/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10967075]

Any MFA bros here?

How did you decide on what programs to apply to? Besides the obvious factors, full residence and fully-funded, what made you choose the programs you applied to?

I probably won’t be applying for 3 years or so but I want to come as informed and prepared as possible.

Any of you guys willing to answer questions and discuss what the experience was like for you?

[Anonymous No.10967361]

>>10967075
>MFA

[Anonymous No.10967440]

Do you REALLY have to do the GRE? I hate math.

[Anonymous No.10967659]

>>10967440
No. Just applied this previous year. It's pretty rare that they even want your GRE scores. Some programs specifically ask you NOT to send them.
(USA)

[Anonymous No.10967708]

>>10967075
Be nice to everyone. The mfa is a personal connection degree. Cultivate your profs and advisors, especially those with connections in the biz. Ignore peer advice. They're all back stabbing bucket crabs. Do it the way the authority wants, and keep your real stuff to yourself until graduation. Get some stuff in the academy journals while you're still in.

The best combination is an old established authority and a younger up and comer on the faculty. Good hunting.

[Anonymous No.10967735]

>>10967708
>They're all back stabbing bucket crabs
lmao

Do you guys have suggestions for pursuing a masters in comparative literature? I'm pretty ignorant about how Graduate school works and need to talk to my professors, but is comp lit also a MFA program, or just a masters? I know MFA as a writing degree before anything else.

[Anonymous No.10967784]

>>10967735
Comparative Lit is likely an MA

[Anonymous No.10967815]

>>10967735
Anon >>10967784 is correct. The defining mfa element is that it is terminal. No PhD pathway.

[Anonymous No.10967858]

>>10967815
>>10967784
Thanks. It sounds like such a rewarding experience, but costly. I imagine graduate school is as good or bad as you make it, and I could find a MA as rewarding as an MFA.

[Anonymous No.10967860]

>>10967075
>MFA
Male to Female Asexual?

[Anonymous No.10967883]

>>10967815
This is not correct tho. There are tons of PhD programs you could get into after an MFA

Or am I misunderstanding you?

[Anonymous No.10967887]

>>10967858
It's two night and day experiences. Mann is research with the goal of developing the first draft of the kernel of your PhD dissertation which will be the first draft of your first non fiction book. The mfa is a guild apprenticeship all about creative, craft and production of original work. Like the difference between MIT and the Actor's Studio.

[Anonymous No.10967894]

>>10967735
>>10967858
the MFA program I'm in has a teaching component and you get a stipend and credits comped each semester
the trade-off is you lose most of your unstructured writing time, which means a lot of people barely have time to write their thesis until their final year

It's mostly been a pain in the ass, but I'll be glad to have my piece of paper and 200 pages of fiction I'm proud of in a month

The crabs-in-a-bucket thing is true for 90% of students, but all of those people also suck at giving feedback. There's 5 people in my program who give helpful comments, teachers included. But that's more than I had in the real world.

[Anonymous No.10967900]

>>10967883
You can apply and be accepted after an mfa if you have sufficient research accomplishment, but the typical American mfa is creative focused and designed as go-to-market.

[Anonymous No.10967912]

>>10967894
what program are you in?

[Anonymous No.10967913]

I'm basing my comments on the Iowa program post Vonnegut, and another major conference program in creative writing specifically. They were all about the work. Thesis research was on background.

[Anonymous No.10967915]

>>10967887
>>10967894
Damn. I love literature and studying it, but I wonder how far I could go with research. I'd want to study something like Gothic lit, mostly for self-fulfillment rather than under the expectation of having anything of interest to say. Hmm. MFA sounds amazing, can't argue that, even with the crabs.

[Anonymous No.10967929]

Is getting an MFA stressful? Or are they pretty relaxed about it?

[Anonymous No.10967947]

>>10967912
GMU, it's ok. I'd recommend something smaller, you tend to get more levity to make your own lesson plans and a bigger stipend. The tradeoff is they're more competitive.

>>10967929
depends entirely on the program. Ours is two to six years, but they made it virtually impossible to graduate in two years since you need 48 credits to graduate and 12 is the per-semester maximum, on top of needing thesis approval the year before you start. There are plenty that let you take one class, teach one class, and get a degree after two years. But again, more competitive.

[Anonymous No.10967949]

https://writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/about/about-workshop/philosophy

Re: "terminal"

[Anonymous No.10967982]

>>10967929
It's all fun and games until you miss a deadline. To do an MA, you need a burning drive to tell the world something it has never heard before about a text object that everyone thought was settled, or that no one previously cared about. To do an MFA you better be ready to produce pages from a well developed interior world you brought with you. The death penalty is on the table for "writer's block" at Iowa.

