MFA Creative Writing to Ph.D. Lit??

[ckstarling]

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??

[asleepawake]

I came to my MA program as an MFA student, but I switched when I figured out what I really wanted to do in academia. For a while before the switch, I was looking into the same questions that you are. It seems that some schools welcome the MFA in place of the MA. Either way, many people apply to PhD programs with only a BA, so at the very least, the MFA won't work against you even when it cannot help (except at Iowa, as I've heard they'll think you're trying to sneak into the Workshop). It really depends on what kind of MFA program you attend, what classes you've taken, and what kind of literary scholarship you've been working on. The writing sample and SOP can outweigh everything else, and nothing else can save you if those aren't any good.

I would suggest having only one MFA faculty member write a letter (presumably your thesis advisor) and 2 lit faculty for the others. This is just my opinion, though, and of course those who know and respect your (scholarly) work are usually the best.

For programs that accept both BA and MA students, I don't think you need to worry. For programs that require an MA, you should e-mail or call to find out if the MFA is an acceptable replacement. I know that some schools specifically state that the MFA is fine while others say the opposite.

Edited July 16, 2012 by asleepawake

[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.