Leida

If your goal is to be around NYC, there are ways of accomplishing that without needing to go to a school there and still benefiting from the city itself. Rutgers University - Newark is commutable and offers full funding. (https://www.pw.org/content/rutgers_university_newark) If you're just interested in schools within cities that offer full funding and has relatively low unemployment rates, there's also: Syracuse University https://www.pw.org/content/syracuse_university University of Pittsburgh https://www.pw.org/content/university_pittsburgh Johns Hopkins University https://www.pw.org/content/johns_hopkins_university North Carolina State University https://www.pw.org/content/north_carolina_state_university University of Maryland (access to DC) https://www.pw.org/content/university_maryland University of Houston https://www.pw.org/content/university_houston University of Kentucky https://www.pw.org/mfa/university_of_kentucky Washington University in St. Louis https://www.pw.org/content/washington_university Vanderbilt University https://www.pw.org/content/vanderbilt_university Ohio State University https://www.pw.org/content/ohio_state_university University of Minnesota https://www.pw.org/content/university_minnesota_0 University of California in San Diego https://www.pw.org/content/university_california_san_diego

Hi @AdHocAdjunct For a complete list of low residency programs, you can go to: https://www.pw.org/files/mfa_index_2017_low-residency_programs_1.pdf

I personally would avoid applying to any school that doesn't fund its students 100 percent. Most people will walk away with a few publications from a few different literary magazines but most won't have a career in writing. It's just irresponsible for schools to expect students to write and not pay them a stipend while the students work further enhance the prestige of the university at large. Part of the reason the problem exists is because students keep applying to unfunded programs because of big names even if superstar professor is rarely on campus or hasn't taught in years. Hunter benefits from being in New York City, but I imagine that one could go even farther if they networked with the right people by being at the right place at the right time.

I think you'd be better off in applying to schools that you could see yourself living in that are harder to get into, rather than schools that are "easier" to get into. You can obtain a fee waiver from WashU by emailing graduateschool@wustl.edu and answering their questions. If you're interested in Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State or Wisconsin, you can fill out the Big Ten Academic Alliance form https://www-s.cic.net/programs/FreeApp/archive/RequestForm/FreeAppRequest/application.asp and see if you get a fee waiver from any of them (this might take a few days). I think you have a good mix of programs otherwise. Brown and Iowa are both great programs but are nearly opposite of each other. Brown (and Alabama) are considered close because both are experimental. Iowa is considered more "traditional" and "literary". Most schools no longer care about GRE scores. I think most don't even require them anymore.

The Ivy League is a sports conference at the undergrad level. It means nothing more than that. There are also a number of colleges that "rank" better than the ivy league even at the undergrad level. And some are even harder to get into than the ivy league. Comparable schools to the Ivy League include MIT, Stanford, Chicago, California Institute of Technology, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). All of the above schools rank better than one or more schools in the Ivy League. Additionally, acceptance rates at the undergraduate level differ from the Graduate level. The top school for an MFA in Creative Writing differs but Iowa always ranks towards the top. In no specific order: Oregon, Cornell, Arizona State, Michener, WashU, Michigan, Brown, Indiana, Alabama, Wisconsin and Syracuse are also considered top schools depending on what your specific focus and writing style is. I think you'll notice that the majority of these schools are not a part of the ivy league. It's common for members of the ivy-league sports conference and other "name brand" schools have higher acceptance rates at the graduate level because they often use funding from MA/MFA programs to fund their PHD candidates. A lot of these schools have no trouble selling their brand name for cash. Most people in the know are aware of the poor reputation that these schools that sell their names in this manner have. This is part of the reason why the acceptance rates are so high on these schools that offer no funding despite how well known they are. ETA: Any school worth its salt will fund. Oregon, Cornell, Arizona State, Michener, WashU, Michigan, Brown, Indiana, Alabama, Wisconsin and Syracuse fund all their students. Some might fund their students better than others. But all will provide students with the opportunities to engage with their professors.