Decision Time

I've finally figured out how to add photos to my posts, and just in time too. As one can probably guess by the image, I've made a decision. Illinois will be my school, and Champaign-Urbana will be where I live for the next three years, and I couldn't be happier. In doing so, I've turned down my waitlist spot at Notre Dame, my spots at Roosevelt and Western Michigan, and my quasi-waitlist spot at Purdue. I hope they are of use to other individuals out there.

My visit to the campus on Monday was nothing short of fantastic. While I had always known that the faculty were helpful and enthusiastic in my communication with them, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how close-knit the student body was as well. They made my decision an easy one, and I look forward to working with them in the fall.

Now here is that part where I shamelessly plug my program: Why am I so excited about the University of Illinois?

• It is a three-year, fully funded program. What does fully funded mean? You get approximately 11-12 thousand for the first year, and about 18 thousand for the remaining two years. That's incredible for a town as cheap as Champaign-Urbana.
  
• You get to teach, a lot. In your first year, you teach one class, the second and third years, two classes. This may not appeal to everyone, but the prospect of teaching at the college level fills me with both excitement and dread. But mostly excitement.
  
• If you don't want to teach so much, you can do other things. The great thing about the program is that you can forgo one of those teaching classes in your second and/or third years for other internship opportunities. There are individuals in the program who work with the program's lit magazine, Ninth Letter, who TA for biology classes, etc. There's a ton of flexibility with what you can do, which speaks to the value placed on the MFA students.
• I mentioned this above, but there's a tremendous opportunity to work with the literary magazine, Ninth Letter. Not only is it a great resource to learn about the publishing industry, but you also to get to read slush! Okay, so most people wouldn't be excited by that, but I am. I'm also a glutton for punishment.
• It's all about the people. I've always been a "big program" kind of guy, have always equated my prospects of meeting other great, decent people and writers as a pure numbers game -- the more people in your program, the greater chance you have to meet others of the same mind. But it's surprising how sometimes what you've always thought you wanted will often be vastly different from what you actually need. From what I can tell, the small community at the University of Illinois is close and supportive -- really, all I can ask for. Plus, I was fortunate to meet some of my prospective class while there, and they all appear to be great people. I can't wait to bring in U of I's class of 2009 with them.
  

I could go on, but I think I'll shut my trap for now. I know decisions are still being made, rejections and acceptances are still being issued, and funding situations still have to be hashed out. Good luck to everyone out there still waiting, hoping, and deciding. April 15th can't come soon enough.