Irene Queen

Hi...I was just wondering if anybody has had some experience or knows about the concrete benefits of the inter doctoral consortium that u r eligible to attend once u r accepted into a PhD program at CUNY. I graduated from Hunter and earned an MA Comp Lit from a German -, including some coursework from a British University with a focus on postmodern America / culture - media - gender. As I am not interested in pursuing an academic / research career per se but would rather like to integrate and formally solidify my experience as a writer, translator and practicioner in the socio-cultural field, I think the consortium would afford me the necessary flexibility to address my needs better than let's say an MFA or MSW program with a definite set of modules. However, is it in fact the case that a student is eligible to attend any classes offered in the graduate division of the consortium, including practically based ones such as creative writing in thearapeutic context, cultural reporting or advanced literary translation for instances, or is the attendance restricted to theoretical courses geared towards completing a scholarly dissertation? Also, I remember that there was not a lot of handholding during my undergraduate; thus I am wondering to what extent professors are supportive of students' interdisciplinary approaches and ideas that deviate from the traditional canon, plus efforts of getting published. I do want to gain credibility as an authority in the subject, but I refuse to just sit and grow grey hair in the library. Does anybody have a clue or similar concerns as me?