I’m a current sophomore at Hamilton (and fellow Yale reject lol) who intends to major in Creative Writing, so feel free to reach out! At a glance, I’d say the department is on the smaller side but very tight-knit—I’ve had professors reach out to me proactively to guarantee me a spot in their classes since I was worried about requirements, stuck on waitlists, etc. Creative writing is also in a shared department with Literature, so there are lots of offerings and other forms of support from that collaboration!
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I think I said this before in your previous thread, but Univ of Memphis and UT-Knoxville are both worth an application as you should qualify for scholarships (and presumably should qualify for the Hope scholarship being from TN on top of that). Both have excellent MFA programs and I know several of the faculty at those schools and they are really amazing teachers and very distinguished in their fields. These schools will be much more hands-on with undergraduates than a school whose MFA is one of the top-ranked like Iowa or Michigan and I would always recommend a school where you are studying with several different tenure-track faculty members over MFA grad school TAs. 1000 percent I would recommend UofM of UTK as a backup financial safety over a school like Iowa which you have said would be difficult for your budget. Save the money for grad school or for summer experiences like writing workshops or internships which are very important for English/Creative Writing majors.
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You guys lost John Nichols. He’s a writer worth commemorating.
OP may want out of the region. I shared the news about Ole Miss’ BFA program (excellent MFA program) and liklihood of full scholarship+, but heard no response.
Much of writing involves inspiration.
Also, I do not recall reading about any specific genre/type of writing beyond creative writing so this may be limiting OP’s excitement & knowledge about some programs.
Another thought: Just apply to the most selective schools & major in anything related to her interests. Being around intelligent, driven, hard-working peers is important as well. Important to be open-minded & willing to explore–especially during one’s undergrad years. Maybe OP can wait to specialize after earning a BS/BA. That is one reason MFA programs exist.
My S24 noted that almost every single college we toured had at least one of these buildings!
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Those interested in architecture may want to note that Wesleyan’s arts center buildings are not in brutalism, however.
Brutalism was very popular in a certain period of civic and university architecture. It was sort of the modernist answer to Beaux Arts. One of my favorite examples of this is the juxtaposition of Hillman Library and Posvar Hall at the University of Pittsburgh with the Carnegie library and museum complex, which are on opposite sides of a large plaza (note Hillman in the background of the Carnegie image):
Anyway, Brutalism then fell WAAAAAY out of favor. But as usual with these things there is a palpable creep back up in appreciation for Brutalist buildings as they make the transition from merely old to actually historic in terms of contemporary mental categorizations.
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I’ll assume we’re done discussing architecture. Feel free to make a new thread if needed.
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Hi!! Fellow ‘24 senior here; you sound amazing and I hope you’ve been able to find clarity on where else you ended up wanting to apply. As someone personally applying to Davidson this fall, I thought I’d suggest Davidson to you! I’m not super familiar with their creative writing program (I don’t believe they have an official major/minor in it) but they are super well-known for their strong english department and general liberal arts curriculum. It’s also a good distance from you since you’re from
TN, it’s a gorgeous campus/cute college town (near a bigger city), and they have strong financial aid (no loans!). HOWEVER!! The BIG PLUS for you at Davidson would be the Patricia Cornwell Creative Writing Scholarship you could apply for !!!
Their RD app is due Jan 10 btw.
Happy Holidays and hope you have been able to minimize as much stress as possible during this last stretch of application season! 
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I just want to put in one final plug for Kenyon here! I am an English/Creative Writing alum from Kenyon and I am also a published author and creative writing teacher. My educational experience there was amazing. Although I went in the 90s, I recently visited with my senior kids and I was really impressed with how much they’ve invested in the campus. It has always been beautiful, but they’ve definitely given Gambier a glow up and the new library is breathtaking. That being said, it is obviously in a very rural area. I would also like to say that having been in many writing communities since graduating, Kenyon is absolutely known first for its writing program. I went to Kenyon alongside some very impressive authors as well, John Green, Ransom Riggs, Daniel Torday. It sounds like you will have a lot of terrific options but just wanted to kick my heels down Middle path and chime those Kenyon bells.
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Thanks for the input! I actually got to interview at Kenyon and talk to a student as well. It sounds like it has an amazing creative writing program and campus culture! I hope to visit in April 
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Glad to hear that! My daughter is a very happy senior there. She isn’t a creative writing major but she took a year-long playwriting class and is a creative type in general (has been involved in theater, music, and dance, in addition to her two humanities majors). She thrived at Kenyon. Feel free to pm me if you have additional questions after you visit.
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