merry night wanderer

@indecisivepoet: Do they fund terminal MAs?

I'm going to agree with all of this. If you want to go into a professional field that uses your writing skills-- and there are many-- get an internship, or look into certifications that will help you get an internship, or look into ways to specialize meaningfully within those fields (tech writing, etc), and get an internship afterwards, and really, at any cost, find yourself some actual professional experience. A Ph.D is usually going to be a detriment in the professional world. A Master's might not even be looked at well; my profession (training) loves them, but it very much depends, and I have friends who left my MFA program having much better job success when they left their graduate degrees out of their resume. I say this kindly: don't clog up the applicant pool in academia if this is your goal. If you need any advice on getting a corporate job with English skills, though, feel free to message me.

Good to know about Vandy, and thanks for the U Denver info, @Melvillage_Idiot (and I love your name, BTW). U Denver is a huge presence in the CW world, so that's awesome. My priority is certainly going to be fit first and foremost-- I'm not considering USC, for instance despite their killer curriculum, because they don't look like they have a dedicated Romanticist. But if the program is light on teaching & allows lit students to attend workshops, that is a huge plus. I didn't even know it was possible to get these permissions, so this is good news. We'll see how it shakes out.

Oh my, WUSTL is amazing. Such a great MFA program, too-- how gracious of them to let the lit people take classes! I didn't even know that was a thing. Are there other programs people know about where you can take CW coursework as electives?

Hey there! I'm glad I'm not the only monster trying to juggle both. Unfortunately, I have no teaching experience from my MFA-- my GAship was in a literary festival. I kind of have some other relevant experience, but I'll need to make up for it in the Ph.D. However, what you're describing is exactly the considerations I had in mind, and Rice is on my list for that reason. I CANNOT imagine trying to write the first drafts of this novel I've got going while teaching-- I can imagine revising it, and eventually learning to juggle things better, but I still have a great deal to learn about writing fiction and would really prefer to just sit tight in a writing center for awhile lol. Definitely going to take a look at Vandy now-- thank you!

No kids, but in a longterm partnership, & relieved to find a whole thread of us (presumably) not-out-of-undergrad folks. If all goes well, I'll be starting a program in my mid-thirties and I've been a little neurotic about that! I don't know how you people with kids do it. I'm already balking at the idea of grad school and trying to write fiction (I've just finished my MFA, and definitely want a lit PhD, not a CW one).