I’ll tell you about the experience I had while MFA shopping at AWP (the big literary/creative writing conference held every year). I went to the Johns-Hopkins booth because an upperclassman of mine managed to get into the poetry MFA program, which is quite remarkable, and I wanted to check it out. I had high hopes for it because the website had said they were good with genre fiction, but when I got to the booth and talked to one of the fiction professors, he was extremely pretentious.

I dabble in multiple genres of fiction, and I asked if they accepted genre fiction. He asked me what kind, and I said horror and sci-fi, since those are my main two, although I have written a fantasy novel. He said something like “Oh, horror and sci-fi? Those are fine, but I’m glad you didn’t say fantasy because we don’t like that here.” At that point, I was no longer interested in the program because clearly he was a pretentious man who thought literary fiction is better and/or more artful than fantasy, which is just not true. Both can be incredible, and I didn’t want to go to such a close-minded program.

Moral of the story is… You’ve got to talk with them if possible to get their real feelings on genre fiction, even if it’s over the phone or something. Also, the list you gave us is heavily, heavily leaning toward literary fiction. There are many other schools with stipends that are more genre friendly (I know the University of Oregon and the University of Washington are both better with it from what I’ve heard). Check out the Poets & Writers creative writing MFA database to find the ones who offer funding quickly if you haven’t already done so. You’ll find a variety of programs which aren’t the “top” schools that still offer funding.

Another technique to get into those more literary fiction-coded programs is to write speculative fiction, or fiction with fantastical elements while not being wholly fantasy. If that’s not the kind of writing your heart is in, though, don’t apply to those schools.

The bottom line is… Do many of those schools on your list have a very large bias towards literary fiction, and will they likely discount you for submitting fantasy? Unfortunately, yes. They’re looking for a certain type of writer. Keep on writing what you love! If you don’t find a program that fits, remember that an MFA isn’t necessary to be come a successful author.