Help/advise choosing/evaluating MFA creative writing programs

[nothatcreativearewe]

I'm not studying any type of creative writing or literature in college right now, but I am planning on attending a creative writing program. So my main criterion for a good program is that it must in a way teach me how to write and read like a writer. Both in theory and technically. I suppose most creative writing programs would consider themselves to fulfill these two criteria, but im looking for something that stresses faculty instruction over a more hands-off "let-the-students-explore-and-discover-their-writing" kinda thing. Of course a good balance of this would be welcome. Any suggestions for anyone else going the searching process and/or have gone through the process?

[nothatcreativearewe]

I just realized that i might be contradiction myself by first saying that my main criterion is a place where i can learn to read like a writer and then following up and saying that most programs would claim to fulfill these two criteria. That was worded poorly, reading and writing like a writer could be considered as two criteria but the two beget each other in my opinion , so really its one, but if we're in the mood to be pedantic its two...

[spearmo]

Many people in my creative writing program came from different backgrounds and some had never taken a workshop before or been out of school for a few years. 

You can apply if you feel you have a strong writing sample. Look for schools that offer a lot of workshops and if you've been missing out on literature courses, don't hesitate to ask your writing professors for book recommendations. Some schools offer courses on the craft of writing, but it might be best to call the school and ask them the question of what type of classes they offer.
 

It might also be good to try to take a workshop outside of the MFA program. There's a lot of great places that offer community workshops. You could even try Meetup.org and see what you find. 
 

I hope this helps.

[TonyB]

For what it's worth:

 

Best-funded programs

 

University of Texas - Austin (Michener): 27k/yr

Cornell, Vanderbilt: 24k

University of Michigan: 22k

UW: Madison, WUSTL/WashU: 20k

 

Genre/Popular Fiction-friendly programs

 

North Carolina State

University of Kansas

Southern Illinois University

 

Most prestigious programs

 

University of Iowa

U.T. Austin (Michener Center)

University of Michigan

Brown University

Southern Illinois

[heliogabalus]

Southern Illinois? I'm sure it's a great place, but it's not one that I hear mentioned as much as places like NYU, UVA, Iowa, WUSTL, Cornell, Alabama, Indiana, Wisconsin ... I'm sure it's an awesome program, but I'm a bit surprised to see it listed as one of the 5 most prestigious programs.

[MoJuiced]

You should be aware that the published rankings are severely flawed in a systemic, methodological way. They largely reflect funding and not terribly accurately either. They're based almost exclusively on the opinions and applying habits of the applicants themselves, some of whom are more well versed in researching programs and many many others who are applying based on the rankings... in a conveniently cyclical way. 

 

Funding is great and other things are great, but look for fit in terms of what your interests are and what you wish to gain and who is there to impart it. You can find samples of the faculty's writing fairly easily on the web to get a sense of who they are and where they're coming from.

 

Ultimately, it's pretty much all writing sample. Best of luck!

[davidipse]

On 6/24/2013 at 6:55 PM, nothatcreativearewe said:

I'm not studying any type of creative writing or literature in college right now, but I am planning on attending a creative writing program. So my main criterion for a good program is that it must in a way teach me how to write and read like a writer. Both in theory and technically. I suppose most creative writing programs would consider themselves to fulfill these two criteria, but im looking for something that stresses faculty instruction over a more hands-off "let-the-students-explore-and-discover-their-writing" kinda thing. Of course a good balance of this would be welcome. Any suggestions for anyone else going the searching process and/or have gone through the process?

 

Most of these will depend more on specific professors, who have more or less free reign in workshop, rather than the program per se. If you want to learn to read like a writer, you should probably look to MFA programs with highly ranked English departments (e.g. high PhD rankings not necessarily MFA) and see if there's a prof or two whose critical approaches seem hospitable to a writerly perspective. I tend to think that critics who can close-read well will teach you more about how to read like a good writer than not-so-good, and even some good, writers whose teaching consists of anecdotal rambling about the touch and feel of a poem or story.

 

Here's how I went about applying to programs. Find the most well-funded, see if there are writers you think you can learn from there, then apply. Do apply to Michener, Cornell, Michigan, Virginia, and Washington University in St. Louis, and Indiana-Bloomington, schools where you won't have to go into debt. Johns Hopkins has good funding too, but they require you to take the GRE, I think.

[crenshi]

I think we need some editing here. It's true that rankings are largely nonsense (better to take the hard data stuff seriously--fellowship placement, stipend amount, etc) but a couple things seem incomplete or off. 

 

Johns Hopkins has a stipend larger than 20 in many cases, I think, but mileage seems to vary.

 

The Southern Illinois inclusion in a list of 'most prestigious programs' is pretty darn baffling. It's a solid school, but not really top 5 in anything, including rep. That said, they're more than good enough to be worth applying to. Cornell really should be at or near the top given the stature of its recent grads, but the problem is that Carbondale really isn't a household name. UVA, for instance, is probably not Iowa-calibre, but they have a hell of a list of alumni and recent alumni accomplishments. I can't really say the same for Carbondale, though they seem to produce solid work, and I doubt it's a terribly recognizable name to anyone other than current MFA applicants. This is the issue with ranking things like prestige. When people are arbitrary with subjective categories they're baffling to others.

 

Stonecoast also has an MFA with a concentration in popular fiction if genre is your thing. 

[TonyB]

I never heard about Southern Illinois until shortly before compiling that list, but have been told by a few people that they turn out "elite" writers and are generally one of the more high-falutin' programs (if that's your cup of tea). Their funding is mediocre at best -- only 12k a year -- and Carbondale, Illinois is basically the ass-end of nowhere, but again, based on what I've heard, they're quite well-regarded among those in the know. Sort of a "sleeper" among prestigious programs, if you will.

 

Hopkins is one that's hard to pin down. I've heard $22k/year but I've also heard $18k. And, of course, their actual page doesn't list any specifics. So I'm reluctant to endorse Hopkins too heavily, given the wishy-washiness.

[jforms]

"nothatcreativearewe," I'm applying with a BA in Film Studies.....and hope to be accepted somewhere for Fall 2015...with funding. It might be a long shot. But know that in terms of your background, you're not alone. I like to think and some schools DO specify that academic backgrounds aren't considered. So, let's keep our fingered crossed. We're in it together. Best of luck to everyone. Also just a freakout/anxiety attack moment....is it just me or is it unreasonably unfair that many schools reply early April and expect you to accept mid April? Blows my mind. Between research, writing, rewriting, emails, comments, more research, applications and recommendations, it's taken me a super long time. And then they have us wait 4-5 months and then we must tell them if we are interested in 2 weeks!? I don't expect to get in anywhere, but if I do and it's like that, I'll be pretty pissed. Just venting. Again, best of luck to everyone. If you want to communicate about the insanity of it all, I think there's a way to do it on here. I'm not very tech-savvy or in the know about anything. But yeah.