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I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I've been thinking through a similar scenario, and I have been convinced that money and teaching load are huge factors in overall MFA enjoyment. At first I thought 1/1 and 1/2 teaching sounded pretty similar, but when I think about the actual time difference, 1/1 is significantly lighter. And similar for stipend: at first, a difference of a few thousand seemed small, but when I actually work out the cost of living, I realize that having enough to live comfortably is huge. So for me, those factors come before anything else. A wonderful program that overworks me for not a lot of money might start to feel less wonderful very quickly.

Thank you @zaira! That definitely makes me feel better. @OctopusCactus I had thought that deferring was kind of a no-go for MFAs. My sense was that they were so competitive they would rather just give the spot to someone more committed on the waitlist. It's helpful that you know someone who was able to do that, though. I guess if I do reject the offer, asking to defer can't hurt because it shows the strength of my interest.

I am grateful to have an amazing offer, but more and more, I am feeling unready to start an MFA next year (nation circumstances, personal circumstances, etc.). However, I worry that if I turn this offer down, the program will rule out making me an offer in the future, even if they know I am not committing to another program. Has anyone heard of a similar situation?

That's really helpful to know, thank you! It does seem like 2 years must be enough time, if so many people choose to apply to and go to 2-year programs every year. Or maybe at least that it shouldn't be considered a huge negative, if the program has a lot of other positives. Boston is even 1 year and a lot of people are definitely interested in that program!

That's a good point! I guess maybe I find it daunting to think of handing in a completed thesis after 2 years, even if I did get to revise and expand it in a third year. Especially with that possibility being unknown until the end of the second year.

Right - Michener, Vanderbilt, UVA, Syracuse and many others are 3 years. So maybe I shouldn't have spoken in such general terms. I was just thinking about how a good number of top programs are 2 years.

This is more of a general musing than something that is actually helpful. But I noticed that many of the very top-ranked programs are 2 years: Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Brown, Hopkins, Cornell. It's interesting because most people seem to prefer 3 years, but many people also seem to prefer these particular schools. I wonder what the connection is - maybe in order to have such good funding, they can only take people for 2 years. But I guess even though 3 years is largely considered preferable, the programs people covet most are only 2. Intriguing!

This is also something I'm struggling with: 2 years with better funding and less teaching, vs. 3 years with lower funding and more teaching. It almost feels like you get a fixed amount of money and have to decide whether to spread it out over 2 or 3 years (though obviously details vary program to program). Because 3 years seems like the ideal for many reasons, but what if the 2-year program is a way better deal for the time that you're in it?

This might be an unanswerable question, but how do you know if a program is right for you? Do you take the chance if it seems like a good opportunity, or should there be some kind of sign or spark or connection? I'm afraid of missing out on a great opportunity, but I'm equally afraid of committing to a bad fit. Has anyone thought through this too?

Hahaha I feel this. It starts to feel so hypothetical that it feels like comparing two completely unknown futures. And it's easy to forget we might actually have to uproot our lives and move to one of these places, and that once we do, we can't go back and choose a different one (except for transferring)

Sometimes, schools send out acceptances and waitlists a long time before they send out rejections. I know Notre Dame has already sent out acceptances and waitlists, and looking at the spreadsheet in the Facebook group MFA Draft '25, it seems like Butler and Miami of Ohio have also sent out acceptances and waitlists. That doesn't always mean a rejection is certain - as people have pointed out, sometimes circumstances change later - but I do think it means rejection is most likely at this stage. Sometimes people use the term "soft rejection" to mean they haven't gotten an official rejection, but they know that acceptances and waitlists have already gone out. I hope that helps!

Yes, I got the mysterious blank email too! I assume it was an error. And I am also curious about Syracuse's poetry program (though I did not apply there but wish I did). I second the feeling of being on a waitlist and having trouble getting a qualitative feel for a program. I feel like talking to faculty would make things a lot clearer.

@Tuxedocat Did you end up visiting Wash U and/or having conversations with Wash U poets? I would be curious to hear what you thought if you'd be comfortable sharing! I am trying to learn more about Wash U as well

Not sure if there are any other UIUC poets here, but they just let me know the slots are all filled! I'd be curious to know if all original offers were accepted, or if they drew from the waitlist at all, since they didn't mention that in their email.

This is all so helpful - thank you so much!! I am not too concerned about leaving the cities themselves, but would definitely want to live somewhere with walkable access to green space and grocery stores, if possible. I might just be spoiled by living in Providence with grocery stores, several parks, and all of downtown within 2 miles...but as much as I appreciate buses, I would like to at least be able to walk to at least a fair number of things if I can. Maybe I'll try to Google maps some places.

Actually (sorry to reply to myself lol) if anyone has the inside scoop on the walkability of Urbana-Champaign, Bloomington, South Bend, or St. Louis, I would be all ears! I assume St. Louis is at least somewhat walkable because it's a proper city, but I'm not sure about the other three.

