New York 360°

On Monday I proclaimed in front of God (if there is one) and everybody that I was happily starting the Vermont College MFA program in June.

That afternoon I got a call from a director at Queens College, who said he’d be very happy if I’d come and study with them instead.

Well.

I applied to a bunch of schools and Vermont was my top low-residency pick, while Brooklyn College (part of the CUNY system, same as Queens) was my top pick for a traditional full-res program. I didn’t get in to Brooklyn, but the fact that they got 300 applications for 15 spots softened the blow a bit. (Although the fact that I feel compelled to tell you this means I’m perhaps not as okay with it as I think.)

I had given up on the idea of doing a full-res program. The notification deadline is March 31 and I hadn’t heard from Queens so assumed I was out. And it didn’t matter, because the low-res program is a great fit for me.

What surprised me was how excited I got over the idea of doing a traditional program. I hung up with Mr. Director and did a Snoopy happy dance in my office, followed by an enthusiastic Homer Simpson Woohoo. (Who knew I was so influenced by cartoons? Frightening.)

Next step was a quick and dirty pros and cons list. Vermont pros: prestige and I set my own schedule. Cons: expensive. Queens pros: New York location, chance to work on the literary journal and author readers series, and less than half the cost of Vermont (yow!). Cons: the program is brand new, and those pesky daily classes.

Okay. Next step in the decision process – a night out with friends and my friend the margarita, then home to bed where I posed the pre-sleep question: Vermont or Queens?

Wake up in the morning, and voila – Decision 2008 is over. Queens College, here I come! It was as clear as the wide blue sky hanging outside my bedroom.

I know, I know. What about the great reasons to do the Vermont program, Deonne? What about your need for independence? I mean, do you really want to sit in a classroom every day? (The Queens Director told me the average age in their program is 31, which eliminates my “I don’t want to sit in a room with a bunch of 23-year-olds” concern. No offense to any 23-year-olds out there – you’re great, really.)

What I didn’t realize I want is two things: the full New York 360° experience – I’ll live and study in New York with no need to go anywhere else – and a physical community of writers. Turns out that, yep, I do want to sit in a classroom every day with other people struggling to craft language into art, and I do want to go to a Professor’s office hours and sit in one of those chairs with a vinyl seat and metal legs and talk about writing. Or the weather. Or whatever.

Here’s my secret: I like people, and then I want them to go away. So I get to be in community, and then I get to go home. Perfect.

The fact that Queens’ MFA is such a new program (I’ll be in the second class ever) doesn’t bother me. It’s not like I’m deciding between the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and Joe’s School of Writing and Taxidermy – Vermont and Queens will both give me a good education, time to write and study, a network of writers, and contacts in the industry.

And when it comes down to it, it’s really about the quality of my writing, not my resume. As my wise novelist friend Summer said about publishers, “If they like your manuscript, they’re not going to care where you got your MFA.”

So I guess you don’t know how you really feel about something until you’re faced with the actual prospect of it. Here’s my question to you: How do you make big decisions? Tarot? Magic 8 Ball? Let us know.

P.S. I promise my posts will get shorter when things settle down a bit. (“Settle down a bit.” Ha!)