The Truth About Pursuing An MFA In Creative Writing. Flickr / Nic Mc. Phee. In 2. 00. 5, responding to an anti- MFA screed on the website Moby. Lives. com, Steve Almond wrote, . Yet despite the proliferation of institutions dedicated to teaching exactly that, the question (or for some, the negative declaration) remains, as abiding as the seasons. The latest churn of thought mostly circles Elif Batuman’s provocation. Batuman ostensibly reviewed Mark Mc. Gurl’s “The Program Era” . Mostly, though, she despairs the current state of American fiction and laments what she sees as an ahistorical, aliterate perspective endemic to MFA programs. ![]() Are they writers because they have MFAs and were taught in that crafty MFA way? Or are they writers because they are writers? Without rehashing the same old (unfalsifiable) arguments about the teaching of writing/creativity/art/soul, what then, can we meaningfully say about Creative Writing and, more specifically, MFA programs (plural)? First, I think it’s useful to draw a division between the experience of an MFA program and the usefulness — primarily economic, but let’s include self- identification in there as well — of the Master’s of Fine Arts as a credential. Usually it’s that first element that matters most to . What does that feel like? Or, more pointedly, how do people idealize what it should feel like? To answer this question, one can open almost any issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, a publication of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. This association claims to speak for creative writing professionals across the country, and though the organization has a rocky history, it’s the de facto voice of the creative writing establishment . The issue nearest to hand features an article by Elizabeth Eshelman. These claims might strike you as idealistic or wishy- washy or naive, depending on your disposition. A program’s sense of community obviously varies from place to place: some departments are welcoming and nurturing, others cutthroat and competitive. Depending on your goals as a writer, some programs appeal more than others. Jobs Abroad; Scholarships Abroad. Take part in an intellectually challenging Creative Writing program with. Most creative writing study abroad programs will. The New School MFA Creative Writing degree program offers. Creative Arts and Health. MFA Creative Writing students develop their craft in workshops and. Should I get an MFA in Creative Writing? Top Creative Writing Masters Programs: School List. MFA in Creative Writing program only admits six students. Top Creative Writing Masters Programs: School. Shop online at creative.com for wireless speakers, Bluetooth headphones, Sound Blaster sound cards, gaming headsets. Recycling Program; Change Country / Region. During my MFA experience, I did find a welcoming community of writers, most of whom I got along with and respected as people. Did three years of having them as an audience improve my writing? But to say much more than that risks again falling into questions of, . Performing a close reading of MFA programs seems more likely to produce actionable knowledge. Looking at what gets taught can suggest what sort of experience these programs provide. I entered the nonfiction track, the ill- defined . At the time, I had two dedicated nonfiction instructors to choose from, though every faculty member listed “nonfiction” on their CVs. The other instructor came from a more academic background (MFA from Iowa; Ph. D from Columbia) and tended toward much more cerebral, essayistic work. He eventually moved out of the program to focus on strictly academic teaching, though he still publishes creative work. He always challenged me to make my work smarter and more ambitious. The Truth About Pursuing an MFA in Creative. The Truth About Pursuing An MFA In Creative Writing. Creative Writing Major. Description: A program that focuses on the process. Students must enjoy writing and they must be creative. Carnegie Mellon's Creative Writing program is one of the oldest undergraduate programs in the country. Students at Chicago pursue creative writing within. That said, he wasn’t writing for a general audience, but for a vanishingly small literary audience . At most institutions, I’d say, the nonfiction track gets the short end of the stick compared to more established genres. It’s worth looking at the Poets & Writers MFA rankings (as unscientific as they are) for a sense of what schools even offer a nonfiction track. Back to who’s teaching: at the number #1 school in the country, the nonfiction faculty largely produce memoir and John D’Agata’s “lyric essay.” This seems to me pretty representative of the MFA culture nationwide; the nonfiction track focuses primarily on memoir and personal essay writing. Ander Monson seems to anchor the nonfiction program at ASU, the #2 school; you can visit his website to see the kind of visually experimental stuff he does. To paraphrase what Tom Bissell says, nearly all writers are needy monsters, but there’s no need for Poets & Writers (among others) to encourage this lamentable condition. The persistent program ranking . You may have noticed that many of the nonfiction faculty in these MFA programs are not themselves credentialed . There