Master of Professional Writing

[Ms.D]

Hello!

I'm currently getting my application ready for USC's (University of Southern California) Master of Professional Writing program and wondered if anyone on here has applied and/or is attending this program. Any information provided would be great. I'm seriously nervous about the outcome but hoping for the best as I would really like to be apart of this writing program. Anyhoo, thanks for taking the time to read and perhaps respond. Much appreciated!

[Dff]

Hey! I loooved that program too, I was actually planning on applying to a Comparative Literature masters, but I found this one and it seems more interesting. I would appreciate if you can share any additional info about the program.

[Ms.D]

Hey!

I'm glad there's another person applying to this! But I'm surprised there aren't anymore student testmonials about the program as a whole on this forum and the web. Kinda odd. Anyhoo, what semester are you applying for and what genre do you want to focus on? From what I had been researching, this program is interdisciplinary and I totally appreciate that because I'm interested in the variety of writing classes they offer (like screenwriting, technical writing, and etc.). It's a good way to discover new talents and interests.

[Dff]

Well, I am very interested in screenwriting : )

Do you know if it is too hard to get in??

I am a little worried about that.

[Ms.D]

You know, I was wondering about their acceptance rates as well. I looked at this http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/university-of-southern-california-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-master-of-professional-writing-program-admissions-000_10040902_10088.aspx

But I'm not too sure how accurate that is. I would like to hope that's a close estimate but I don't know. Have you looked at the USC MPW website yet? To see what other classes they offer each semester? It'll give you a good idea on what type of classes to expect if you do get into the program and the faculty as well. It looks pretty exciting!

[Dff]

Do you anything about USC's Comparative Literature Department? It also looks extremely interesting (for some reason, I love every program from this school! hehe).

I called and apparently many of the their students are also writers.I am going to write and find out if it is possible to enroll in this program and take writing classes. I do know that they let you take classes from the Cinematic Arts Department.

[Ms.D]

No, I'm not too familar with their Comparative Literature Dept. You should just go ahead and contact them again for more info on their program restrictions and etc. Are you thinking of doing courses from both the Master of Professional Writing and Comparative Lit. programs? Also, have you taken the GRE already? I'm freaking out and I'm taking it in less than 2 weeks. Blah! I just want to get it over with and do well!

[Dff]

Oh the GRE!! Actually, I found out that I was selected for a scholarship less than a month ago, so I haven't studied AT ALL for the GRE. I'm taking it on October 22nd and getting enrolled was a nightmare (I was paying for it with a voucher my scholarship gave me so I couldn't do it online).

I wrote to Comp. Lit to see if they would allow me to take more creative classes but I am waiting for an answer to check. I was also taking a look at Columbia's writing MFA, take a look at the journal, it looks really cool!!

http://arts.columbia.edu/

Another option on my mind is WUSTLs Comparative Literature Department.

These are very expensive schools though, so I have to wait and see what my sponsor thinks hehe.

What other schools do you like?

[Ms.D]

Oh really? What kind of scholarship were you selected for? Sounds exciting and congrats! How do you think you'll do on the GRE? I've been mainly focusing on the math portion and still feel I won't do well overall. It's been very stressful this last month with exam worries and getting the rest of my app together. Hopefully the Comparative Lit. Dept. will respond to your email soon. I wonder what they'll say about your request.

I applied to one other school and it's called Antioch. I applied for their Creative Writing M.F.A. and I'm still waiting on an acceptance or rejection letter from them. Very nervewrecking time indeed. But you are right, these schools are super expensive, especially USC and Columbia. I wish USC had more financial aid options other than the teaching position. It would make life so much easier if more was made available.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Ms.D

[Dff]

Hey! I got an answer from USC Comp Lit program, they don't allow you to take creative classes.

To be honest, I don't know whether I should apply to Creative Writing programs or Comparative Literature ones, I think I should know by now.

I don't know what I could do with a creative writing degree back in my country and I have never attempted to write fiction in English (my native language is Spanish).Though writing is my paaassiiooon.

Don't worry about the GRE, you'll do fine and they pay more attention to the writing samples anyway I am not thinking about my GRE yet because I am preparing my essays and things like that. I hope I will devote myself to study soon.

Good luck with everything!! let me know if you find any other interesting programs.

[Ms.D]

Awwww!! I'm sorry to hear that! I guess now you should go with your heart regarding which program you want to take more. If writing is your passion, then maybe take some non-degree writing courses? Just for fun and to learn more about the craft.

Lol thanks! Even though they said that before they'll even look at a student's application, they have to at least meet the GRE 1000 minimum required for their department, so everything is pretty much riding on this exam for me. The math is a killer so I'll try to focus more on the verbal and pray that I get a decent score over the minimum. But I do hope they pay more attention to the writing sample as a whole. That should be more important than anything IMO. Anyways, thank you and I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do as well! Hopefully you'll be able to find the time to take some creative writing courses and feed your passion.

Edited September 13, 2011 by Ms.D

[Dff]

Hey!!! How did you do on your GRE? I took mine yesterday! In the end, I decided to go for writing. I still need to know where my sponsor is going to recommend sending my applications, but I listed NYU (they have a Creative Writing in Spanish MFA), Alabama, UC San Diego and WUSTL amongst others. I wish luck with your application process!!