[Anonymous No.10967983]

>>10967075
>bros
no because we’re not your friends

[Anonymous No.10968033]

>>10967983
YOU aren't our friend, buddy.

[Anonymous No.10968888]

How should I choose what schools to apply to?

I am influenced by 19th century lit, Tolstoy, Flaubert, Chekhov and Maupassant are my favorite writers. The only more modern authors I read would be some dirty realism writers like Ray Carver and his like, and then John Updike.

The fiction I write is noticeably more traditional literary realism than postmodern.

How do I decide on a school if I haven't read any of the faculty's work? Do I just have to read 2-3 books from every program that appeals to me in terms of geography and other factors like class size, or look at what kind of genres are coming out of the programs from their recent graduates?

[Anonymous No.10969255]

>>10967075
bump

[Anonymous No.10969333]

Ask away. I am at Syracuse’s.
Fiction.

[Anonymous No.10969443]

>>10969333
Did you go for poetry, fiction, or non-fiction?

How did you decide on what programs to apply to when you were looking at MFA programs? Did you read a ton of writing from the professors that taught in the programs you applied to? Look at what the newly graduated writers were getting published? What were the factors that went into your decision.

Any advice for the Statement of Purpose? Pastebin some examples maybe?

Are the professors who are the best writers also the best teachers? How is having George Saunders as a professor now that he's world famous?

[Anonymous No.10969497]

>>10967075
Do you need an Honors B.A. to do one of these?

[Anonymous No.10969568]

>>10969497
No. You don't even need to have an english BA.

[Anonymous No.10969572]

>>10969497
The majority of admission is decide on a writing sample that's usually 25-45 pages for fiction (idk for poetry). People that had shit undergrad GPAs can get in if they are just really good writers.

[Anonymous No.10969724]

>>10969568
>>10969572
Nice, I will look into this.

[Anonymous No.10969840]

What proportion of creative writing students go on to publish at least one short story, and what proportion get as far as publishing a book? Are there any figures out there?

These things always looked like a scam / pyramid scheme to me tbphwy

[Anonymous No.10969928]

>>10969840
The programs that are not fully funded are mostly scams. But there are around 50 American universities with MFA programs that will charge no tuition and provide a stipend for you to write for 2-3 years. Those are obviously not a scam and are the only ones worth applying to, but they are very hard to get into since it is of course a great opportunity.

[Anonymous No.10969937]

>>10969840
It’s pretty tough to even get into the programs unless you have some published stories in small journals at least.

U of Texas at Austin (one of the very top programs) says on their website that one of their recent graduating classes had 5 out of the 6 graduates in fiction publish a book within 3 years.

[Anonymous No.10969950]

>>10969840
If you’re paying for it it’s not worth it.

Johns Hopkins is extremely tough to get into but costs no money and they provide with a 30,000 dollar stipend per year.

[Anonymous No.10969999]

>>10969928
>>10969937
>>10969950
Makes sense, thanks. Sounds like PhD programmes actually- if you're not good enough to get proper funding, you're unlikely to be good enough to compete for employment at the end. Success rate once you're finished sounds higher for creative writing, but then I guess 'success' for a PhD means getting an academic job with an actual income, whereas publishing even more than one book doesn't actually mean you'll make enough money to survive.

[Anonymous No.10971005]

>>10967075
bump

[Anonymous No.10971017]

>>10967075
>MFA

OH NO NO NO NO

[Anonymous No.10971499]

>>10969443
Sorry I took long to reply.

>Did you go for poetry, fiction, or non-fiction?
Fiction. There’s no nonfiction here.

>How did you decide on what programs to apply to when you were looking at MFA programs?
I chose 8 of the top rated fully funded programs and one “safe choice,” still fully funded.

>Did you read a ton of writing from the professors that taught in the programs you applied to?
Not at all. Why, when there’s so many unread masterpieces!

>Look at what the newly graduated writers were getting published?
No. I have full faith in my project and I’d suspected, rigthly, that even in a community of artists, artist stand alone.

>What were the factors that went into your decision.
I was interested in learning from people who actually sold books and were not stuck in some conceptual ghetto. Saunders sold it to me. Above all I looked at length of duration, money, and non-literary work requirements.

>Any advice for the Statement of Purpose?
Yes. Don’t sound crazy. Treat it like a business, professional, document.

>Are the professors who are the best writers also the best teachers?
Certainly, at least here. There’s even a couple professors who are not diaphanously good but who are stellar educators amd mentors.

>How is having George Saunders as a professor now that he's world famous?
He’s relaxed and helpful. His inner moral compass keeps him steady both as a teacher and artist. He is truly a fun person and an exemplar artist and mentor.