is a small window of opportunity there for people who want to try to teach in academia without a Ph. D. However, it’s a rapidly shrinking window, as universities grow more corporatized (focusing on the bottom line and on “metrics” such as degrees) and more old- school, near- retirement journalists make their way into academia. However, if you’re really looking for the MFA on your resume, this article from The Atlantic is worth checking out. Again notice the relative scarcity of nonfiction programs; the list, though, gives you another dataset for thinking about time, money, and opportunity (cost). If you believe you have a strong project that given two (or three) years of serious, sustained work you could turn into a book, then I think the on- campus track has its rewards. However, if you’re just looking to get the MFA to open some career doors (teaching, etc.), then strongly consider one of the low- residency programs. As you probably already know, the workshop model on which most MFA programs run has some serious flaws; no sense wasting your (finite) time with students, many of whom, don’t take their work seriously, and who are incapable of taking your work seriously. Get in and get out. If you do look at an on- campus posting, find one that’s fully funded. The MFA is simply not worth an outlay of your money if you’re not working simultaneously. Other people may tell you differently, running the standard line of “it’s an investment in your future.” Perhaps, but in the meantime, you’re 1) not making much/any money, and 2) you’re paying to go to school, incurring more debt. It will, but you will pay for it forever, both economically and psychically.)Another way of looking at the “should I or shouldn’t I pay for an MFA” is to ask where people go once they finish. They do so because that info can then become marketing fodder, in addition to proving a department’s worth to a dean. Many MFA programs do not do this because 1) the MFA, with no mean irony known as a “terminal degree,” often carries associations of “multi- year quasi- vacation which provides warm bodies for our classrooms” among the administrative staff and tenured research faculty; it’s stigmatized by a perception of fundamental unseriousness; and 2) the data would be horrifying, and perhaps morally damning to those who perpetuate MFA programs. This brings me to asking what kind of career you see yourself pursuing after the MFA. If you’ve already begun a career . But look closely at the kinds of jobs readily available with an MFA. Make sure they are what you want. I will say that, from personal experience, teaching as a lecturer with an MFA guarantees you very little, other than a token (no, seriously, I mean very very meager) salary and no job security. A a single- year lecturer in English might teach a 2/2 load (two courses in the fall, two in the spring, mostly composition but occasionally creative writing) and make $2. Up that to a 3/4 load and you make about $3. Contracts are then renewed annually, department’s discretion. While that sounds discouraging, I really feel responsible for underscoring what a mess the U. S. Academic creative writing is, unfortunately, even more easy prey for all manner of administrative malice, because few creative writing program directors have learned (been disciplined) to effectively communicate their worth. Einstein may have said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted,” but good luck trying that argument on people controlling the purse strings. The impending collapse of the academic system is at least in part enabled by a mass of underpaid, half- delusional contingent labor. While you’re there, poking around on the CHE site can give you a sense of the academic outlook (bleak), though they of course often try to march on with a painted smile.) There are certainly good reasons for not wanting to enter into the belly of that beast. Generally, I advise anyone who asks not to go to grad school. I understand part of the appeal is, for some, the structured institution grad school provides: do x, y, and z and when you come out you’ll be a specific kind of person, with a very specific (and not too shabby) life in front of you. In my limited experience, though, this implicit promise is a farce and a sham, and should be called out as such. One can position academia as the last vestige of the welfare state, the only place in America in which one can pursue true intellectual autonomy . Of course, the promise made to graduate students . When it doesn’t happen, people get very bitter, because now 3, 5, 7, 1. That’s a tough row to hoe, and I caution anyone against falling for any “smart people do this” line, whether “this” is higher education or high finance (see the first chapter of Karen Ho’s “Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street” for an insightful discussion of the Culture of Smartness.)The cake is a lie. Just ask anyone who finds this video . Finding a good job with an MFA is about the same, only you’re several years older, so it’s better to have a clear- headed measure for the value of that time. If you do decide to go the MFA route, this is one of the most thorough pieces of advice I’ve seen about the application process.
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