The list

This is of course subject to change, but I wanted to put it out here in writing. I have read and researched a bazillion grad programs, put together a list of about 30 that appealed to me in different ways, did some comparisons, some more research, and narrowed it to 18 earlier this week, and now I finally have a list of 12. There are a few here I'm not married to trying, and there may be a few I've eliminated that I could be convinced to giving another look, but right now, here is my list of 12, in alphabetical order by state......

Alabama
SDSU
UCSD
Colorado State
Columbia College, Chicago
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Cleveland State (NEOMFA)
Penn State
West Virginia University
Wisconsin

A couple of big names - Indiana and Michigan. Several solid programs that aren't quite as "top tier" - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, Penn, Colorado, SDSU. A couple of lesser knowns - WVU, Columbia (both of which appeal immensely to me on a purely intuitive level). And two new programs - the NEOMFA is a joint program through Cleveland State, which has for awhile had a fairly solid MA with creative writing emphasis, Akron, Kent, and Youngstown, so it's new but getting some good buzz. The other new program is at UC San Diego - no one seems to know much about it, and it's one of the ones I'm not totally sold on. It's on my semi-short list because of the location more than anything else.

Thoughts? Anyone?