small, but you get a lot of personalized attention.  I've copied the link to their website below.  Feel free to ask me any questions about it as well.  Regardless though--never forget that it wasn't YOU that was rejected.  Just your application.  And that can be fixed.
 
http://www.sbu.edu/academics/schools/arts-and-sciences/graduate-degrees/master-of-arts-in-english