njw

The MFA does not guarantee you a teaching position, like a PhD pretty much does. To get a decent gig besides random class adjuncting, you would likely need a published novel or short story collection, possibly two of them. Also, if you scan the list of people lecturing or teaching at some MFA programs... a lot of them teach there, with no MFA at all, they are just a relatively respected writer. One of the things I have seen people boosting MFA programs is "you can teach with it" ...which is true, but not true. Sure it might help you more, but you can also teach without it, and just because you have the MFA definitely doesn't guarantee you a position. I would also look at some of the typical comp adjunct salaries, they aren't that high, and often hire you on a 1 year contract, then you have to keep trying to get renewed every year. I would not look at the MFA route as the path to teaching... just look at it as a place to improve your writing. That is why most people recommend not to go unless you get full, or close to full funding. I would certainly not pursue the MFA with your main goal as teaching... there are much better options for that if you know you want to be a teacher. Personally I kind of got that idea out of my head just looking at where people ended up (or didn't end up at all) ... I am pretty picky on where I want to live so, academia just isn't for me. Also realize, you said that you need to help your parents out... Well, if you want to adjunct in college, you might have to take a position halfway across the country, and after that... take another position at a different school in 2 years. The life of the adjunct isn't that great and yes the pay is often lower than a hired high school teacher. As for teaching, yes you *might* be able to teach composition, but somebody who majored in Rhetoric/Composition with more Pedagogy is going to be more qualified. Teaching literature with an MFA is also a sure "not going to happen". You would however be more qualified to teach creative writing (many colleges don't even have creative writing though) MFA is still a great option if you want to develop your writing though...I certainly wouldn't get your hopes up about a teaching career with it though. There is a reason that most MFA programs aren't publishing where their MFA students ended up, percentage who are full time teachers, etc like most PhD programs do...b/c most people getting their MFA's don't end up teaching.

Their program looks great, even if it isn't "ranked high"... Personally I am interested in interdisciplinary programs also, which is why I still struggle if I should do an MFA program or not, or just not worry about it. I like fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, essays, philosophical papers, journalistic writing. I know some people say I should concentrate more on one thing, but I am not happy like that, and I don't work well that way. As soon as I write in one mode, I get bored with it at the end, then want to take on another challenge or medium. Just a side note, if somebody has such diverse interests as mine, would an MFA even be worthwhile, or would I get burnt out with the concentration in all fiction/english courses? In another thread, I tried to narrow it down to just English/Philosophy ... but even that truely, is too narrow for my personality I'm afraid, even if doing multiple disciplines is a no no for other people that just like to build expertise in a narrow subfield, discipline. For instance my undergrad was as broad as possible, I did English with a Writing concentration, with minors in both Film Studies and Philosophy. The writing concentration included both journalist (article/essay) as well as creative (fiction.) Film included courses such as Film Theory, Writing for Electronic Multimedia, and Writing for TV/Screen. I also took theater classes as elective, with of course, the core Literature and Philosophy courses. Long story short... just posting this, in case somebody else out there feels the same dilemma. Ask me to pick one thing I enjoy the most, is when you run into issues, I get incredibly bored concentrating on a specific discipline and find I like to merge the more broad disciplines into my writing and scenes.

I was just wondering if there are any interdisciplinary programs in creative writing and philosophy? I.E., you could take the writing courses, and instead of the bulk of literarature requirements, be able to take classes out of the philosophy department instead? I am interested in the creative production in between these two fields, but I haven't seen any in my research that let you do this. Would I need to look into creative non fiction programs mayhaps? Thanks for any information on these.

Hello thanks for the advice. And yes I would like to get over that *hump* and possibly be more attractive to publishers and at least get some more eyes on my work. As far as vacation goes, I meant monetarily... like some people save up money for vacations. I have used discretionary money to take additional classes. Do you mean if I entered a program, I wouldn't be able to do my freelance work anymore? If so that is definitely something I didn't think of. I know I would be *more* limited in terms of time but I am paid reasonably well as it is now. A stipend as my only income would be pretty small indeed, I have looked at what some pay. Not that I would look down on that at all, I would have been glad to have a stipend when I was younger, but after 10 years of working I would be hesitant for significant downgrades in income.

I was just wondering if I could get some advice...more of a what would you do situation. Here it is: I just entered my 30s and already have a degree in English (Writing) with minors in Communications and Philosophy. I've also taken 11 various literature/philosophy classes post undergrad when I was considering a PhD in Phil or Lit before but decided against it. E.G. I have probably taken close to 40 classes with heavy writing of various styles already. I would love to do an MFA just to do it and to have some kind of credential, but honestly I have no interest in teaching, I'm highly introverted, and a move across the country might put a strain on my relationship. I'm honestly not sure how much it would help. I have minor published works, mostly short stories and feature pieces, but no published novel. I currently freelance work, so moving isn't THAT big of a deal, but I would need to be in a major metro for my gf to also have some opportunities of employment, as well as to continue to get freelance clients. Most small college cities would be out, unfortunately that is where some of the best CW MFA programs are. So I am more looking at the mostly paid tuition low residency programs. I am just grasping for some differing opinions. I would hope others have different life situations that have accumulated and not just the fresh out of school 22 year olds. My other thoughts are, what happens if I can't do this freelance stuff forever...? Then what? I definitely don't want a corporate office job, been there, done that. But I feel that I would be doing a disservice to some of the other students by not exactly wanting to teach, but more looking at it as a fallback career for when I'm much older, need good health insurance, unable to be so whimsical in moving around the country, etc. Is it wrong I look at the opportunity to do an MFA like some people look at taking vacations? Would an MFA even be worth considering? Or should I just stick with writing groups and such? Thanks.

