ckstarling

Yeah, I've had to eliminate a couple of otherwise nice-fitting programs from my list because they're pretty stringent about the MA requirement, unfortunately. That said, my fear is that since my MFA program is very studio-oriented (meaning we aren't required to take lit courses), I don't have relationships (professional or otherwise) with the lit faculty. Because our track is super laid out for us, we have room for only two electives during our entire course of study. I'm taking a grad-level lit course right now that's in my desired field of study, and I'm doing a lot of productive critical writing in this course, but since it's online, I don't really have a personal relationship with the professor. Accordingly, I'm super nervous about not having lit faculty to write me LORs... eeeeesh.

Hi, all, Just wondering if anyone else here is either applying to or currently in a Lit Ph.D. program with an MFA in Creative Writing rather than a Lit MA. How are you planning to spin your MFA to look like a plus rather than a drawback? If you're already in a program, did you have any Lit faculty write your LORs or did they all come from MFA faculty? Though I have a strong lit & theory background & have taken critical courses during my MFA, I'm still pretty nervous that not having a Lit MA will be a detriment to my app. Anyone else??

1. YESES Carnegie Mellon Buffalo (poetics) Rochester Albany Miami U, Ohio Ohio University WUSTL 2. MAYBES Syracuse (they're a hearty "yes" -- a dream program, in fact -- but there are... interpersonal issues... that complicate its movement to the "yes" list at the moment) Case Western Purdue (theory & cultural studies) Oregon UT Austin 3. RESEARCH INTERESTS Contemporary poetry, trauma theory, identity theory, postcolonialism, feminism, issues of self & body. I am currently finishing my MFA in Poetry & have been working on research regarding the intersections between trauma/trauma theory & the female poetic voice, specifically in terms of the lyric being used to simultaneously expose & conceal sexual violence. I'm most interested in issues of female identity & self vs. body in the post-traumatic state. My other primary area of interest is postcolonialism, so I'm equally interested in these issues of female identity & self vs. body in terms of colonial violence.