Sometimes I forget that some people read this blog just to find out the basic details of my life. Sometimes I worry that this blog is becoming This Graduate School Life. Then I remember that this is THIS Unemployed Life for a reason. That this blog is about MY journey through unemployment, and for me, that means I now spend a fair amount of time talking about graduate school.

So today, after literally over a month of reading books about choosing the right Creative Writing MFA Program (yes, there are at least two books dedicated to the subject), studying the websites for the possible programs, and making a spreadsheet (yes, I made a spreadsheet to assist in this decision-making process), I have finally (with the help of my mom) narrowed down my list and chosen the twelve graduate schools that I will apply to.

Here, in no particular order, are the finalists:

Brown (in Providence, RI)

Syracuse University (in upstate New York)

University of Iowa

University of Massachusettes (in Amherst, Mass)

University of Michigan

University of Texas (in Austin)

University of Wisconsin

University of Florida (in Gainesville, FLA)

University of Minnesota

Vanderbilt University (in Nashville, TN)

Louisiana State, and

New York University

Why twelve schools? Well, basically, because one of the books I read said so! The above schools range in acceptance rates from 1.5% to <10%. So if I am lucky I will be accepted to one. If I am truly blessed, I will be accepted to more than one and will have the luxury of choosing between them.

With such low acceptance rates and incoming classes of poets ranging from 5 poets/year to 28 poets/year, it is important that I apply to several schools to give myself a better chance of being accepted. At the same time, with application fees ranging from $40-$75 per school, not to mention having to write separate statements of purpose for each school, I can't afford to apply to all twenty-three schools that made my original list.

So how did I chose these schools? And if I had the luxury of choice, why did I narrow the list down to include places like Iowa and Wisconsin?

I'll address the second question first, because I get that one A LOT. The answer is: Most of the schools that fund are in places people would not otherwise want to live. The list I narrowed from included more mid-western and southern schools, not a bunch of schools in California and New York.

My list was first narrowed by funding - I only considered schools that completely fund and provide some sort of stipend so I will have no student loan debts (above and beyond my $130,000 in law school debt) and will essentially make school my career, basically paying me to go to school. (NYU is the one exception to this - I can only attend this school if I am accepted AND given one of a very few selective fellowships, but living and learning in Greenwich Village is my dream, so I have to at least see if I can make it come true.)

Of the schools that fund I narrowed further based on location, program reputation, and the information I liked (or didn't like) on the program's website.

For location I first considered places I'd actually like to live (Austin & Manhattan), followed by places I could tolerate living in for various reasons (Ann Arbor, Providence, Amherst), and after that I just accepted that I might be very cold while in graduate school, so I'd better find myself in a program that I'll love enough to make it worthwhile.

Finally I used the schools' websites to decide what programs sounded up my alley. Which schools have three year programs as opposed to two year programs (three year programs produce better work from students)? Which schools would only have me teaching one course per semester so I could focus mostly on writing? Which schools had me teaching courses in creative writing as opposed to composition? Which schools had literary journals I could work on, active literary communities, websites that sounded welcoming, and produced students who were published or hired in tenure-track professor positions?

Finally, when many of the "maybe" schools had pros in some columns and cons in others, I went back again to location. Which schools were nearer to the ocean or were in cities that sounded more tolerable than others? I ended up cutting out both schools in Indiana, even though one school had a lot of pros, because when my father first settled in this country it was in Indiana, and the family forced the patriarch to get them the hell out of dodge, and stat.

In the end here is what is most important: If I am lucky, I will get into one of these schools. Which means I have to narrow down my application list so that I will be happy no matter which school accepts me. Of course I have my personal favorites, but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's in fate's hand now, so let's hope I gave fate a good lot to choose from.