I am definitely an animal person. It is good for my mental health. Me and my SO have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I would say go for it if it makes you happy? Have you ever owned a dog? I've had dogs my entire life so... it is possibly a little different. This isn't your first dog is it?

I wouldn't do that... Maybe I am old school... I'm 29, but I always liked writing my notes, then going home and retyping them and adding thoughts in after class, it makes me redo all the class material while its fresh and keeps me organized. I do like iphone though. I have a laptop and hook it up to a 24" lcd when I'm at the house so ipad would kind of be money down the drain. It's a niche device, just not a niche I personally need, already have that covered.

If its an up and coming market though, you'd have 6-7 years on a 30 year mortgage, then rent over your mortgage once you leave, can pay small administrative fee for a leasing agency to fill tenants. To OP, there are some very good deals to be had in California right now, but many of those are at the *high* end of the spectrum, i.e. paying 1.5 mil for something that used to be 3... Where I was in California the average listing price was over 800K so...yeah buying wasn't much of an option lol.

depending on where you are up there...it would be possible for him to commute into chicago... much better market.If you are up for suburban living it might be useful to live somewhere in between and both commute to milwaukee and chicago respectively... Metra has direct into Chicago DT from Kenosha for instance..

I'm definitely considering it. I want to be where I am going to grad school long term. I will see how my partner likes it after a year, then we will probably decide what to do.

Hrrm... When I did this, we ended up breaking up... this was awhile ago... We had been dating and I was already done with school, she was a few years younger. I needed to get into a job market as there was no market in the college town we were in... She decided to go to grad school... We started off long distance, but that didn't work. about 6 years later now, she is STILL in grad school with maybe another 1-2 more years to go (I would have gone insane there) and I've way beyond moved on... Personally I would NEVER do a ld relationship... I've done it twice, neither worked out... You guys should figure something out and compromise, or just move on. I'm in a different relationship now, and going to grad school myself... so tables slightly turned... Planning to do it in a major city though, as there are many more options to compromise and it won't be a shakeup if we change schools/jobs/etc.

I am certainly going to attempt it... I am in a terminal MA (easier to get into than the PhD as I've been out of school for 8 years) While there I am definitely going to try to make connections and get into the PhD program of the same school. If, not I will apply to other schools in the same tier (top 20 in field) I'm not trying to get in the backdoor from a gpa/gre standpoint though, but as an older student majoring in a completely different field that has a lot of good work experience. I did the somewhat safer more vocational route and did Information Systems before and worked in IT... dread it although it was decent money at this point I am completely uninterested and it is a mind numbing career (for me), now going back to do something I actually enjoy and try to be employable at it as I can't imagine another 35-40 years in corporate IT, yeowch. I am older so have to keep my options open.

I am older and know what I like, have plenty of friends here, more in Chicago than NY/Boston (but I like it in NY/Boston/Philly) also... I have to also look in my partners interest also (I live with them) so can't be in somewhere that she can't get a job easily. I've already gone that route and ended up moving 6 months later OUCH. I would also compromise on the type of job if it meant that. I would prefer to just stay in Chicago but know its harder to do that. Good to hear I am not the only one thinking this way .A lot of places for us would be a step backwards, and I really don't want to do that.

I am in a similar situation... except for the kids part. We are both definitely waiting awhile. I would rather be done with school and have my hopefully final career started before I took the monumental task of being a parent. In fact, part of both of our current pursuits for bettering our education has to do with the financial and career stability before having kids...We both already live thousands of miles away, respectively in different directions of our families so, not really an option there either.

I was wondering if anybody else, especially perhaps older students who have seen a little more of what the world has to offer thinks about the academic job market in terms of location. Personally that is one of, if not my main fear in whether to pursue the PhD or not. My current pursuit is a terminal masters program. I had mentioned in another thread that I am a non typical older student, in this time I've grown a particular affinity for a certain urban lifestyle that only certain cities in the U.S. offer. i.e. I would probably like to be in the greater New York/Boston/Philadelphia stretch or the Chicago market. I probably would not be happy elsewhere. Actually, I KNOW I wouldn't be, been there, done that. Also my partner given their profession needs access to a large market as well as having built up a good deal of friends/colleagues and/or family in those regions. If I were to be offered an assistant professorship or tenure, I would rather be in a less prestigious school in somewhere I enjoyed living vs. more prestigious in an environment I didn't like. Where is the job market harder to break into? Big cities? Or college towns? Are there regional differences? Does anybody else feel similar in regards to the academic job market and where you might end up?