Letters to the Editor
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go where it's warm and where your boyfriend is...
Seriously. And look at the folks you will be working with: do you actually LIKE them?
Opinions are divided on the importance of the rankings of Ph.D. programs in the academic job market, which is shaky at best. A degree from the #1 school isn't a guarantee of a job, and even if it was, THAT isn't a guarantee of happiness.
I'm a 27-year-old M.F.A. in Creative Writing as well (although I was the opposite of the LW--born and raised in the snowy Midwest and went to New Orleans for graduate school.) It was about five-six years ago that I was applying to programs--at the time, I was an Americorps volunteer in Appalachia and had a take home pay of $125 a month. My undergrad profs advised me to apply to at least ten programs--but I could only afford the app fees for three--Florida State, the University of Memphis, and the University of New Orleans. I ended up getting accepted to all three.
I knew I wanted to live in New Orleans, but their program wasn't nearly as highly ranked as FSU's or programs in other, colder parts of the country. I was specifically told NOT to go to New Orleans by two of the three professors who wrote recommendation letters for me. I was chided to not just "look at schools where it's warm and sunny; look for what the program is like and what kind of job you can get afterwards."
The third professor told me to go where I would be happy now because life wouldn't wait up for me then magically start when I got my degree. I wasn't sure I wanted to teach afterwards (and now, I'm damn sure I don't), and there was nothing preventing me from writing while working a non-academic (and better-paying) job after getting my degree.
The last five years have been the happiest of my life, and moving here was the best decision I ever made.
Also, keep in mind you don't NEED a Ph.D. to research/write about slave narratives. No pop publisher will publish a lit crit of it and no academic publisher will take it without the Ph.D.? So? Is that so much sadder than getting published and then seeing your book rot away in the back of university libraries, rarely touched except by plagiarizing, desperate students?
Go where you will be happy NOW. I know how long and miserable Midwestern winters can be.