njw

The MFA does not guarantee you a teaching position, like a PhD pretty much does.

To get a decent gig besides random class adjuncting, you would likely need a published novel or short story collection, possibly two of them.

Also, if you scan the list of people lecturing or teaching at some MFA programs... a lot of them teach there, with no MFA at all, they are just a relatively respected writer. One of the things I have seen people boosting MFA programs is "you can teach with it" ...which is true, but not true. Sure it might help you more, but you can also teach without it, and just because you have the MFA definitely doesn't guarantee you a position.

I would also look at some of the typical comp adjunct salaries, they aren't that high, and often hire you on a 1 year contract, then you have to keep trying to get renewed every year.

I would not look at the MFA route as the path to teaching... just look at it as a place to improve your writing. That is why most people recommend not to go unless you get full, or close to full funding.

I would certainly not pursue the MFA with your main goal as teaching... there are much better options for that if you know you want to be a teacher.

Personally I kind of got that idea out of my head just looking at where people ended up (or didn't end up at all) ... I am pretty picky on where I want to live so, academia just isn't for me.

Also realize, you said that you need to help your parents out... Well, if you want to adjunct in college, you might have to take a position halfway across the country, and after that... take another position at a different school in 2 years. The life of the adjunct isn't that great and yes the pay is often lower than a hired high school teacher.

As for teaching, yes you *might* be able to teach composition, but somebody who majored in Rhetoric/Composition with more Pedagogy is going to be more qualified. Teaching literature with an MFA is also a sure "not going to happen". You would however be more qualified to teach creative writing (many colleges don't even have creative writing though)

MFA is still a great option if you want to develop your writing though...I certainly wouldn't get your hopes up about a teaching career with it though. There is a reason that most MFA programs aren't publishing where their MFA students ended up, percentage who are full time teachers, etc like most PhD programs do...b/c most people getting their MFA's don't end up teaching.