[Ms.D]

Hey there! How's it going?

I ended up bombing the GRE so I'm currently taking prep courses for the test and hope to retake it sometime in December or early January. How did you do on the GRE? I'm glad you've decided to go with writing! Those schools you've listed sound great, especially NYU! I had no idea they had a Spanish Creative Writing MFA there. Nice, and just what you've been looking for! Thanks for the luck and I hope all is well with you and your application process. Here's to getting into our desired programs.

[Dff]

Hello! How are you? I had bad news about a month ago. They told me my scholarship had a funding cut and decided to cut me off (I guess Creative Writing was the least important subject for them ). They told me this after most of teh deadlines had passed, but I had a chance to apply to Iowa's and NYU's Creative Writing in Spanish Programs. I wanted to apply to USC but the deadline for applying to assistanships had passed.

How are you doing with your applications??

[Ms.D]

Hey there!

WOW! I'm sorry they cut you off from your scholarship. That's terrible, and even worse that they decided to tell you this after your application deadlines. But at least you got a chance to apply to NYU and Iowa! Have you heard back from them yet? Which school do you ultimately want to attend?

I think I'm gonna have to wait and apply next year (Fall 2013). I took the GRE for the second time last month and pretty much got the same low scores as the first. I am super annoyed and devastated about the whole thing. I might take the GRE one more time during the summer (depending on how my money is looking) and hope for improvement. I'm looking into getting the Kaplan and Princeton Review study books to see if those will help me. But idk...I'm seriously drained from all of this studying and not getting results that I need for USC. It is my dream school and I totally feel like a failure for not getting their minimum required scores. I don't know what it is that I'm doing wrong! How did you do on your GRE?

[Dff]

Hey!! I'm very sorry to hear about your GRE! If it helps, I will share what most people have told me about my situation: everything happens for a reason, and maybe there is something better out there waiting for you!

I really hope 2013 turns out to be your year I know it's hard but we have to keep on trying. In the meantime, enjoy life as much as you can!

About my GRE I did well on the verbal part (luckily for me, many of the "difficult" words in English are actually very similar to those in Spanish), and poorly on the math section. I got good news today, I got accepted into Iowa. I am now waiting to hear about TAs or any type of financial aid.

I hope you don't let this whole situation make you feel bad about yourself and feel satisfied that you did your best. I do recommend the Kaplan book, it will definitely improve your scores. I studied with that and the Kaplan vocabulary flashcards.

Good luck and I hope to hear back from you !

[Ms.D]

Hey again!

You're right, things do happen for a reason and I'm hoping something good will come out of all of this soon. I forgot to mention this in the last post but I actually received an acceptance to Antioch back in November. So not all is lost I guess Lol. It gives me hope for when I do apply to other schools for next year and etc. I just want to show others what I am capable of doing with my writing.

Congrats on getting into Iowa! That's excellent news! Is that school one of your top picks? Hopefully you'll get a good funding package if you do decide to attend in the fall. Have you heard back from any other schools so far? I'm sure you're extremely anxious at this point.

I'll totally look into the Kaplan GRE study books now. It's pretty much a last resort at this point if I want to get at least the minimum scores for USC. Idk...just still worried about the whole outcome again though. But thank you for the encouraging words. I'm trying my best not to let this situation get me down and will continue to remain positive.

PLEASE keep me updated on your school news! I'm very happy that you've already received an offer, and I'm sure many more will be coming your way soon!

[RenataVC]

Hey there! I am also applying for the USC MPW program =)

I'm glad to see there are more people out there interested in this program. I will probably be applying to start in Fall 2013. I have to take the GRE and basically go through all the application process.

Best of luck to you both! =)

[njw]

Their program looks great, even if it isn't "ranked high"... Personally I am interested in interdisciplinary programs also, which is why I still struggle if I should do an MFA program or not, or just not worry about it. I like fiction, playwriting, screenwriting, essays, philosophical papers, journalistic writing. I know some people say I should concentrate more on one thing, but I am not happy like that, and I don't work well that way. As soon as I write in one mode, I get bored with it at the end, then want to take on another challenge or medium.

Just a side note, if somebody has such diverse interests as mine, would an MFA even be worthwhile, or would I get burnt out with the concentration in all fiction/english courses?

In another thread, I tried to narrow it down to just English/Philosophy ... but even that truely, is too narrow for my personality I'm afraid, even if doing multiple disciplines is a no no for other people that just like to build expertise in a narrow subfield, discipline.

For instance my undergrad was as broad as possible, I did English with a Writing concentration, with minors in both Film Studies and Philosophy. The writing concentration included both journalist (article/essay) as well as creative (fiction.) Film included courses such as Film Theory, Writing for Electronic Multimedia, and Writing for TV/Screen. I also took theater classes as elective, with of course, the core Literature and Philosophy courses.

Long story short... just posting this, in case somebody else out there feels the same dilemma.

Ask me to pick one thing I enjoy the most, is when you run into issues, I get incredibly bored concentrating on a specific discipline and find I like to merge the more broad disciplines into my writing and scenes.

Edited May 12, 2012 by njw