Universities for MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry)

[Sudhanshu Chopra]

I'm an Indian national, with a 4-year Bachelor's degree in Engineering.

I'm interested in pursuing MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry). Since funds are a major concern for me, I want the course to be a fully funded one-- financial aid starting from the first semester itself. Also, I need to maximise my chances of selection; hence, I'm looking to apply to okay to decent schools where chances of converting the application are comparatively higher than top universities which take very very few students. I know I can build from a small start.

Hence, could you please suggest (out of the confounding number of schools) a few select names which satisfy these constraints of mine?

Any information in this regard would be extremely helpful.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Sudhanshu Chopra

[slouching]

Basically any fully funded program is going to be quite selective. That being said, this might be a good starting point for you.

[Sudhanshu Chopra]

On 18/11/2016 at 0:33 AM, slouching said:

Basically any fully funded program is going to be quite selective. That being said, this might be a good starting point for you.

Hi, thanks for the response. I already had come across this list. But that's quite a long one too. I've been looking up from the options mentioned therein but still there's a lot of confusion. Could you filter out some more? I can really use all help.

[slouching]

The thing is, if you're set on applying to fully funded programs, you kind of have to accept that there are no safety schools, that all your options are going to be really selective. It's why a lot of people looking for a fully funded MFA will apply to ten or more schools-- you'll probably have a difficult time finding a lot of fully funded programs with acceptance rates over ten percent. It might help, though, to do some research on "underrated" programs-- that should give you a sense of what options are out there if you want funding but are avoiding the well known, ultra-selective programs (Brown, Michener, etc.). You may also want to expand your search to include programs that offer full funding to many (but not all) students; if you apply, you run the risk of getting accepted without funding, but those places may be a little less selective, so there's that (Montana and UMass come to mind).

I'll also add that when applying to MFAs, you want to make sure you're choosing places that are a good fit for your needs and wants and the kind of work you're interested in doing. Look at faculty, program structure, course offerings, teaching responsibilities, etc. Knowing what you're looking for (beyond full funding) and only applying to places that make sense for you is super important-- not all MFAs are the same.