Take the GRE:  Take both the general and subject exams.  Most students find taking both of them at the same time exhausting.  So, you might want to study for and take the general exam over the summer and then take the subject exam in early autumn.  You can take them either online or in person.  If you have financial hardship, there are programs in place to cover the cost.

1. Take courses with a long paper requirement.
2. Write with the submission in mind in your Junior year, as you will be applying fall semester of your senior year.

Researching the school:  What program should you enter and why?  Consider the following issues:

1. How portable are you?  Some students are, for any number of reasons, limited to the area in which they are living.  That's fine.  Pennsylvania is blessed with a number of very good schools, and many of them are within driving distance.  A number of our students and faculty have also chosen Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  There are evening and satellite programs in many of the institutions as well.  You'll also want to consider Villa Nova, Temple, The University of Pennsylvania, and Penn State right off the bat. 
2. What's the reputation of the program?  Programs are rated, and the best ones place their students well.  You do not want to go to a third rate school for several reasons. 
   • The best schools have professors who are more up to date, easier to learn from, and have (in the main) more generous spirits than do professors at weaker institutions.  Learning there will be not only better, but easier. 
   • Working on those professor's projects and/or teaching with them will help you to understudy for the profession.
   • Competing against better students helps you develop stronger academic muscle (it's like pumping iron).  Classes will be more exciting as will get togethers in the evening. 
   • The best schools do a much better job of placing their Ph.D.s.  Reputation counts. 
   • Travel to the school.  Check blogs and graduate student sites online. Meet with the professors, the head of the graduate program, and graduate students.  Get a sense of the climate?  How, for instance, are they toward women?  Gays?  Hard case (pick your political leaning here)?  How good is their library?
3. Who would you like to study with?  Read current periodicals and books in the field that interests you.  Who knocks your socks off, and where does he or she teach?  You only do grad school once, so invest in the best you can manage.  Send that person a letter or email, expressing your interest in his or her work and asking about the program.  When you go to campus, meet the professor.  You want a mentor and champion as you go through the program and outplace.  A letter from that person as you leave will go a long way toward launching you into your new career.
4. How many schools should I shoot for, and what does it cost to apply?  Remember that there are application fees. You'll want to apply to several different schools, probably including one real reach and one 'safety school.'  I think I applied to five and got into all but one.  There are two kinds of deadlines, so you'll want to keep close track of the varying calanders.  One deadline has to do with aid and graduate teaching appointments, and it's the earliest; while another is simply for entrance into the program.  You'll want to plan for the earlier date, of course, as you want a graduate fellowship/teaching position.  There is also a general deadline for accepting schools/fellowships.  That's because there is a 'common market' date for graduate student acceptances, allowing schools to know who, exactly, is coming so that they can allocate their aid moneys well and staff their freshman courses. 
5. Weigh your choices.  All fellowships are not equal.  You'll want to valuate as follows
   1. Weight the institution and program reputation most heavily.
   2. Consider what you are offered.  Is it a 4-year fully funded fellowship in a Ph.D. program with a year off with pay to write your dissertation?  An unfunded acceptance to an MA program?  Something in between?
   3. Consder the area.  Could you live happily for four years in New York while attending Columbia?  Or, would you be happier in Iowa City, Iowa.  For some of you, one or the other might consitute absolute heaven or hell.

Grad school is never quite what you expect.  All your courses will be within major, in the same building.  The courses are likely to be smaller.  You will take high energy, tightly focussed courses from amazing specialists.  So, it's not at all suprising that many students change their area of specialization (not their major, their specialty) after entering a grad program.  That's fine.  Know it's likely and plan for the possibility.

Timetable for Seniors

• Take the GRE General Exam in person or online.
• Start studying for the subject exam
• Research graduate programs and the professors who teach in them.  Read periodicals in the academic sub-area you are fondest of.  Who's hot and interesting in the field?  Where does he or she teach?  Is it a Ph.D. granting institition?  Write that person and ask about his or her current research and also about the grad program.
• Talk to your adviser and favorite professors about graduate school.  You'll want these folks to write for you, so it's time to start discussing your plans.  They'll also have good suggestions and advice.
• Budget funds.  It costs to apply to grad schools, so you might want to tell your folks to make that your birthday or holiday present.  Some of your selection decisions regarding where to apply will take place in the application process. Early in the fall semester of your senior year, you should write to graduate schools requesting materials for application (you can obtain the addresses for these letters from college catalogues in the library or by consulting the schools’ websites). In your letter you should ask for detailed information about the kinds of programs offered at each school, the availability of financial aid (especially assistantships), and all the forms and information needed to apply for entrance to that school.

  Most schools will ask you to pay an application fee of around $30 to $50; they should also give you clear indications of what their deadlines are for applying to different programs. For most schools, the application deadline is in January, although some have deadlines as early as December 15. This means that in October or November you ask professors to write recommendations for you, choose a paper to use as a sample of your writing, and make sure you know how to arrange for transcripts to be sent to different schools.

