Comments on: When to Get Your MFA. Or Not.

By: Creative Writing Programs Are Not a Complete Waste of Time | Idiotprogrammer

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:29:41 +0000

[...] See Alexander Chee’s essay about whether to go for the MFA. (That’s part 3; see also part 1 and part [...]

By: “Professors of Fiction” | Koreanish

“Professors of Fiction” | Koreanish — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:38:09 +0000

[...] the myth, the idea that the program only wanted young Carvers or people to turn into young Carvers, began to shatter. When I say most of what I read about the MFA (or Iowa for that matter) is wrong, what I mean is, I [...]

By: On Getting Your Name Out There: Author Blogging « Koreanish

On Getting Your Name Out There: Author Blogging « Koreanish — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:13:56 +0000

[...] of answering their questions via email one by one, and the blog seemed like a good place to put the answers to the FAQ. I shut down that first blog and opened this one a few years ago, and what I have learned is that [...]

By: ivan

ivan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:44:26 +0000

i’d like to subscribe

By: BeNice Creator

BeNice Creator — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:49:48 +0000

I really enjoyed your 3-part post here. Let’s hope visual artists out there stumble on this post, too, before they venture into MFA-land! …

I’m a former Iowa undergrad (Iowa native) now in NY–I hope you loved IC as much as I did! And congrats on teaching next year at the workshop–how exciting! Tell me, do the writers still all congregate at the Foxhead?

I look forward to popping onto your blog in the future! Take care!

By: This week’s capers - anecdotes

This week’s capers - anecdotes — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:40:50 +0000

[...] on MFA programs: when an MFA degree is a good idea, how he chose his own program, etc. Start with this post — the others are linked from it, including this brief FAQ about MFA programs, which is worth [...]

By: Margaret Kimball | Design. Illustration. And Other Thinkings. | 8 Reasons to Go to Grad School (I Guess…)

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:34:57 +0000

[...] have to say: Peterson’s Graduate Planner Core 77: Why Grad School Speak Up: Grad School When to Get Your MFA, or Not Pass [...]

By: jessiecarty

jessiecarty — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:32:42 +0000

cliffhanger!

By: When to Get Your MFA. Or Not. [Part 2] « Koreanish

When to Get Your MFA. Or Not. [Part 2] « Koreanish — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:50:19 +0000

[...] About When to Get Your MFA. Or Not. [...]

By: Judith Baumel

Judith Baumel — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:15:58 +0000

This is a really smart (preliminary) meditation on writing programs as choices for beginning writers.

Much good can happen through the encounter between hopeful young writers and their mentor/teachers.

Having founded and run the Adelphi MFA program for five years, I have seen two kinds of students thrive in our program.

1) those who need a situation that will make their life clear and comfortable (x courses, y workshops, tuition remission, scholarships, teaching gigs, resume workshops etc.) and 2) those who are willing to take all sorts of wild but exciting chances and therefore learn by experience and from mentors.

Very different temperaments (the world of writing contains very different teachers and students) will reveal different genius. The most important thing is to dedicate yourself to doing the work. And to finding the people who understand just how complex, formal, and multi-variable creative writing is. May many Annie Dillards bloom… Every pot on its own bottom, as poet Bill Matthews use to say.