that is awesome! definitely go for iowa! i think it is so important to chase what we are in love with. i was listening to the MFA writers podcast episode on IWW and they interviewed Steven Duong who read an incredible story, and everything he was saying about the program sounded amazing. im from canada and kinda new to the world of MFAs (we only have 3 here in the whole country) so it is so interesting to learn about the history and personality of them. what was the summer workshop like? a couple weeks sounds so intense. were you in workshops almost every day?
im in a similar position. i have life and writing experience but i dont have a lot of teaching experience. im drawn to MFAs because i miss workshops/the structure/the writing community and time to write, but also because i want more practical teaching experience. my top choices are UC san diego, vanderbilt and michener, all for slightly different reasons. i was just reading a lot about michener yesterday and i love that their teaching opportunities are more community-centric than academic. but i would be over the moon to get into any of those