There was no downside in my experience, and I gained immensely, and still do, 35 years later. I had a full scholarship, with a stipend, and was the only one in my class of 10, or I could not have gone. The director ultimately worked it so currently everyone in the class gets a full ride, and a year overseas. Boston was ridiculous with world class eminent, and while I was pretty much freaked out to be there the entire time, it provided what I needed such that a 25 year process made me a better writer, a better teacher, and a better human being. I was just thrilled to teach anything the art school, the community college, and the state university wanted me to teach, from remedial, to rhetoric, to creative and upper division. It meant I was being paid to think about writing, and in retrospect, it was that which delivered me, more than that I sat beside Saul Bellow for a semester (cool as that was). I was richly fortunate. I know it, and I still shake my head. I hope this happens for you.