SocialKonstruct

Ugh I found a few errors in my ramblings here but oh well. In any case, apart from McGrul's seminal text, I also recommend this masterwork: https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/workshops-empire Workshops of Empire shows how much the undue influence of Paul Engle on how creative writing programs are formulated. After all, the idea of a workshop is relatively new. Authors like George Eliot or Leo Tolstoy didn't bother to workshop any of their novels, etc. but still churned out lovely works. Today's systems of creative writing production demonstrate how much about 95% of our writers tend to be predominantly bourgeois and not particularly diverse with a few exceptions. Styles and topics also tend to be rather homogenized across most of the MFA/Ph.D. programs. One of the main reasons I enjoy working as an editor-in-chief and a volunteer reader for lit magazines is that I get an overview or pulse of today's writers and finding unique voices that take bold risks are very very rare.

Ooooooof... a Ph.D. in creative writing is going to be a lot more complex and a brutally long program with five to six years versus two or three years of a MFA. This involving creating a hybrid Ph.D. thesis with a creative and critical analysis portion. I have seen examples of Ph.D. creative writing thesis which are usually around 400-750 pages long including the critical portion which is around a 100 pages. That research aspect really excites me in fact. Mostly I suspect that means that I will have to delve further into critical theory (e.g. Foucault, Barthes, and esp. my fav Deleuze) and then apply that to analyze my own writing within its confines and contexts. MFAs in creative writing tend to be just the creative portion and a lot of workshopping. Ironically, I really haven't done much workshopping as that is a relatively recent phenom since I got my BA in creative writing at Vanderbilt back in the mid 1990's and considering that I am an awkward and not very sociable guy, I find that it's best that I enjoy writing alone and maybe hope to find a community of writers. Also the Ph.D. will allow for more experience in the literary journal professionalization and being able to teach at the highest level which is key. However, I don't know honestly if anyone else really likes my tastes in literature especially since I am hardly on trend with my personal preferences and tastes and I am definitely not a fan of most of the contemporary literary fiction which is coming out of alumni of most MFA programs today. Since I work as a reader at an university-based literary journal now as well as an editor-in-chief at a new literary/arts journal (anyone who interested in submitting we are looking at new pieces all year long), then I can get an overview of what is being written today. Honestly I find that a lot of it isn't to my liking but then again I really prefer complex ergodic type of works in a strongly postmodern vein rather than the dominant auto-fiction feely-touchey-emotion based work which dominates today's publishing world as if Raymond Carver had been cloned endlessly. But that's me in a nutshell. If anyone really cares about how the creative writing MFA program became a cottage industry during the Cold War, McGurl's tome at https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674062092 is the definite Bible on this issue. The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing is a must purchase for anyone who wants to understand how MFA programs function within a sociopolitical context relative to the culture industry around us (Adorno look here man :p).

Ironically I will be attempting to get into a Ph.D. track in creative writing by bypassing the MFA in creative writing and coming in with a MFA in studio art :D... We will see whether that will pass muster by the admissions committee.

I did not apply to Naropa University. Since I am a pretty research-heavy type of poet/CNF/fiction writer, I felt that I needed to stay in the LA area where I can access the libraries at USC and UCLA in order to do more examinations into Bronze Age and ancient Greek/Roman primary sources which is hard to do in a lot of other universities. I am just chilling now and working on a pretty long book of poems based on ancient forms. And the waiting game atm

Applied to the MA+P Ph.D. track at USC. That's the only one from this field apart from 4 other programs.

Actually I haven't developed any literary community out here in LA at all and writing is probably the loneliest job I have atm while working a day job and waiting for getting back to school. My literary connections are in the Bay area, NYC where I am an editor-in-chief for a new literary/arts magazine that is dropping issue 1 next month, and being a prose reader for a lit magazine back in Utah. I suspect that as an experimental writer I probably will be alone during my Ph.D. or MFA backup track for a few years considering that I am pretty political and philosophical with a lot of dense approaches. My visual art experience was a good learning experience but I really have only one friend left from the 2 years I attended. A lot of my MFA years was filled with drama, competition, and backbiting. I am not optimistic about the writing community being much better and unsure whether making friends or colleague will be easy for my path especially because I am a pretty obesessed critical theory nerd. On the other hand, I just completed a novel and a full translation of James Joyce's Ulysses recently. So nowadays working on a poetry book and just entered a photography competition. I think that it's going to be crazy if I get into a creative writing Ph.D. while not having a MFA in that field.

Nice to meet you. I am in the same boat. Even though I applied to prose/nonfiction programs I actually do write a lot of experimental poetry... Being in LA has been quite the adventure and I am trying to stay in the area. Also I am trying to get teaching experience as well. My MFA studio art program was pretty disappointing in that I didn't get a chance to teach any critical theory or contemporary art whatsoever. I am hoping that a PhD program will rectify that very much.

