clvlndrx

I made the very difficult decision last year not to attend Columbia because the debt for a writing degree was unfathomable. I know people who did the program and are struggling with their debt. My recommenders advised against going. One professor called it a degree mill. I waited a year, took a class through Sackett Street, reapplied. I'm much happier with an offer from NYU.

I can tell you that Columbia gives accepted students until April 24th to respond to the offer. So if you are torn between Columbia and another school, you might want to ask the other school for an extension to make your own decision, because an offer from Columbia’s waitlist might come later than the 15th.

I don’t know much about Berkeley J school, but my initial reaction is GO TO RUTGERS. Because the MFA is a relatively soft degree you have the freedom to get out of it what you want! And after school you can pitch yourself as having focused on feature/profile writing in your nonfiction MFA. I would think this would seem basically equivalent to a Journalism Masters to potential employers. Also, it’s free. And they pay you to go. This seems no-nonsense to me. Finishing a graduate degree in writing and being debt-free is a very different experience from finishing a degree in writing and being $60k in debt (and probably having to work throughout the experience to pay your living expenses.)