Mr. Somebody

Thanks for opening up and sharing some of your experiences and knowledge! What would you do to prepare for the MFA in the summer before your first semester? Also, what would you have done differently throughout your 2-3 years having now finished your MFA?

I think this is a good reason to take the MFA... a 2-3 year program will be less commitment than a PhD, and taking some literature courses at the graduate level outside of your workshops, if UW-Madison allows for that, will give you a taste of what graduate research looks like, allowing you to make a more informed decision on whether or not a 5-8 year commitment is what you really want to do. Also, if you do want to go back for the PhD later down the line, having an MFA from a top program certainly wouldn't hurt your application chances. Congrats on your acceptances; they're both great programs.

Great suggestions, thank you. I think the question regarding the department culture and range in students' work, stylistically speaking, would really get to the center of my concerns without my having to state them. This is all very helpful. Thank you. I'll probably send an email this week.

That's one of my concerns. Stipend at MFA is $10,000 annually, and stipend at MA is $20,000. Cost of living in the town of the MFA, a small, southern college town, will be cheaper than the MA, but at the end of the day the money at the MA will take me further--meaning I will not have to work on the side at all in the MA. I currently work as a freelance copywriter, so I might be able to lower my hours and get around $500 a month while doing the MFA, but obviously I'd rather not be working at all. This is another thing I will ask the current grad students at MFA program, whether or not their stipend is enough, alone, to meet their needs. Right... or the number of other writers who found "success" without attending an MFA at all.

That sounds like an absolute nightmare for anyone. I think it shows a lot about your character to still apply to PhD programs after such a difficult time, and it's all the more remarkable that you've achieved so much success this app cycle considering how difficult your MA must have been. You should be really proud. As both programs are quite small, I'm hoping I don't have any of the same problems. I'm going to get in contact with some current students at both programs and go from there.

Congrats on your achievements! Again, good to know that the MFA wasn't a hindrance to your PhD ambitions. I agree; I don't think the MFA is necessary to achieve all of those things, but I do value the time and space it can provide me to mature as a writer. I think you're a great example of all the things that can be more readily accomplished with the help of an MFA. One question I have about MFA culture, for lack of a better term, is: do people look down on less competitive MFA programs? I understand this is probably my ego speaking and that validation should be something that comes from within, but I would be lying if I said that reputation didn't bother me to some extent. I don't want people to get the wrong idea; it's not that I want people to be amazed when I tell them I went to UCI or Iowa or whatever. I just don't want my degree to be automatically written off because it's a newer program. Also, I don't think that all new programs are automatically "bad" or something, but it being a newer program along with my not vibing with the faculty's work is a concern. If, for example, I really respected all the faculty members at this program, I wouldn't care about how new the program was. The combination of 1) being unsure about the faculty and 2) the program still finding its place among the many MFAs is the center of my ambivalence. Is this a thing? Am I out of touch on this? Is my ignorance showing? Also, this MFA requires me to take a specialization in Literature, ESL, or pedagogy. If I accept, I will definitely be taking the lit specialization, which will require me to take x amount of classes in literature, and hopefully bolster my chances of producing a solid writing sample that will fit my PhD research interests.

My friend brought up this exact point. I tend to write realism and cross-cultural fiction, also with a slight surrealist touch, while the main fiction instructor at this MFA is a mystery/thriller writer--it's a small program, so I assume he would be teaching most, if not all of the fiction workshops. The work he does is so disparately different from what I do, so I was initially concerned about a bunch of things: will he "get" my work? Will he lose interest in my stories? Can he help guide my growth given our differences? Then this friend asked why professor X couldn't be the person who helped bring out my voice, made my characters shine. He brought up David Foster Wallace and everything DFW has said about learning from genres one doesn't write in, including children's literature and genre fiction. Should I email this professor about this concern of mine? I learned of the offer through a call from him, and he was really enthusiastic about the idea of my attending the program. I would, of course, be as conciliatory and tact in my wording as possible. Not sure here... This is pretty much what I'd like to do ten years from now. Be in a position where I'm teaching literature and writing on the side, over summers, on breaks, or whenever I might be able to squeeze in some time. Difficult, I know, but I'd like to give it a try. I keep coming back to this idea that I finally have what I've really wanted since finishing my undergraduate degree: time to focus on my creative writing and see what I can produce in an intensive environment. This idea, despite all the "downsides" of this MFA, is what's preventing from choosing an MA that is a seemingly better fit and program. Thanks so much for the response. Really great advice throughout your post.

It's good to know that prestige will have less of an impact when applying to PhD programs. I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. As someone with some studio writing experience, I can't imagine how awful a toxic workshop environment must have been. That's definitely not the kind of atmosphere I'd want to be in when sharing my most personal beliefs and cherished characters. I'm glad you were able to bounce back creatively. A lot of people seem to be saying similar things regarding the funding... there's just this quiet whisper that's telling me to take the chance on the MFA, to take the "dream." I feel like if I do go for the MA, I will not go back to the MFA, at least not anytime soon. I'm almost 30, spent most of my 20s teaching ESL abroad, and now I'd really like to focus on setting up my career in higher education. I'm okay with doing either an MA or MFA before the PhD, but I don't think I will do both now. Thanks for sharing your experiences and suggestions!

Thanks so much for the response. It seems like I change my mind every day about which program to attend, and you've highlighted pretty much every reason why that side of me is convinced the MA is the right answer. Just to be clear on funding (don't worry! I caught your later comment), my tuition is fully covered at both programs, and I'm also receiving a stipend at both programs. While the stipend is about twice as much at the MA than it is at the MFA ($20,000 vs $10,000 annually), housing is much more expensive in the city of the MA. Relatively speaking, the funding at the MA would still take me further. P.S. My eyes nearly flung to the screen when I saw your cycle results. Congratulations, what a season!

I have a pretty difficult decision in front of me. I got accepted to a few English MA programs (one of them is a super-ideal program) and one MFA program in creative writing, and I'm not sure about which path to follow. I really, really want to attend an MFA. I see creative writing as a life-long pursuit, and I think getting an MFA right now would be a great step in that pursuit. The "problem" (I realize how lucky I am to have this problem) is that I'm unsure about this particular MFA program. It's only a few years old, not as well known or renowned as other places, and is taught by a few writers who, although have published a lot, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about working with. The kind of writing they do is very different from my own. If you're wondering why I applied to this programs, I wanted to widen my net as much as possible and include a variety of higher and lower ranked programs. There are things, however, that I like about the MFA program--it's fully funded, will give me teaching experience, and allows its students to work in editing and publishing through a magazine internship, all of which I really value. The English MA program, on the other hand, is an ideal fit for me. The program is home to a number of faculty members doing work in my area of specialization, they have great PhD placement rates, and they provide twice as much funding with a lower teaching load. Dilemma in short--Although I prioritize the MFA over the MA, I've gotten into my least ideal MFA program and most ideal MA program, and I don't know which way to go. Other important info... My vocational goals are to teach literature at the university or community college level, and I plan on applying to PhD programs after completing either my MA or MFA. I don't really care about where I live. Funding is important to me (grad school seems stressful enough without money issues). Do you think it's right for me to assume that an MA will give me a better chance to get into prestigious PhD programs than an MFA, especially an MFA that is lower ranked or not as known? I understand it's impossible for anyone, especially a stranger, to really know what's best for my future, but any thoughts, opinions, or stories of similar situations and how they worked out for you would be very much appreciated. Let me know if you'd like more context. Thank you.