September

• Register to take GRE Subject Exam. In some ways, it is impossible to study for the G.R.E., since it tests such a wide range of knowledge that you simply cannot "cram" the night or even the week before. You might be helped by reading through all of the historical introductions in your survey course anthologies, just to remind yourself of who wrote what in what era; you might also prepare outlines of historical periods, with names of prominent authors and texts of that era. The major benefit of such studying, however, will be to help you remember things you've already studied or read on your own at an earlier time.
• Contemplate key people to ask to write letters of recommendation
• Start thinking about what to use for your writing sample. 

  Besides taking the G.R.E. and arranging for transcripts and recommendation letters, you should prepare a paper or manuscript that you've written, to send to graduate schools as a sample of your work.
  
  For students heading towards an M.F.A., you should send in your most creative, challenging, thoughtful piece(s) of writing; it would be wise to talk over your choice with a creative writing professor who is familiar with your work. In some cases, schools will ask you to send in a portfolio of your writing, so you should be ready to provide a number of different pieces, or varying approaches, for them to consider.
  
  For literature majors, the best kind of writing sample would be a critical, analytical paper that is original in its approach to a specific topic; it should be a paper that uses sources but which is driven by a thesis that is clearly based in your own ideas about a text. If you are thinking of using a paper that you wrote for a particular course, it would be a good idea to ask your professor from that course to read through the paper once again, making suggestions for polishing or revision before you send it to the graduate school; the professor could also then give his or her estimate of how good a choice that paper would be as a writing sample.

• Finalize list of graduate programs and request application materials
• Begin to research forms of financial aid and assistance
• Begin planning campus visits.  If you can afford to do so, visiting the campus of a particular university, talking with professors who teach in that graduate program, and also talking with students currently in that program could be very helpful. This will give you a feel for the kinds of things the school is looking for; it will allow you to get ideas of what kinds of study might be possible at the school; it will show you the kind of atmosphere that exists at the place both in terms of scholarly expectations and in how comfortable you would be working, studying, and living there. Campus visits might be useful at two different times.
  1. If you are fortunate enough to be accepted by more than one graduate school, campus visits can help you decide which invitation you would rather accept.
  2. But if you have not heard from a particular school, and you are able to visit that campus, an appointment with the department's director of graduate studies might give the department a chance to take a better look at yourself as a graduate candidate than it would have otherwise. Sometimes, in fact, such visits have made the difference between being offered a position and being passed over. If you make such a visit before you're offered a position, you should prepare for the visit as if it were an interview, so you should be ready to talk about the kinds of things you would like to study and your reasons for applying to their school. But also keep in mind that it really isn't an interview, and that people at the school might not be expecting your visit. If you are courteous but also firm in expressing your belief that you would be a good student in their program, you might be pleased with the outcome.

• Take GRE Subject Exam in person or online.  Because most schools have application deadlines in January, you should take the G.R.E. no later than October. The GRE Literature in English Subject Test contains approximately 230 questions on literature in English from the British Isles, the United States, and other countries.  You can download a Practice Book (80 pages) in PDF format for free.
• Begin drafting personal statement and any essays required of graduate programs
• Complete applications forms
• Request all transcripts be sent to graduate schools
• Ask for letters of recommendation or distribute recommendation forms

November

• Finalize personal statements and essays tailored to each graduate program after getting feedback on them from your adviser or favorite professor -- or other key professionals

December

• Mail completed applications -- only after carefully proofreading all materials

January

• Follow-up with all graduate programs to make sure your application is complete

February

• Consider visiting your top graduate school choices

March/April

• Discuss acceptance progress with your adviser or favorite professor
• Notify each graduate program that accepted you of your intentions

Useful sites:

• Graduate School in English -
• Going to Graduate School - A guide by FSU for students considering graduate or professional schools.
• Entering Graduate School - Chapter 2 from the Chicago Guide
• Criteria for Choosing a Grad School -
• Advice for undergraduates considering grad school (PDF file)- By Phil Agre, UCLA.
• E-Campus Tours
• Straight Talk About Graduate School - Everyone does not need to go to graduate school to be happy, and for many people it's a terrible experience.  She'll help you think it though before you spend all that money and time.
• Finding College and University Information - This includes information about graduate programs, ratings, and financial aid information, study abroad programs and more.
• Graduate School Essays - A number of links and articles on writing the personal statement for graduate school, including sample essays.
• Gradschools.com - A comprehensive source for graduate school information can search for schools by subject and region.
• Grad Schools in English Langauge and Literature: listed geographically.
• Guide to California Colleges and Universities - List of California schools and the programs they offer.
• Peterson's Graduate and Professional Schools - A comprehensive searchable database of graduate schools with many links to other resources on graduate school.
• Review.com - Topics related to graduate school, admissions, financial aid, faculty, test preparation etc.
• Statementofpurpose.com - An excellent resource that includes sample essays, FAQs, writing tips, and numerous links.
• UC Graduate Degree Programs - The University of California's master's and doctoral degree programs along with several certificate and credential programs.
• US Universities, Alphabetic - This page contains an alphabetic list of regionally accredited US universities.
• USNews.com - Graduate school rankings, plus financial aid, and career information.