I was accepted to Iowa's fiction department, and I had a few general questions for anyone familiar with the program:

1- What is the academic coarseload like, beyond the workshops? How many courses per semester? How easy is it to get into the literature courses you want.

2- I was offered a TA-ship in literature, (1/3 time, or one class) and I was wondering if anyone had a sense of what expectations are put on TA's.

3- How competitive is second-year funding?

4- Iowa City - what are the cool neighborhoods?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

MFA students read the application packets first? I had no idea. How many poets get into Iowa each year?

Crap...I planned to send a 50-page short story. When did they up the limit?

Now I'm scared. I wonder if I should include a second well-written, but hugely flawed, story.

...the program "breeds" competition, because everyone isn't funded equally....

I've heard both about Iowa from people who have been and are there. I think it is a combination of what Silk (above says) about people who whine are people who whine, and a true sense, for a number of writers, that some people are favored above others. A number of past graduates have told me that there is absolutely a sense of some writers being percieved as "annointed." One of those writers also told me how the only writer in their class who didn't get funding was also the most succesful. Competition is good for some people.
Keep in mind, however, that they have a new director, so it is possible that the atmosphere has changed.

If you are in a program where all funding is equal, however, then yes, that would eliminate one possible bone of contention. When you get accepted to a school (or before hand, if you can), the best thing you can do is ask a number of students the pros and cons about the program. They will give you the straight dope. It's good to ask several, though, because not everybody views things the same way, and one person's supportive is another person's competitive.

Sam doesn't seem too keen on the whole TWF thing, so maybe it will eventually go away.

Sam is actively working to get more financial aid for the program.

I don't think the idea of studying creative writing as an undergrad is silly. But as someone who's working part-time as a college advisor, my concern is, what's a grad going to do with a creative writing major? The MFA is unmarketable enough, but at least it's not your only degree.

http://creativewriting.umf.maine.edu/whatnext.php

I've heard a lot about agents and Iowa. How many agents actually visit the program? Does the program set anything up so they can see your work? I was wondering because this seems to be one of the perks of going to a "big name" program.

Yes. A lot of agents come to Iowa, at least when I was there some years ago. You get a mixture of big name agents as well as younger, less established agents looking to build a client list.

I'm looking at schools for next year and Iowa is my top choice. Everyone mentions the tiered funding for second years, but how many fellowships are there for first years? On the site it mentions the Truman Capote, Iowa Arts, Maytag, etc. For anyone who's gone there, what do these fellowships mean? Which is the "best" one? Who gets them? How many are there?

I think the 2nd year funding process receives A LOT more scrutiny and attention from the student body.

I had a creative writing professor who told my class that young (or beginning) writers often lean toward wanting to write in as many different first-person voices as possible. She implied that this was amateurish.

rich, good looking Chad, with his perfect wavy hair and somewhat empty personality

And so now there's this? Fie! Fie!