Yeah this is truly incredible! Maybe there should be a second forum just for transportation in Syracuse. I didn't apply there myself, but this is encouraging me to make sure that any schools I do consider have walkable cities.

This is good to know! I'd been feeling some major regret for not applying to Syracuse but a walkable city is nonnegotiable for me. I probably should have thought to check this for my other schools 🤔

Wow - so much collective knowledge about Syracuse! I guess I wouldn't mind not being able to leave Syracuse itself, but I'd want to be able to get around the city itself without a car.

Is Syracuse a hard place to live without a car?

Out of curiosity, I am trying to compile a list of all fully-funded schools whose funding has a fighting chance of covering cost of living for the area. It's been a little tough because some schools don't list stipends on their website (?) and other websites list incorrect stipends (??). (As a side note, I was thinking it would be so helpful to have a spreadsheet in draft where recent students could list accurate stipends and teaching responsibilities...) Anyway, here's my attempt. I tried to compare post-taxes stipend to average 1BR rent, but I am basing everything on data that may or may not be up to date. Since I'm a poet, it doesn't include schools like Wyoming that don't have poetry. If you know a school that should be in this list, or have more accurate data, please let me know! High funding-to-COL ratio: Michener, Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Vanderbilt, UVA, Irvine (with grad housing), Wash U, Illinois, Rutgers-Camden Medium funding-to-COL ratio: Iowa, Michigan, Syracuse, Indiana, LSU, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, UC Riverside Low funding-to-COL ratio (but still livable, especially with roommates): Brown, Minnesota, U of Oregon, UMass Amherst, U of Florida, Ohio State, Maryland, UNLV, Ole Miss, U of Washington, U of Arizona, Pittsburgh, UT Austin NWP, UC San Diego

I wonder if faculty know how much we go off of vibes lol. I feel like the way they word things on websites and in their emails can make such a big difference in how we perceive a program.

Thank you for all of this helpful information! I didn't realize Indiana's stipend was that high since I think it still says $21k on the website. I also didn't realize year 3 was comp at Indiana - I thought it was all creative writing. And I did not know about the differences in course releases, either. You are so knowledgeable about these particular programs! Do you know people at those programs, or have you just been looking into them as an applicant yourself (if you feel comfortable sharing)? Either way I am jealous of your information-gathering skills!

Right - it's true that the student who went to Cornell didn't get to see if there was followthrough on the mentorship at UIUC. Though I have heard from other students that the mentorship is actually really strong there (as Chex said they've heard as well). I think with Columbia, there's the added layer of wanting students' money, and likely having many students regularly decline offers each year. Whereas with fully-funded programs, at least if they're really pushing hard for a candidate, it's because they believe in them, since presumably there are many other students who would love that fully-funded spot in a small cohort. I also imagine there are advantages to going to a school like Cornell over UIUC. Maybe there isn't the same level of close mentorship, but maybe there are other sorts of connections or resources? Or name recognition for future agent or job placement considerations? Just conjecturing - I know nothing. As a side note, it's interesting to see the difference in the way departments handle acceptances vs. waitlists. It makes complete sense, but folks who are accepted are recruited and put in touch with all kinds of people, whereas folks on the waitlist are given little information until it might be time to make a quick decision in April. We're out here digging through websites and scrounging for details instead of actually visiting campuses or talking with faculty or sitting in on classes etc. It makes perfect sense, of course, but it does make things more difficult!

Wow - thank you so much for this incredibly helpful reply!! That is certainly a resounding plug for UIUC. But the student's experience goes back to one of my larger questions: if they experienced such great mentorship from UIUC, why go to Cornell, where it sounds like the mentorship wasn't as strong? Partly rhetorical - I know Cornell is extremely prestigious - but I always wonder why/whether/how/when prestige is more valuable than mentorship. I'd be curious whether that student still felt they made the right choice in the end. Another thing that confuses me is the varying number of faculty per genre. For example, Illinois has 4 poets (though some are interdisciplinary), whereas I think Indiana, Notre Dame, and Wash U all only have 2 poets. It would make me a little nervous to go to a school with 2 poets because what if you don't find one or even both to be good mentors? I'm curious if others are factoring in the number of faculty in their genre. About Indiana, I will say that from talking to current/former students, it seems like the $21k stipend is in most, if not all, cases supplemented by $4k+ fellowships, bringing it up to the $25k or so of other schools. And although you do technically teach quite a bit at Indiana, the first year I believe you are just TAing creative writing courses, vs. fully teaching composition courses at some other schools. So many variables in this crazy process! I have learned so much about how to choose a school, but I still feel like there are so many unknowns. I am very thankful for the collective wisdom and generosity of this forum and always appreciate any "inside information" folks have to share!