Silas

MackF: You'd be hard-pressed to find a part of the city that is more than a 15-minute drive from U of R, I think, unless you were in a suburb on the complete opposite side, or up in Charlotte or something. If you are more interested in the suburban areas, check out Henrietta (about 10 minutes south) or Gates (about 10 minutes northwest). But honestly, the urban neighborhoods have a lot more going on, and are probably a little cheaper. Brighton is also a nice area, and is closer to both U of R and the city, but is also a pretty family-oriented area, so you might have good luck there. I know my brother looked at a place just over the border into Brighton and it was about $800 for a two-bedroom, so not terribly expensive.

Also, there is a very high crime rate in certain areas and very low in others. Places like the South Wedge (at least most of it), East End, etc. are pretty safe. My brother used to live in an apartment on University, near Culver (across the street from Gleason Works, if you can find it on a map), and it was VERY safe, and was within walking distance of Park Ave and Goodman. Cornhill is also really safe, though a little more expensive than the South Wedge.

Student housing tends to be pretty expensive (though I don't know about U of R's options specifically) and Rochester is pretty cheap. You can probably find a cheaper/nicer/quieter place in the South Wedge, which is still pretty close to U of R's campus, and much closer to good (read: not undergrad) bars, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.

Unless you're looking in the immediate area right around campus ("University District"--basically south of Hudson, north of 5th, and between Olentangy River Road and 4th Street), March will be too early. The campus area, which is mostly undergrads, rents about 6-12 months in advance. Clintonville, the Short North, UA, Grandview, etc. tend to rent 2-3 months in advance, AT MOST, and sometimes as little as 2-4 weeks. The expressways are pretty unnecessary, unless you live far from campus. Clintonville is probably the easiest place to live--close enough to walk/bike/bus (so you don't pay $300-$700/year for a parking pass), but far enough away that it's quiet, not full of undergrads, and safe. It's also home to two vegan bakeries, several coffee shops, great restaraunts, two Asian groceries, several food trucks, and a really awesome Whole Foods-like grocery store (with much better prices). If you want to book a place in March for an August move in, and don't want to live right by campus, check out the apartment complexes. If you're thinking about Clintonville, I recommend Olentangy Village (it's a little pricey, but not terrible--I pay $704/month for a one bedroom, and it includes heat, hot water, parking, a fitness center, a pool, etc).

I think the "serious" factor you're talking about is the difference between a creative writing PhD and a lit PhD and what they each qualify you to do, rather than one actually being seen as more/less serious. With the creative writing PhD, you won't be seen as a serious contender for TT jobs in literature, but you *will* be seen as a serious contender for TT jobs in creative writing. If you want to teach creative writing (with the chance of sometimes teaching a comp class and/or a low-level literature class), get the cw PhD. If you want to teach upper-division lit classes, get the lit PhD--with an MFA, publications (if you have them), and a lit PhD, you might be competitive for a job that has you teaching both, though that has its own unique set of challenges. I'm applying for a PhD in creative writing this year, too, though in nonfiction. I've been accepted at Nebraska, but am wait-listed for funding, and I was rejected by Texas Tech. Still waiting to hear from Missouri and Ohio University.

Hey y'all, if you have questions about OSU and/or the city of Columbus, let me know. You can send me a PM on here, I think. I'm in the MFA program, but I've taken a bunch of RCL and digital media classes and have interacted with most of those professors, as well as some of the narrative theory folks.

We haven't been affected by the blizzard. It's a good ~8-10 hours to the coast, so there was barely even any rain here today. The office should be open Monday, barring any extreme changes in the forecast (it's supposed to be 50 and sunny on Sunday) or some other drastic circumstance. But honestly, if they haven't contacted you yet, it's probably because they just don't know. They are really good about letting people know as soon as they can--they're usually one of the first places to notify. IF the PhD program is waiting to hear back on fellowship offers like the MFA program is, they will probably know something by late February/early March--but don't quote me on that, as it may be different. (I'm just basing these assumptions off of what I know about the MFA admission process, and the fact that the funding comes from the same places.)