Just finished and paid for my MFA application to UCI so now it's just a waiting game for me at this point.

Just finished paying for my Ph.D. application for University of Utah (U of U) and still have left to work on my UC Irvine MFA application. Hope to be done by next week then call it good. Three programs only.

This is a solid video Useful video!

Just completed and paid the fee for my Ph.D. application for the Creative Writing/Literature at USC. It's great to rest a little while working on more literary submissions and my day job.

Speaking of Meg Day I just turned in my University of Utah Ph.D. application today and only need to pay the fee now. Day is a graduate of the U of U Creative Writing Ph.D. program btw.

Woot..finally my UCI MFA application is done finally. Got all letters of recommendations done and all I need to do is pay the fee now..whew.

I am applying to the American and Ethnic Studies program at USC for fall of 2026.

To be honest, I would probably avoid coming over to the United States as an international applicant considering the horrid political situation as of late. The increasing number of ICE raids and growing marginalization of the queer/bi and trans community by the authoritarian regime makes it a high risk proposition to study here in the States. Also the banning of DEI and defunding of liberal arts makes those topics more difficult to address in any type of writing today. On my end, I just accepted for publication in a pretty mid-size literary magazine thias past week (got a few publications under my belt so far this year) and right now I am applying to only three programs without a MFA in creative writing. I do have a MFA in studio art which makes my writing style, research, and approach rather heterodox in nature. Right now my choices are: 1) USC Ph.D. (nonfiction, first choice hands down), 2) UC Irvine MFA (fiction), and very lastly 3) U of Utah PhD. (prose). I prefer to stay here in LA as much as I can and avoid Utah due to the political situation there. I also am applying to two other USC Ph.D. non creative writing programs just in case. I am pretty nervous being an artist and writer in this day and age. Still I welcome the adventure and cross fingers to get into a program for the fall of next year. I just need to wait my letters of recommendation (one professor finished 2/3 of them so far) from my instructors since I finished up my essay writing completely.

The UC Irvine MFA program is very much focused on a literary approach to the writers. Genre fiction is unlikely to be apropos for the program. To get an idea of what type of writing is being honed here, you can look at the shortlist of their alumni works and get a sense of what type of approach they are looking for. https://sites.uci.edu/mfapublications/

Applying this year for the fall 2026 class of USC American/Ethnic Studies. A long shot?

Creative writing programs I am applying for: 1) USC Ph.D., 2) UC Irvine MFA, 3) University of Utah Ph.D.... Maybe CalState Long Beach MFA.

Definitely worth it. My cohort was not supportive of my work but that didn't matter much. I admit that I had one of the best possible experiences ever! Plus you can study with Ei Arakawa ( Venice Biennale ), Diana Thater, and other top notch folks is worth it. Also the electives are downright interesting. Sadly, I think that a lot of my colleagues made some pretty conservative looking work. But if you carve your own path then you will do very well and have a blast. Plus you have lots of opportunities to exhibit your own work there.

Perhaps this is a loose guide for rankings? https://creativewritingmfa.info/rankings/

