I'm in about the same situation as you (applying to grad schools for the fall of 2012) and everyone one of my professors that I talk to as well as the students they put me in contact with say that getting an MA is a good decision. Somewhere out there, there is someone who has the credentials and skills to go directly into a PhD program from a BA but that is not me (nor is it most students).
Its good that you are looking at smaller "safety" schools. Are you also applying to bigger programs? I'm doing about half and half. I would recommend picking one or two top schools just because if you dont try you'll never know. I've been in contact with a current MA student at IU Bloomington and from what he said and from looking over their program website it looks like a great school (its on my list for sure). Have you looked at Oklahoma State? Their faculty is small but it seems like a strong program and recently got two new faculty members. The good thing about small schools, unlike what one of the above posters said, is that they are more willing to help pay for school. Maybe not a full ride, but definitely some. As one of my professors put it - they want you and want to bolster their program. These types of attitudes will even sometimes make a smaller program a more rigorous and more worth-while program than one of the HUGE schools. For a school like USC and UT (not that I wouldnt love to go to either) sometimes the attitude is 'well you should be glad to even be here, why should we help you out'. This also means less funding and sometimes less attention, unless you're really adamant about getting to know your instructors personally (of course thats key anywhere).
My list is something like this -
UT
USC
UW Madison
UC Santa Barbara
Oklahoma State
Indiana
University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
I'm taking my GRE on Thursday, have you done yours yet? Are you visiting any schools? From what I understand this is a good idea to make yourself known. I'm visitng UT austin next week and scheduled to sit in on a class which should be fun.
Glad to find someone in the same boat as me! What are your research interests? Do you have any faculty that you're looking at specifically?
