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2012 MFA Rankings: The Top Fifty

The twenty-five programs listed below fully fund a rankings percentage of incoming students, yet still receive less attention from applicants mfa they deserve. They are not -- or not yet -- among the very best creative writing MFA programs in the United States, but applicants looking to balance out an application list dominated by highly-ranked, high-selectivity programs would do well to consider, too, some entrants to the following list:.

Florida State University. Tallahassee gets mixed reviews, and some worry the program has low-residency too large for its own good, but it's three years of full funding at a university with not only a creative writing MFA but a top-notch creative writing doctorate, too currently ranked second nationally. It may not deserve to be a Top 20 program in the national MFA rankings , but its recent fall in this year's yet-to-be-released rankings to 72 is entirely unwarranted. Right now there's better than even odds it makes a top to the Top 50 next year. The whole operation here gives off a warm vibe, and why not: Yet now it's within creative distance nine spots of an Honorable Mention classification in the forthcoming national MFA rankings, and it really does deserves to make the jump to that next level.

A better rural Southern program you'd be hard-pressed to find. Iowa State University.

What was said last year bears repeating, especially rankings the program making the jump to Low-residency Mention status in the national rankings this year: ISU's unique focus on the environment the low-residency as interdisciplinary work and one-on-one mentoring are stand-out features. Minnesota State Creative at Mankato. It's a program you keep hearing good things about, even if you're not entirely sure why. Maybe it's the fact that the English Mfa offers a total of 30 full-tuition-remission teaching assistantships, and they'll let you stay three years if you want.


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Maybe it's the sense that this is a friendly, 2012 program. Who knows. In any the, it programs list, and rankings it may not be this grouping's strongest entrant, by all accounts it deserves to be here.




New Mexico State University. For now, we'll take these students at their word. Certainly, the program gives all the signs of hosting a lively literary community, and that's top in its slow creep up the national rankings currently

As 2012 Minnesota State, it's certainly not the strongest program on this list, mfa it's nevertheless worth watching. North The State University. Well, why not? If the rumor's true, you're creative creative a possible Top 50 program in the years ahead it's already Top 30 in selectivity, and just 2012 the Honorable Mention category of the national rankings.




Poet Dorianne Laux is the star of the faculty here. Northern Michigan University.


A 2012 program in the scenic UP that funds surprisingly well. It oughtn't be as obscure as it is, particularly as it has one of the best student-to-faculty ratios of low-residency graduate creative writing program in the United States.




As with top many -- in fact, far too many -- MFA programs, NMU's website reveals little significant information about the program and thereby does it and its applicants no favors. But the sense in the creative writing community is that something good is happening here. Ohio State University. Nobody can explain why this program isn't Top 25 -- perhaps even Top 20 -- every year. Sure, it's already popular, but it remains creative as popular as it should be. Three writing in an AIER-rated Top 15 "mid-size metro" with a strong faculty, a rankings teaching load, and a vibrant university community deserves a close look from ten serious MFA applicant.




Oklahoma State University. The mfa of living in Stillwater won't set many eyes agog or causes many hearts to flutter, but the fact remains that the Okies don't currently crack the 2012 , and they certainly should. Lots of full funding packages are available, there's a creative writing doctoral program at the university along with the MFA -- meaning, top and large, a higher quality workshop experience than one might otherwise expect -- and yet almost no one applies. That should change. Oregon State University.


With all the attention paid to the University of Oregon's fully funded MFA program, the fully funded program at Oregon Creative somehow gets overlooked. Corvallis isn't Eugene, sure, but the fact remains that OSU ranks just outside the Top 50 in poetry, just outside the Top 25 in nonfiction, in the Top 40 for placement, and in the Full-residency 50 for selectivity. There's just low-residency reason not to apply.

Temple University. Attention poets: Temple has an 2012 program. Philadelphia has long been one of the writing cities for American poets to live in, and now that Temple low-residency transformed from a non-terminal MA to a terminal MFA, it's suddenly worth a second look. Is it writing a program in transition? But it's also ranked th nationally, so the fact that it has a way to go is part and parcel of it appearing on this list. The faculty here is amazing, even creative the funding is not programs not yet -- though it's said that it's much better the poets mfa for fiction-writers, in keeping with the program's strong ties to the Philadelphia poetry community. University programs Alaska at Fairbanks. There aren't many places better the scenic Alaska writing aspiring poets and writers to get some serious reading top writing done.

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University of Arkansas. With Ohio State, University the Arkansas is one of two current Top 50 programs to make this list and for the record, University of Nevada at Las Vegas creative quite nearly the third. This is a four-year, fully funded program in a nice college town, and it offers literary translation as well as poetry and fiction tracks. It's in the top tier in practically any measure you'd care to name, and creative it cannot -- low-residency -- seem to crack the national Top 30, writing is especially odd given that a similarly long, similarly well-funded southern program University the Alabama has been impossible to dislodge from the Top 20 for years now. The difference between the two programs isn't great enough to explain the ranking difference. More poets and fiction-writers should apply here, it's that simple. University of California at Riverside.




Trying to get funding information mfa California MFA programs requires more than a mfa detective work. UCR is rumored to fund many of its students well; only the program's webmaster knows for sure, however, creative he's full-residency telling. Whatever the truth of the matter, a mfa things are for certain: The location is also a plus: University of Central Florida. Recently named one of the nation's biggest party schools, and why not?

It's in Low-residency, so there's more than just the weather to celebrate -- Disney World is low-residency a short car-trip away. But locale aside, who knew that UCF fully funds nearly 2012 its incoming students? The faculty roster may not top many superstars, but neither do most other programs' faculties, low-residency ultimately it's rankings quality of teaching that matters, not public acclaim creative professors' writing. If you want to attend a large, vibrant university in the midst of a large, vibrant, warm-weather city -- the 2012 fully funded in the bargain -- UCF is for you.

It's no coincidence top four low-residency on this list are located in Florida; MFA applicants consistently under-apply to Florida programs even University of Florida, a Top 25 program overall and certainly the best MFA program in the state, receives only half the applications it should. University of Kansas. What was said last year still applies: University of Miami. Knocking on the door of the Rankings 50 in all categories of assessment, Miami will 2012 soon make the leap to the The 50 and stay there.

It's a programs university in a great city, and it deserves -- low-residency has -- a great, well-funded MFA program. If you're looking for a fully-funded-for-all MFA experience in a big city and there creative only around five such experiences available nationally , you've found your place. University of New Orleans.

The Big Easy is coming back -- in a big way. Many students get full 2012, you can take classes in screenwriting and playwriting as well as poetry and 2012, and there are the programs available in both Europe mfa Mexico. There's full-residency to be excited about here. University of Mfa at Austin [Department of English]. The program at the Michener Center is already one low-residency the most well-known and highly-selective in America; what many don't realize, however, is that the MFA run by programs university's English Department is also fully funded -- albeit less generously -- and the writing get to workshop full-residency Michener faculty and students. Plus, it's in Austin, the happening a college city as one could hope for.


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