Kings v. CMU v. Villanova

[celpony]

I applied to an extremely wide array of English M.A. programs, and was surprised to get acceptances to many. Now I'm having a hard time choosing because each is so different. These are my three top contenders and the pros/cons based. I plan to go on to a PhD after I finish the M.A., but decided to do the M.A. as a transition because I graduated from a small liberal arts college that isn't especially well-known for English. While I did very well there, my professors said previous applicants from my undergrad have had mixed success getting into top-ranked PhD schools directly from the B.A.

Anyway, I'd be incredibly grateful for any feedback on which I should choose from these options:

King's College London:

Pros: Great location, high ranking among UK schools, 1850-Present M.A. program is specific to my interests

Cons: no funding and high cost of living, one year M.A. program starts in October, so I'd basically be applying for the PhD at the start of the M.A.-- no new work to include as a writing sample, no chance of knowledgeable recommendations from my M.A. profs and the challenge of applying overseas, not sure how easy the transition from UK to US schools is and don't want to do the full PhD abroad

Carnegie Mellon:

Pros: Lit & Cultural Studies M.A. interests me a lot, partial funding, decent ranking, potential to go on to PhD program

Cons: No real desire to live in Pittsburgh/would prefer to stay on the East Coast, one year program so I'd face the same issues as I would at King's with regard to PhD applications

Villanova:

Pros: full funding and stipend, location is nice/near a city I like/I have friends and family in the area, 2 year program focuses more on the thesis and would give me time to build up my body of work, establish relationships with potential recommenders, and present my best possible application to PhD programs, a lot of opportunities for research assistantships, teaching experience, etc.

Cons: terminal M.A. program so it's unranked-- I've heard mixed things about how important M.A. reputation is for PhD programs and it seems to vary hugely on the school, but this is my main worry about choosing Villanova

Basically, I'd pick Villanova immediately if I wasn't concerned about the effect of ranking/reputation on my chances to get into a well-ranked PhD program. Their dept. website says that their MA grads have gone on to programs including Harvard, Princeton, and various highly ranked state schools for PhDs, but I'm not sure how common this is. I'd really appreciate any feedback on the reputations of terminal M.A. programs, the importance of ranking for M.A.s, etc.

[hopelesslypostmodern]

Basically, I'd pick Villanova immediately if I wasn't concerned about the effect of ranking/reputation on my chances to get into a well-ranked PhD program. Their dept. website says that their MA grads have gone on to programs including Harvard, Princeton, and various highly ranked state schools for PhDs, but I'm not sure how common this is. I'd really appreciate any feedback on the reputations of terminal M.A. programs, the importance of ranking for M.A.s, etc.

I'm not sure how important rank is for an M.A. I think, regardless of where you decide to go, you might have to justify why you decided to do an M.A. first and not try for the Ph.D. right away. This might be more obvious if you go to a one year program and apply next year using writing samples and recommendations from your undergrad. I'm not saying that you should discount the one year programs, but if you did go to one, it might be good to take a year off after finishing so you can use work/LORs from your M.A. program. It's just a suggestion, though. Also, Pittsburgh seems like a pretty nice city, but I might be biased since I'm probably going to be doing my Ph.D. there...