<--- Decisive, sleeveless woman, on the verge of excitement over her MFA applications.
TK asks: Which programs are standing out to you based on your own criteria (funding, faculty, program amenities etc.)? Which programs are you most excited about applying to? Why?
5 comments:
I've spent the past 15 months or so researching MFA programs and reading everything I could find online and in book stores. My decision to apply to the following programs is based upon that research and long discussions with my wife. I'm 39 years old, my wife teaches middle school, and we have a house to sell before we relocate for grad school, so she has a big say in the final decision! I would prefer a three year program, as I like the idea of a full year to work on the creative thesis.
I'm applying to eleven programs, but they're broken into three tiers in my mind (Tier One: I'd jump at the chance to attend any of these--they meet all my criteria; TIER TWO: Excited about the programs, less than excited about locales; TIER THREE: same as Tier Two, only less so). I believe they are all strong programs with good or great faculty.
TIER ONE:
1. Texas@ Austin (great funding, great locale, 3 years)
2. Iowa (great program, great locale, affordable)
Minnesota (good funding, great locale, 3 years)
3. Colorado State Univ (ok funding, great locale, 3 year option, know graduates who rave about the program)
4. Indiana (good funding, good locale, 3 years)
TIER TWO:
Purdue
Notre Dame
Illinois
TIER THREE:
Bowling Green
Western Michigan
Minnesota State/ Mankato
If anybody sees any red flags here, please respond. Apps haven't gone out just yet!
Hunkering down Down East,
Saltwater Farmer
saltwater farmer, I like your first tier choices, but, if I were you, I'd take another look at Indiana's teaching load. Do you really want to teach two, perhaps even three, classes while trying to finish your book-length thesis?
Best of luck,
Monketah
What I meant to say is that the teaching load increases with each year of enrollment; therefore, you would have more classes to teach while you're trying to complete your thesis.
UTx-Austin is an obvious Shangri-La for many of us; great funding, hip city, dedicated faculty. Bitchin'. So I second (third? eighteenth?) it as a top contender.
Other programs I am pretty excited about are U Montana (the students seem really psyched about their experience), LSU (they work hard to fund applicants and the faculty have already proved remarkably accessible), and U Arkansas (bias applies here; one of my favorite contemporary poets is the Director). I love that UNLV enables students to spend a term abroad, and I find the desert inspiring (though the neon lights less so...).
That's all I got---postmarking my applications next week. Good luck, everyone!
Hate to stand out here, guys, but Austin actually DOESN'T stand out to me as the best, because the chance of getting in to Austin without first earning an MA are comparable (and I mean this literally) to winning the lottery, and I have virtually no interest in earning one degree so I can get another. Austin is awesome, and so is free grad school, but it is what it is.
Cornell impressed me with funding.
UNC-Greensboro has my vote for best young(er) program.
Warren Wilson still looks like the best bet for low-res.
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