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If you're considering U of Iowa, I'd highly recommend it. The faculty are talented, knowledgeable and very involved. The facilities are solid. More than anything, I'm impressed by the other grad students - there's a real sense of community and an impressive work ethic. My peers are supportive, but challenging and really engaged in each other's work, while really pushing things in their own practice. It's a really good environment to make work in and take risks in. Also, the program is fully funded. Grads (typically) get TAships that involves teaching 1 class per semester, which cover the cost of tuition, health insurance and a ~$9k stipend per academic year. There's the possibility of teaching more than 1 class and increasing the stipend accordingly. Let me know if you have questions, I'd be happy to say a little more.

Yes, I just accepted an offer from University of Iowa. It's for painting and I'm really excited about their program! How about yourself? Is there anyone else out here who will be going to Iowa in the fall?

While I do not personal have experience negotiating for more funding, my partner did negotiate more funding going into her Masters. I should note that this wasn't for an MFA, but for an architecture related Masters - so I'm not sure how immediately applicable it is. That being said, she was admitted to 3 schools and told School A that she got into to other two and couldn't immediately commit. School B was in the same town that she lived in and also had significantly cheaper tuition. After receiving the funding offer from School A, she mentioned School B's cheaper tuition as well as the cost of relocating to attend School A in an email to her contact at School A. She was polite, honest, direct and brief and got an additional $2k in scholarships with one email. I'll also mention that she took pains to avoid any sort of hardball tactics. She was very aware that if she decided to go to School A (which she ultimately did), she'd be working closely with these people for a few years and didn't want to start that relationship off on the wrong foot. I hope this helps.

In case anyone is keeping an eye out for University of Iowa, I just got an acceptance email yesterday from the painting program.

I wanted to know if anyone has experience with Carnegie Mellon's MFA program. It looks pretty appealing, but I haven't spoken to anyone who went there. Does anyone here have any experience with the program? If so, how did you like it? What did it do well and where did it not work so well? I'm particularly interested in their strong "public sphere" component they mention on their website. They say they put a lot of emphasis on "social context and civic engagement as paramount within contemporary art." This really appeals to me, but the language is all pretty vague. I'd like know means in a practical sense in the program and your experience of with this element was. Thanks!

Does anyone know anything about the program at University of North Texas? I've heard some surprisingly good things and would love to get some more information.

Thanks cme000! I'll definitely give Miami University a look. I actually went to IU Bloomington for undergrad. So while I personally wouldn't consider going back for grad school, I can definitely confirm that it's a very solid painting program. Eve and Tim are great teachers. I'd also have to mention Caleb Weintraub for anyone else who's considering IU. I've actually heard some pretty discouraging things about UW, but that was from a few years ago. There was a lengthy thread about it a few years ago. Does anyone know how accurate that still is? While I'm at it, does anyone know anything about University of Minnesota? University of Michigan? University of Wisconsin-Madison? University of Iowa? Tulane? University of Houston? Cornell? Cranbrook? Or any where else that I may be missing.

Does anyone have more recent information good MFA programs outside of the usual suspects?