Some good news for me

So, after months of waiting and more rejections than I'd like to think about, I've finally gotten some good news.

This past week I was accepted to the MFA programs at both Minnesota State University Mankato and Southern Illinois University Carbondale for fiction. I got the email from MSU and before I was even done freaking out I got the letter from SIUC. It was completely amazing and I still haven't really gotten used to the idea that not only am I lucky enough to attend an MFA program next year, I get to choose a program and funding situation that's best for me.

I haven't heard anything from MSU about funding yet, but at SIUC, as per usual, I received a teaching assistantship which gives me a tuition waiver, a nice monthly stipend, and two sections of undergrad English a year. There are many things about this program that I'm excited about. It's three years long, relatively small, gives you an opportunity to work with the Crab Orchard Review, and requires that you take at least one workshop in a different genre than you are working on.

My decision will ultimately be based on funding, I think. Though I have yet to get my funding info right from MSU and have yet to hear from five schools, I'm leaning pretty heavily toward SIUC. I think it's going to work best for me and my needs and interests, plus I'm excited about the faculty. It's going to be hard to turn down a program, but I feel good that someone from the waitlist wherever I choose not to go will get a spot. I know how hard it is to wait.