[Izulde]

Round 3 Results

Wow. After combing through the programs, I cut the numbers down from approx. 85 to 31 schools. That's without taking a closer look at the faculty, which will likely be my Round 4 cutdown.

Here are the 31 schools, broken down by state.

Arizona
Arizona State*#
University of Arizona*#

California
San Jose State*
UC-Irvine*

Florida
University of Central Florida
University of Florida

Idaho
University of Idaho*#

Indiana
Purdue University#
University of Notre Dame

Louisiana
Louisiana State
McNeese State

Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts*

Maryland
University of Maryland#

Michigan
University of Michigan*

Mississippi
University of Mississippi

New Mexico
New Mexico State#
University of New Mexico*

Ohio
Bowling Green State
Ohio State

Oregon
Oregon State*
University of Oregon*#

Pennsylvania
Penn State#
University of Pittsburgh#

Rhode Island
Brown University*

South Carolina
University of South Carolina

Virginia
Old Dominion University
University of Virginia#

Washington
Eastern Washington University
University of Washington

West Virginia
University of West Virginia

Wyoming
University of Wyoming

*-GRE not required
#-Delta Sigma Phi chapter

Notes:
Most of the schools that I'd say are my top choices after the initial academic review require the GRE General or strongly recommend the GRE to have the best chance at fellowships or assistantships if they aren't guaranteed, so it looks as though I'll take the GRE in any case.

McNeese State asks for a writing sample before the process of formal application even begins, so I'll be applying there for certain by sending in the writing sample. They also emphasize that guest writers hold 1 on 1 conferences with MFA students, which I like a lot.

An interesting tidbit--Brown, which is Ivy League, has MFA students take just two courses a semester. Light courseload for max writing time, Ivy League degree, extremely lucrative financial aid package all in one package and it's no surprise that Brown leads the pack in quoted applications with 850-900 a year, of which they accept single digits.

A few of these schools have graduate degree foreign language requirements, which I'm iffy on. My German has corroded to the point where I'm probably at a second-year level and the programs demand that you have reading proficiency on top of it. When you throw in that I'd look at acquiring a new language, it means a lot more time spent in acquistion, less time on writing.

If I had to list the five programs that I'm most strongly looking at right now in no particular order they'd be:

University of Florida
University of Idaho
University of Virginia
Louisiana State
Brown University

There's quite a few others that are right behind them, however, and the list is no doubt going to change pending further research.

I also need to check with schools once I get the list cut down even more and find out how they determine GPA for applicants. I've got a fairly extensive early history of piss-poor academics before I got my associate degree with a 3.5 GPA and have in subsequent years posted nothing lower than a 3.5 each semester at the universities thereafter (This past semester was 3.75, bringing my GPA at this school to 3.68 cum after a year here)

I've already got one letter of recommendation locked up, so I'll need at least one or two more over the next year or so. I have a good idea of who I'll ask for my second recommendation. The third is up in the air at the moment.