GallifreyGirl

Just my two cents: 1. Depending on what kind of teaching you want to do, Notre Dame and Purdue are probably going to do the most good "name drop" wise, unless the department head is up to date on MFA reputations (so basically - only at schools that *have* an MFA program). 2. Keep cost of living in mind. Seattle is ridic expensive. Vegas and Purdue are average. South Bend is super cheap. So those amounts, in raw dollars, look different but I definitely recommend checking out a site like bestplaces.net to do an actual cost-of-living comparison (spoiler: $15k in South Bend is worth about $36k in Seattle). Don't want to rain on your parade, but cost of living is something a lot of people don't necessarily take into account when they should. I hope this helps. Good luck with the decision!

I have no idea what a "non-terminal" MFA is??? By definition, all MFAs are terminal degrees in creative writing ... though the CW PhD exists, it's more like a post-doc since the MFA is the required degree for university-level teaching of writing. Now I'm intrigued ... where are you seeing/getting that info?

Someone else here posted that they'd take any 3-year over any 2-year, and I'd have to agree. That extra year (especially w/funding) is a whole other level of investment in your writing. Plus, ODU has Cristina Garcia (!) and Natalie Diaz (!!!!) on their faculty so what even is the question here? Then again, I'm not you, and my choices are totally different. Here, as a guideline, is how I might approach your dilemma: 1. The funding (from what I see on the BGSU & ODU websites) is about the same annually, and so is cost of living, so that's a wash. 2. 2 years versus 3 years 3. What kind of program do you want? BGSU is a studio program. ODU is an academic one. 4. What will you teach (comp v cw) and what's the teaching load? (Esp. since the funding is about the same, if one is a 2/1 and the other is a 2/2, then technically, one is asking you to do more work -- and thus take more time away from your own writing -- than the other, which would mean the funding is not the same) 5. Standard of living. Again, this is a personal thing that you'll need to decide for yourself, but -- shitty little midwest town with long winters (no offense to anyone out there who's a masochist) or Norfolk, which has beach and mild winters and is in a major metro area. 6. Faculty. I haven't seen this addressed a lot on these forums, but it's prudent to consider that a good writer is not the same as a good teacher. So even though I fangirled earlier in this post over Natalie Diaz (I mean, who wouldn't), part of the research that I did on my own decision between programs was to reach out to current students in the program about how the faculty functions as faculty, and not just based on their writing. In fact, this was my deciding factor -- I chose the program where students were most enthusiastic about faculty who supported the students' aesthetic vision rather than attempting to impose their own. (I didn't even apply to several programs for this reason as well). I hope this helps clarify some things for you. Let us know where you end up!!

My understanding is that Hollins is rebuilding its program, which has traditionally been strongest in CNF, and is currently "not what it was" in all genres. (Also, as a poet, most of my impressions are skewed towards that form, so keep that in mind). Mankato I had literally never heard of until I saw someone post an acceptance on the results portal here. Also, it's cold as shit in MN and, this is probably my bias showing but, it's literally a college town and assuming you're in your thirties like me, it can be tough to have a social life in that environment. On the other hand, for your kids, Mankato has the best school system of the three. From what I've been able to glean, the funding levels are vastly different -- $7k at Hollins, $9k at Mankato, and $16k at ILM, according to my research -- although part of that is made up by the cost of living being about 10-15% less in Roanoke. The income tax in each state is about the same, so that doesn't make a lot of difference. Also keep in mind that ILM is 3 years over Hollins and Mankato's 2. You should also review the the requirements for GAs at each school. For example, at the school where I've decided to accept, they have strict rules about additional employment (basically, I can only work up to 8 hours at outside employment per week, and only with a waiver from the GS to do so). Especially if you have kids to support, money is a huge factor to consider. As for the "singular focus" of the low res program on the novel you want to write -- that just sounds like a thesis to me? Unless I'm missing something?

From what I know, CW PhD programs, like MFA programs, are most interested in your writing and your publications. While low res MFAs can be seen as 'lesser' programs than most of the full res MFAs ... Stonecoast has a stellar reputation for producing quality writers that go out into the world and publish with regularity. It's not like some of the programs out there that are more like profit machines than places for artists to explore and improve their art (i.e., Reinhardt, Arcadia, Augsburg). I will say that it takes a special personality to get what they need from a low res program (I did a year in a low res program about a decade ago, hated it, and now I'm going back to a full res program). There are no regular class meetings, and depending on the program, all of your communication with your profs and your classmates will be written (although I have heard that some utilize Skype these days). I don't know your particular situation, but when I was in my low res program (one of the top ten in the country), I struggled mightily because a) I was paying my own way for both tuition and just survival -- with a full time job and a part time job and loans, which left little time to write and absolutely no energy to do so. I spent a decade in a corporate job saving money so that I could go back and do full res (I'm fully funded with a GA this time, but having that cushion is really helpful for my anxiety). So it depends on what kind of funding you have at each, how much time you want to have available to write versus needing to remain employed full-time to support yourself. Also, depending on your real world job, you need to take into consideration the costs of residency -- days off of work, travel, hotel, etc. Stonecoast requires, I think, 2 10day residencies per year. I don't know if you're American, but if you get two weeks vacay a year at work ... that's all folks (and that probably includes your sick time allotment too). I will say that Wilmington is a fantastic program in a fantastic town (although the cost of living there is higher than other cities in NC) -- they have a pretty good literary and music scene considering that a lot of the population there is seasonal (tourists, marine-based professionals). The good news is that you have two great (if highly different) options to choose from. I hope that this helps clarify some things. Let us know what you decide!

