What MFA creative writing programs have you heard good things about, or even better, have you attended one that you would recommend?
Also, I have discovered that many, if not most people, take a year off before enrolling in the MFA program. If I did this, I would pass the deadline and have to start paying off my student loans. When you re-enroll, do you have to continue paying them? Is it a good idea to take a year off before heading straight into grad school?
When you enroll in grad school in at least half-time status, you can contact your lender or student loan servicer to get a “verification of enrollment” form. Take that to the admissions office of your school. They will fill it out and you can send it to the lender and get your student loans deferred as long as you are still attending school.
Alternately, if both your lender and your school are Clearing House participants, your student enrollment will automatically get to your lender, and no paperwork or anything is needed. Sallie Mae is a participant, if that’s who your lender is, and call to your school’s FinAid office will let you know if they participate.
I went to Brown’s program too many years ago to say what it’s like now. My suggestion is to choose a school based on talking to current or recent students about how much feedback, assistance, and support they got on their writing rather than what big names are teaching. Yes, I took workshops from Susan Sontag and John Hawkes. No, they did not give me much feedback or support.
The writer of the blog to which a link can be found in my signature is an MFA from Western Michigan University. Since you offer no information about what prospects you might have for admission at any given level of program, I simply offer this as an option. You could contact the blog author, Monica McFawn, to find out what she might recommend; she has held a number of adjunct positions around the country.