My entire life, I have always wanted to be a professor of literature. One snag in my plan was the Great Recession, which hit fall 2007, and I graduated six months later. Rather than begin my journey to a PhD, I got a Masters in Education and have been teaching ever since. Yet the little voice in my head telling me to research and analyze is getting much more assertive lately. Therefore, I will be applying for graduate school for Fall 2013.

Obviously I'm hoping to be accepted somewhere. I'm contacting my old professors, who I hope have not forgotten about me, and I'm hoping to contact and meet professors from other universities who would be interested in working with me. I'm terrified about not being remembered by my professors and of not finding a program with mentors who are interested in working with me. But what can I do? I have to put my best foot forward and pray that I will be accepted somewhere.

Step one: email old professors and meet with them.
Step two: research professors at other universities.
Step three: take the GRE again, after studying.

Let's see how this goes!