I am a 2025 MFA (grad/studio art) from ArtCenter College of Design. To help others here, I would like to share my 2023 SOP and Q&A's that got me into ArtCenter. Written Essays a) Artist’s Statement An Artist’s Statement (750 words or less) that provides key insights into your artistic practice and influences. Your statement should also discuss the artists and the types of art that have had the biggest impact on your thinking about art. These need not be visual artists, but if not, give us some idea of how their influence is manifested in your work. My art practice is dynamic, incorporating all types of approaches ranging from painting to photography, which is the basis for most of my artworks, to sculpture to video artworks. Themes which I have explored within my undergraduate years have included the following: historical and economic archives, glitches in artificial intelligence and speculative themes as related to spiritual identities, surveillance, post-language relating to science fiction, capitalist machinery, and the architectonics and commodification of sociopolitical violence via technology and social media. Some of the wide gamut of topics I have looked at within my studio practice encompass the following: the Capitol insurrection, the semiotics of the self-reflexive mythology behind Kanye West and his ego, the politics of color theory involved in the connection between view camera photography and Orientalism, and the interwoven relationship between commodification of garments and the fashion photograph through an anti-fashion conceptual collaboration with Patrick Winfield Vogel called HAZE MAT. The diversity amongst all of these and other series revolve around a creative analysis of multiple systems of power and epistemology within a sociopolitical context; my art practice tends to be research intensive even though my studio practice balances out both aesthetic and conceptual concerns within the final praxis. The largest impact on my visual and thematic content and language have been rooted in conceptual art ranging across multiple media such as traditional paintings to cutting-edge installations. As a working artist, I make sure to take breaks from the research laboratory or studio to spend as much time as I can within museums and galleries, such as the Broad Art Center to Blum & Poe, and expose myself to as many different types of art across various media as I can. I feel that my undergraduate education has been too limited in terms of the diversity of contemporary art education; as a photography major, I did not get any exposure to other types of art such as painting (I minored in Sculpture Intermedia). So I ended up doing art residencies such as the School of Visual Arts and outside projects and collectives such as Paradice Palase in order to train myself to engage my art practice beyond just the merely expected photographic prints. Often my practice will incorporate multiple approaches within the same project; for example, my Honors photobook involved a section where I combined 3D printing technology with traditional studio photography with a medium format digital Fuji camera. Providing a full list of artists which have influenced my own works would be nigh impossible. I can summarize some of my key guides here. For example, in terms of being a conceptual artist, some of the artists include Lawrence Weiner, Hans Haacke, Cady Noland, Josephine Meckseper, and David Hammons. Apart from cues in visual and historical forms, this group of artists have impacted me in terms of a broad range of sociopolitical concerns as well as a drive towards premeditated and elegant conceptual structures that deconstruct power relationships from a new perspective. For example, my Honors photobook focused on the topic of the Capitol insurrection using 3D modeling, a historical analysis of the connection between postmodern fascism and Nazi aesthetics, and the collision between the personal and public fallout of my ex-friend turning towards white supremacy during the past decade. Often I research every aspect ranging from the materials to the content from multiple disciplines in order to elucidate previously unseen patterns of knowledge and connections amongst political or sociological bodies. As a photography major, some of my inspirations in that field include Taryn Simon, Hank Willis Thomas, Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Wendy Red Star, and so on. Also I have a wide gamut of non-photographic interests including painters such as Tomma Abts, Robert Rauschenberg, Mike Kelley, Byron Kim, Stanley Whitney, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, etc. as well as sculptors and installation artists such Robert Gober, Eva Hesse, Fred Wilson, etc. Being sensitive to such a wide range of media has inspired me to pursue more exploratory paths within my own art practice even if they are not purely photographic. Examples include my execution of recent mixed media drawings combined with photo transfers which analyzed the surveillance archives of the Stasi. b) Short Essay Questions: Educational goals Provide short responses to the following questions: (i) Why have you decided to pursue a graduate degree in art? Why have you chosen to apply to ArtCenter’s Graduate Art MFA program? I would like to pursue the MFA degree since I would like to explore innovative paths within my art practice after I complete my undergraduate degree; I would also like to expand my circle of art world colleagues from just the Salt Lake City area towards the Los Angeles area. I am strongly interested in the ArtCenter program due to its strong faculty such as Stan Douglas, Laura Owens, Diana Thater, etc. as well as challenging and open-ended culture that fosters the growth for an emerging artist such as myself. (ii) What kind of artist do you want to be, and how would you like the Graduate Art faculty to help you to achieve this aspiration? I aspire to become a conceptual artist who works within various media ranging from paintings to video art; I hope to extend my themes which I have been exploring within my undergraduate program to include other practices such as fashion and architecture in further depth. Working in close conjunction with the faculty at ArtCenter will provide direction and inspiration for my own explorations in new directions for visual and thematic languages and content within my future artworks. I never had a formal studio practice while I attended the University of Utah, so development of a regular studio routine becomes more crucial as I work towards becoming a professional artist within the contemporary art world. Finally, I look forward to taking a diverse set of classes from the faculty about relevant issues within the art program as well as experimenting with new media such as painting which I have not had a chance to work extensively during my undergraduate years. (iii) What knowledge do you have of the program’s faculty and alumni and how has this affected your decision to apply to the program? My experience with the program’s faculty and alumni with ArtCenter has been vicarious so far apart from a campus and MFA studio visit in person during the early summer of 2022. Locally, I know of Jane Christensen’s work from the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) but I have not met her in person. Regarding faculty, I know of some of the faculty’s works via monographs and art magazines such as Artforum. The strong faculty as a collective as well as my cursory visit to the ArtCenter facilities in Pasadena created a positive impression for me to apply to this school.

Definitely applying this year to both MFA and Ph.D. creative writing programs! I just wrapped up a MFA in studio art from ArtCenter and now I would like to incorporate my visual art practice with my writing practice. Been working on doing literary submission to journals and magazines and so far, I have gotten into one publication. By the way, the visual art world and the literary world are very separate. It's very sad but I feel that there could be more interaction between the two. Sadly enough after I graduated this year I have lost touch with all of my cohort except one person who is a very close buddy. I hope that the literary world is better and filled with less drama.

I would answer back for sure. It's only right to keep them up-to-date with what is going on with your decision making process.

Definitely apply to Rutgers. If you want to be a contemporary artist in a more experimental slant this is your best choice without being in NY. I heard Bard was not in a good state for their MFA program.

NYAA is mostly into traditional academic art styles which is hardly my area of interest as a cutting-edge contemporary artist. If you want do an atelier style of education then go for it!