MFA

After much consideration (and much derision from one writing instructor), I have decided to apply to graduate school to receive my M.F.A. I spent about a month narrowing down the list of schools to apply to, with the help of resources such as these:

The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs (2011-2012)
2011 MFA Rankings: The Top Fifty

I narrowed it down to 9 schools. Then I did even more research and replaced two of the original 9. And what do you know, the 2012 list is up at Poets & Writers. Perhaps it will change again in the future (thanks a lot P&W!), but for now I am applying to the following schools:

The University of Texas at Austin (but not the Michener Center)
The University of Georgia
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Oregon State University
Cornell University (might as well try one of the Ivy Leagues)
Eastern Washington University
North Carolina State University (they have an awesome radio station that I can perhaps volunteer to work at)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about M.F.A.s and whether they are necessary. But if I get accepted to any one of those above schools, I will (hopefully) have full funding. And its not a lot of money, but if someone basically wants to pay me to do what I love, I'll be happy to do so.