Horseshoe

It's simple: go to the school you want to go to. You've worked hard to get to this point, after all, and are entitled to your own decision free of external pressures. You are not the first desirable student to turn down a program after initially showing interest and you won't be the last. In my experience, professors are surprisingly understanding about this type of thing. They were prospective students once too, remember, and had difficult decisions to make. This sort of thing almost never 'burns a bridge', so there's no need to worry.

Fortunately, I don't think you must take the English GRE. The GRE English Subject Test deals with literature at various periods in time and is typically reserved for literature programs. While I think most MAs there look to the PhD, an MA functions to help you decide what you want to do. If you don't have a PhD research project yet, the MA will introduce you to research topics more closely and you'll get a better understanding of what you do like. I think you should list some topics that interest you in your statement of purpose. For instance, if you are into historical linguistics, say that you are specifically interested in the change from subject-verb-object syntax to object-verb-subject syntax in languages of northern South America. (just throwing out a topic) Make sure, however, that someone at UTAustin is interested in the things you are. A large part of your acceptance is contingent on whether the faculty feels like "yeah, s/he has a realistic goal that is interesting AND we have the capability to help him/her achieve it." You can be the brightest student in the world, but if you apply to work with faculty that can't help you they won't be too keen on accepting you.

Slpassion, Every year, many students enter great graduate programs without an undergraduate degree in the field. Majoring in Human Development should not really interfere with your hopes of Communication Disorders graduate work. Go ahead and apply for the CommD program at your school, and if you are denied entry all will still be well. Try to minor in Comm Sciences or just take as many courses in it as you can. If you are unable to do this, take related linguistics or psychology courses, anything you can to show a graduate committee your familiarity with the field. At the end of the day, graduate admission committees want to select prepared students that show drive, competence, and cleverness. Attach a list of "relevant coursework", a list of courses you really would like the admission committee too see that you've taken, to your graduate school application if you are worried they will view you as unprepared. Try to boost your GPA as much as you can, precisely for the same reason. The grades are not arbitrary markers of intelligence; they show the committee that you have a set of skills. If you cannot take as many courses as you'd like, spend a lot of time perfecting your writing sample to show them your dedication. Everything will work out, so don't worry too much! Just work as hard as you can and think about your goal every day.

When applying for jobs, I think having a specialized degree listed (like English), is probably more beneficial than an interdisciplinary or general field (like Humanities). For PhD applications, however, I do not think it matters what your former degrees were called. What's more important is your research and coursework. If you do accept the Humanities MA and are insecure about demonstrating competency in English to PhD acceptance committees, simply include a list of relevant coursework in your PhD application. This gives you the opportunity to show the courses you've actually taken and how they show your background in the field. In all likelihood, you may have more pertinent coursework than some of the other English MA applicants.

Every school and every department has a different approach to GRE scores, so it's hard to say for sure unfortunately. By and large, I think that your writing sample is weighed more than your GRE score for determining your abilities, but I could be wrong. Focus on making your writing sample awesome, because I think its one of the primary facets of your application. (when I interviewed for graduate school, even the graduate students seemed to have read through our writing samples!) That being said, I would definitely take the GRE again. Your verbal and math scores should not hold you back, but i'd suggest buying a book for the writing (this one seems nice?). I feel confident that you can raise your score to maybe a 4.5 if you practice, and maybe just chance upon a more fitting writing prompt. (From what I've seen, a 4.5 seems to be good enough) Ultimately, every year is a surprise and there are no hard and fast rules about GRE scores and acceptance. I didn't do too well on the GRE and got in virtually everywhere I applied, but I put in countless hours on my writing sample. It's so easy to get lost in average scores, GPA and what not that people forget the point of the graduate school application: to show a committee that you are intelligent, hardworking, clever, and a human being. However your application accomplishes that (i.e. GRE scores, GPA, writing sample, statement of purpose, relevant coursework) is not important.

I recently was in the unfortunate situation of deciding between a fully funded PhD program at a top 5 school for my program or an MPhil from Cambridge. I already accepted the PhD offer but was feeling very concerned about turning down Cambridge. I ended up emailing my advisor at the PhD program and asked if I would be able to defer admission for a year to do the MPhil. He was extremely nice and supportive and told me that he would try to facilitate it. (perhaps its a special case because he is a Cambridge PhD) I ended up being unable to defer because of a policy within the graduate school, and I turned down Cambridge. I just wanted to let anyone who may be in this situation in the future know that you CAN in fact ask to defer! I doubt you will be scorned; professors were once in your shoes, and you investing in the MPhil makes their investment in your PhD have more worth! I hope this gives courage to anyone else in a similar predicament!

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is finally some sort of ranking for Medieval Studies. Its a US News ranking for graduate programs in medieval & renaissance: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/medieval-renaissance-literature-rankings

I recently applied to the MA in Medieval Studies at Leeds and have a similar concern. If you could share any knowledge you've gained about it since you posted, it would be appreciated.