Hi guys, I'm currently a grad student in the OSU English department (MFA, not MA/PhD) and might be able to shed a little light. The MFA program is accepting fellowship nominees first this year, and I am 99% sure the PhD program is doing the same thing, with the hopes of accepting more people once they know how many first years will be funded through university fellowships (therefore freeing up more money at the department level). If you haven't heard anything, you're probably somewhere in the murky middle of things where it might turn into a outright acceptance, you might end up on the wait list, or it might turn into an outright rejection, depending on how many fellowship nominees ultimately get them. The folks who have already been accepted were nominated for university fellowships based on undergrad/prior grad GPAs, GRE scores, and other experience (i.e., previous awards and honors, etc). They will probably continue sending out rejections throughout the next few weeks--I just got mine (for the rhet/comp program) on Wednesday night.

These days, no degree guarantees you a teaching position at the university level, as someone said above. The MFA is usually given equal weight to a PhD when applying for creative writing positions, so it's certainly possible to get a tenure-track teaching job with it, but there are so few creative writing jobs each year, and so many applicants, that the chances are very, very slim. Virtually the only folks who have luck getting jobs teaching English post-grad school are rhetoric and composition folks, and even for them it's not a guarantee. If you want to spend two or three years writing, reading, being part of a literary community, etc., get an MFA, because you'll love it (but definitely don't pay for it, because you're very unlikely to get a monetary return on your investment). If you are only doing it to get a teaching job, don't bother applying--it's not worth the time or energy. Besides, the acceptance rates are so low--many of the programs accept a smaller percentage of applicants than Harvard Law--that it's not worth the money you spend applying unless you really want to get an MFA.

Amherst has a ton of colleges/universities in the immediate vicinity (UMass, Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, etc.) and, from what I understand, culturally very liberal and open-minded. It's more of a small town feel than Boston, though, so if it's just the city part that you don't like, you might really like Amherst.

There are a ton of programs, actually, and they're becoming more common. Fully-funded MFAs that offer nonfiction as a genre include: Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)* The Ohio State University* (OSU) University of Minnesota* University of Wyoming* Iowa State University University of New Mexico (UNM) University of Houston (UH) University of South Carolina Oregon State University * These four programs probably have the best faculty + funding scenario, and I'd focus search here, with a few others from this list. There's also some funding available at these programs, though not everyone is funded: University of Iowa Nonfiction Writers Program (separate from the Iowa Writers Workshop, which only offers fiction and poetry) West Virginia University University of Arizona Georgia College & State University Florida International University UNC Wilmington Hollins University University of Idaho University of Montana University of Memphis University of Pittsburgh Columbia University (though it's so ridiculously expensive--and no one gets full-funding--that I'm not sure it's worth even applying) Rutgers University--Newark University of Alaska--Fairbanks University of South Florida (USF)

University of Connecticut's HESA program might interest you--I know they have very good funding (similar to Vermont's) and are a very good program. I don't know how big their cohorts are, but I imagine they aren't huge.

It's all different depending on the program, but I know UConn, Michigan State, and Penn State, at least, all offer graduate assistantships to (at least most if not all) grad students in the program. NYU has some assistantships, and I'm sure UF and Florida International offer similar options. Most HESA programs *do* have assistantships, because there's very little point in getting the degree if you don't also have work experience--so unless the program is designed to be part-time while you are working full-time in a student affairs-related job, most of them will have assistantships available. You should be able to find out more specific things about each program on their websites.

Victorian Village and Harrison West are both really nice areas, though a little expensive sometimes (i.e., I pay ~$650/month including utilities for a beautiful, huge apartment in Clintonville, which is actually closer to campus than many Vic Village/HW apartments, while friends have paid >$650/month not including utilities for really small/not as nice places in those neighborhoods). That said, it's beautiful, quiet, safe, and relatively convenient.