goodcynara

They are very lucky to get you!

Congrats! Wishing you much joy and success!

Thanks, @Cristie! I have been making work in other disciplines (music, theatre, multimedia performance) on my own for a couple decades, though it's true that I've had the benefit of incredible collaborators. Some time ago, I reached out to two of the poetry instructors with whom I've been studying over the past year. Between the two of them, they attended both of the low-res programs to which I applied and had nothing but wonderful things to say about them. But I will take your advice and reach out again with the current situation. I am also going to reach out to a friend who is an accomplished and esteemed novelist; perhaps she knows some of the faculty here or there. One fiction writer who attended Bennington said that he definitely feels that literary journals give his work more attention post-Bennington. I'm in it to devote concentrated time, energy, and study to developing my craft, but that certainly doesn't hurt! Thanks so much for weighing in - very generous of you. I'll report back when I have news!

That comparison is indeed helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Perhaps chief among my issues is that I WANT TO GO TO ALL THE PROGRAMS!

Same! Megan, Bennington's current Associate Director, sent me the itinerary for their recent residency and it looks fantastic. A friend who graduated last year echoed your experience of it being incredibly good and rigorous. If you're not following them on Twitter, I recommend it. They are making a concerted effort to connect with and celebrate their alumni, and it's full of interesting tips. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Does anyone out there have experience with both low-res and full-res programs that you'd care to share? One of the low-res programs I am seriously considering has a strict acceptance cutoff of 5PM EDT tomorrow. I realize that no one can solve this but me. But in the name of due diligence, I'd be grateful to hear about any relevant experience. [A bit of background, should you care to read: I'm extremely lucky and grateful to have been accepted to two low-res and two full-res programs, and am doing as much research as I can to determine which program will offer rigorous study that will help me to create the best version of a project I'm passionate about as well as significantly develop my writing in general. I have interviewed three people from both low-res programs to which I was accepted (Bennington, VCFA). All absolutely loved their program and said it transformed their writing and trained them to have a daily writing practice that has held even through traumatic life events. Tomorrow, I will interview two current students and one alum from the two full-res programs to which I was accepted. Additionally, over the next couple of weeks, both of these full-res programs are holding extensive accepted student events, including sample classes. I am still waiting on final funding offers for three of the four programs to which I've been accepted, plus pending decisions from three more programs. All good! I wouldn't be sweating this one bit if Bennington's acceptance deadline was April 15. As it stands, the only way to keep my toe in with Bennington AND stay open to the other programs is to pay the deposit for a January start. I'd welcome your thoughts/feedback.]

Totally. LMK how your meeting with Paige goes!

No joke! Faculty member Jake Slichter wrote a book about his days in Semisonic! And here's a cool interview with David Ryan about his connection to writing and music. Duuuuuuuuuuuuude.

DUDE. I learned in my meeting with Paige yesterday that two of their faculty members are veteran drummers from a couple of super cool bands: The Lemonheads and Semisonic! Damn SLC, you are winning my heart.

Incredibly generous. Thank you for taking the time to post this!

LOL, thanks!

Hey y'all - What are your thoughts on emailing a program that has not yet responded? I had decided against this, but something just posted on Draft is leading me to reconsider. Would love to hear your experience with this.

LOL, agreed on all counts!

This is the kind of club to which I want to belong!

This is a potent, lovely, and honest scene. You can write fiction. You can write.