Entering work older than MFA application requirements?

[hohohogreengiant]

I am applying to an MFA program (CA, TX, RI, CT) and the application says works must be within a certain time period (e.g. within past 12 months). I have a few pieces that are among my best work that I really want to include in my portfolio, but they're older than the rules allow. The works don't have a date on them, just the sig. What to do? Will I be disqualified? It's my work, and most of the pieces I'm including are within the stated guidelines, but I think these really show what I can do. Help!

[litty]

Hi, what genre(s) are you applying (e.g. fiction, poetry, non-fiction)? 

I'm not familiar with this requirement, but I'd hazard they may be referring to work *published* within the last 12 months. So if your work is unpublished, it may be considered still in-progress and the time period doesn't apply. If you've been revising a piece for five years and finally feel comfortable with it, you can submit that. You can shoot an email to the schools for clarification, but I assume this is just a way to encourage you to submit work you're recently engaged with rather than some pieces you wrote years ago that may have been published in a journal or anthology. They want to get a current sense of you to see if they can help who you are rather than who you were. 

[hohohogreengiant]

Hi- thanks for the reply.   Good point re a work in progress. 

My medium/genre is painting. I wanted to include a "tighter" painting, i.e. one that has more detail, or better, is more finished, in order to show capability. 

[litty]

Ah, I would definitely check with them. You posted in the literary/creative writing forum, so slightly different beast and rules!