germericanqt
Sep 18, 2008, 1:00 AM
Post #185 of 1018
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I have an awesome spreadsheet which lists, among other things, the following (in order):
School, Program Length (years), TSE ranking, 09 fiction ranking, 08 fiction ranking, the average of the three, admissions rate, application deadline, and application fee. All of these factors (except deadline) help me narrow down at a glance which of my dream schools I should actually apply to. Here are my current top twelve:
University of Notre Dame 2 24 26 19 23 5.20%
Dec. 1 (PM) $35
UC-Irvine 2 5 12 14 10.3 2.00%
Dec. 1 (PM) $60
Brown 2 10 6 8 8 2.10%
Dec. 15 (RB) $70
UNC-Greensboro 2 30 7 25 20.7 4.40%
Jan. 1 (RB) $45
Syracuse 3 8 13 3 8 4.80%
Jan. 1 (RB) $75
University of Virginia 2 3 11 4 6 1.70%
Jan. 2 (PM) $60
Wash U-St. Louis 2 17 35 31 27.7 7.50%
Jan. 2 (RB) $35
Hollins 2 31 15 25 23.7 7%
Jan. 6 (RB) $40
University of Oregon 2 13 13 12 12.7 2.40%
Jan. 15 (PM) $50
Johns Hopkins 2 11 15 11 12.3 3.30%
Jan. 15 (PM) $75
UT (Michener) 3 1 5 4 3.3 1.50%
Jan. 15 (RB) $50
University of Alabama 3 34 20 17 23.7 4.00%
Jan. 15 (RB) $30
The schools which I have thought about and then taken off the list (I've already gone from ten to twelve, it's possible I might add more) are:
NYU 2 13 20 17 16.7 6.50%
Dec. 18 (RB) $85
Cornell 2 3 3 6 4 1.50%
Dec. 15 (RB) $70
University of Utah 2 47 95 96 79.3
?
Dec. 15 (RB) $45
UNLV 3 38 47 53 46
?
Feb. 15 (RB) $60
Iowa 2 7 1 1 3 3.40%
Jan. 3 (PM) $60
So. There you are. If anyone wants a copy of my awesome decision spreadsheet, please let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. I'm finding it helpful. Iowa is clearly a good school to apply to, with an incredibly high overall ranking, a relatively high acceptance rate, and a medium-range fee. (I'm talking myself into it again... uh-oh) NYU looks like a great school, with its high rating and high acceptance rate, but the fact that aid isn't available to all makes me hesitate. So these aren't the only factors. But it does help to have the numbers right there like that. Also included on the spreadsheet: how long the manuscript should be (how many pages and/or stories) whether or not they allow novel excerpts, the number of LORs required, whether or not GRE scores are required (at $20 a pop, that can affect finances quite a bit), how many transcripts each school wants (some schools want two), response time for each school (that will come in handy in March and April), and a couple of faculty members for each. Also, location. I'm really hunkering down for this attempt, because the first one really took it out of me.
Oh, I do have a question. I was talking to a good friend about safety schools, you know, as far as that's possible with an MFA program, and he told me Alabama. Based on their acceptance rate (which is actually matriculation rate), that's unrealistic, but he seemed pretty sure of it. Are there any other schools that you might put forward as an awesome program with funding that might be somewhat of a safety school nevertheless? I will pretty much die an agonizing death if I don't get in to a good program this time around. I'm sure of it.
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Re: [umass76] Choosing an MFA Program (2009)
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