Hi erina! Based on my research, Emerson accepts like 40-45 out of an applicant pool of 100-200. I'm not sure if that fellowship is on top of a tuition waiver? Tuition is about $30k/year there so if you have to pay tuition out of the fellowship, that doesn't leave much to try to live on (and Boston is not cheap). As for reputation, I've only heard good things about Emerson; they have a specialization in Publishing and Popular Fiction, which bodes well if you ever want to write something other than straight literary fiction, and their grads seem to have a pretty good track record of publishing work. Hope this helps. Good luck writing!

My twelve-year-old self is squealing because: Horse Capital of the World! Anyone else headed to Bluegrass country?

Thanks for the info, @rising_star ... definitely something to keep in mind. I've been trying to do some Swedish Death Cleaning but ... [insert Stanley Kowalski voice] MY BOOKS!

I used a professional moving service when I went from NC to AZ, and it was the worst experience of my life. They gave me a window of about 7 days when my stuff would arrive in AZ, but it took another 6 days after that for them to show up. Then they held my stuff hostage while I argued with some clerk in Minnesota about the price, which had doubled, because they said that my items had somehow grown from 900 lbs to 1600 pounds on their way down I-40. Her argument was that there were things in the move that I hadn't listed in my initial inventory on which they'd based their quote -- like my vacuum and an additional 2 boxes. Ended up paying them the difference because if you don't, they'll hold it for thirty days, adding $150/day for storage, and then Storage Wars your stuff if you don't give in within that time. Also, three of my boxes didn't make it. So basically I paid an extra thousand bucks for my vacuum and negative one boxes. :/ I'm about to move back east for grad school and based on the math and the aggravation, pods seem the way to go, especially since it's based on whatever you can stuff in the pod and not on weight (I'm an English major, I GOT BOOKS). At least, the U-haul Ubox isn't. I can't tell with PODS and U-pack because their website doesn't give you any info, you have to put in your contact and wait for them to call you (nope). With U-haul, a pod from PHX to LEX is about $1500 ... renting a 10' truck, before gas, is about $1300, so why not?

Omg you guys, just had to share ... got my acceptance with full funding and TAship to UKy this morning. Miracles happen! Don't give up!

Thanks for all the info! I have added U of S, Guelph, and U Victoria to my spreadsheet for next year's applications. Clearly in the four weeks between deciding to apply and actually applying, I did not do nearly enough research, so I think it's a bit of a blessing that I didn't get in this year (although I still have 2 pending) as it will give me time to really look into the faculty, the type of writing that different programs tend to favor/inspire, and the curricula & teaching opportunities before (as opposed to just picking 4 that sounded good -- oops). Good luck with getting the assistantship, and in the program!

If you have any additional insight (esp as it regards funding), that would be great ... I did a little recon last night, and there's only 4 schools in Canada with the MFA (5 if you're looking for CNF), and I wasn't able to find much information on their funding. Definitely will be taking a deeper dive to see what I can find out.

And I think it's WAAAAY worse for us writers ... if a science applicant says something cliche, well, is that really going to affect their application? Probably not, their committees just want to know if they can string together words well enough to present a research paper. On the other hand, for writers, saying something in a unique and pretty way is literally what we're applying to study. And our programs are so competitive (I think the system broke me, as I now consider any program with better than 5% acceptance as not that selective I guess) that it feels like they're just looking for reasons to disqualify. On the other other hand ... if I were reading like 300 personal statements and every single one used "hone my skills" I'd be tempted to flip a table too. Also: bully for me, I did *not* use hone my skills. Or any variation thereof. Doesn't seem to have helped though. :/

As far as I'm aware, programs only notify Monday - Friday. If you're looking at the Results page, be careful, as there are two columns with dates: one has the actual date the person was notified as A/R/WL, and one with the date when the person posts that notification to this site -- for example, I've seen several people post today, Saturday, for notification they received yesterday, Friday. Also, if someone's just looking at a portal on the school's website, versus receiving a phone call, they can do that any day/time, and that may account for any 'weekend' notifications. Hope this helps. Also, good luck with your applications!

Bahahahahahahahahaha NO. The weather here is not like San Diego or LA at all. Summer lasts from April 1 to Halloween, unless it's longer. And by summer I mean walking outside feels like standing beneath a rocket silo during blast off. During these months, you will become adept at moving quickly from building to building, never looking directly at the sky for fear of burning out your corneas. A light breeze is equivalent to turning your hair dryer on high and pointing it directly at your face. You will have to get a second job to pay for your air conditioning (my electric bill for my 700 sq ft apt averages $45 in February and $215 in August) and your water (you cannot drink the tap water here. My pets get the bottled stuff. I won't even boil pasta in the tap water). That being said, there are some upsides to Phoenix: There's a large job market for call center workers, so finding part time/summer work is a cinch. You're a few hours drive from Mexico, Flagstaff, and Cali. You can weekend in Vegas. . . . that's about it for upsides. Phoenix, as best as I can describe, is the suburban shopping mall of American cities. Everything here is a retail chain, repeating in a fractal pattern across the landscape which seems to stretch from New Mexico to California because Phoenix likes to swallow smaller cities whole. Shockingly, there is little diversity and even less culture. We rival LA for traffic, but our public transportation system is a joke -- although supposedly we have a thriving rideshare market. Things I can recommend: Phoenix Comic Fest (I think we're third or fourth largest in the country now), the Museum of Musical Instruments, and using the city's central location to go other places as often as possible. Also, it's not cheap to live here, but it's nowhere near as expensive as Cali.