Washington University is No. 16 among the nation's top MFA programs, says the September issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

The magazine ranks the top 50 of almost 150 full-residency MFA programs (it includes Canada and New Zealand, but all 50 are in the U.S.) W.U. ranked 10th for poetry students who seeking their master's of fine arts degree. 

The University of Iowa in Iowa City was the top-ranking program, followed by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign ranked 25th and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale ranked 40th.

The magazine says that the U.S., "a country long known for its alternating indifference and hostility toward its artist class has somehow managed to develop a cultural infrastructure for poets and writers that significantly outstrips its class-based European predecessor -- the noble-patron system -- in accessibility, flexibility, and fairness."

Selectivity and full funding for students are two of the criteria for the rankings. to see more about  the magazine's methodology, go to pw.org.