For me it was overall reputation + funding. I applied to six fully funded programs (Iowa, Brown, Cornell, Helen Zell, and Michener) plus NYU and Columbia, in the hopes that they’d give me funding and I could live in NYC and see as many plays and exhibits as I liked.
I considered applying to Syracuse but I’m not a big Saunders fan so decided it wasn’t worth the mediocre stipend. I also considered BU but felt that only one year in residence was a bit quick. Vanderbilt and UVA weren’t on my radar, but then I don’t want to move to the south.