I'm at a strange point to answer this because I almost didn't do an MFA, and by the time I did, I had already written a book and signed a contract for it. I'm now in my final year of a 2-year program stretched over three years.
I almost didn't do an MFA because I had already found many of the things that people go to MFAs for: craft, community, and a self-made structure, held together by fellowships and local workshops, that helped my writing along. I was convinced, however, that an MFA would be needed if I ever wanted to teach at the university level.
Friends, down the line, told me this wasn't true. It isn't. Although I have learned, through the nitty-gritty of compensation discussions, that degrees do affect the way my pay as a teacher will be evaluated on hire at universities, you can teach writing without a degree (though jury's out on whether the requirement is that you have a published book).
After making the financial aspect work without having to take out loans, what I got most out of an MFA was time. I learned, retroactively, that the MFA is a transition space for me: one where I stepped away from my full-time job part-time and then full-time, exactly the way my career turned out. It has been a place for me to detach from the rigid structure of a 9-5 while still having an immense amount of freedom to create one that was right for my writing. I feel really, really grateful for that fact. While this may not be the way it might work for you, I found that it made a difference for me, mentally, to have that time to explore.
Thank you for this post and your work here generally. How important did you find the element of having your work critiqued? I’ve had one semester in an MFA and I’m feeling very uncertain about continuing, but while I can find excellent craft lectures and writing elsewhere, I’m not sure if opportunities to have my work critiques exist elsewhere. Thank you!
Personally, perhaps even before attending the MFA, I'd come to place where workshopping generally with 10-12 strangers with varying tastes and sensibilities no longer served what I'm trying to do, so workshop has had pretty limited benefit for me.
Right now, I have a few trusted friends who I send work to. I respect their work and though they share some sensibilities with me, they more importantly understand the work that I'm doing and are very good and detailed readers for me.
You'll have to trust your gut on what feels right for you. An MFA does give you access to the other instructors there: is there anyone there who reads your work well with whom you'd like to work more closely with? If you can get specific feedback on your writing that seems beneficial, and the program is not costing you money, it may make a lot of sense to stay in. While you can get personal manuscript consultations with writers, you may discover that they don't read your writing well or their fees are too high for a longer-term commitment.
This was kind of where it became more convincing for me to jump on the MFA train: I was already spending money going to workshops each season or even prepared to pay for retreats. There's a more robust scholarship system on the MFA end, though you do have to be ready to commit for something longer-term, and you have to like the people who are there or at least be open to seeing what they're like to work with.
PS. When I talk about the institutional structure, I'm also talking about access to healthcare, which is a nonnegotiable part of my life and something that haunts every decision I make as an independent writer. I hope this can change soon in the US. I am deeply depressed by articles like this: https://electricliterature.com/the-health-insurance-plot-is-the-new-american-happy-ending/
I didn't do an MFA but I did get an MTS (masters in theological studies) as a kind of sideways attempt to find more time to write/pause and reassess my whole *~career~*. I spent a few (very unfulfilled and weird!) years working in publishing, and needed to find a way to pause and breathe and get away from that whole situation, which felt a little closed-in and claustrophobic, especially as someone who (in an ideal world) will also be engaging with publishing as an author eventually. (I will say though, that I learned a lot about the usually-opaque publishing process, what people were paying attention to "on the inside," and that being nice to your editorial assistants is really important, I still absolutely stan a newberry award winning children's book author that sent me like 3 nice emails and a box of caramels at the holidays)
While the MTS/theology degrees is pretty unique in that it is more or less what you make of it, and most of my professors were really into me turning in creative work (vs. academic writing, which I did do some of), I do think there's a way to find other graduate programs that are closer to your writing subjects that give you that time and space to work that Yanyi is talking about. I really loved both the constrictions and the expansions that writing on certain topics gave me (ok, the subject is sacramental theology but I really care about translation studies right now, how do I write about ritual and iterativity in a cool way while talking about food and translation and the eucharist?) I started a book draft in div school, and it allowed me not only time but the kind of roaming, circulating reading that I think really helped my writing.
My one regret is not getting pedagogical experience, mostly bc I do want to teach at the university level at some point. While I was mostly supported in grad school by my parents (they paid my rent and my tuition/university fees including healthcare, I did everything else), I also got sweet ass health insurance that allowed me to resolve a chronic health condition, which has a HUGE effect on how much I'm able to write now (turns out writing is a lot easier when you aren't in continual pain? wild)
Hi Alejandra, this last note about your healthcare and being able to take care of a chronic conditions seems like a huge win for what you gained from your program. I also like the fact that you chose another institution and the creativity you used around your assignments as constraints. Congrats on starting that draft, too. :)
Hi Yanyi- you may have covered this already, but how were you able to complete your MFA without taking out loans? I know there are fully and partially funded MFA's, but I've read Columbia's is one of the most expensive programs. Would you be willing to share a rough breakdown of how you were able to cover the costs? Thanks!
Hi Meghan! I don't go to Columbia and my very personal recommendation is to not go into debt for any kind of degree, no matter the prestige. My situation at NYU is this: half tuition one year, full tuition another year, and a stipend that roughly covers half-tuition. So the balance sheet is basically nil, with a little bit in the red because of rising tuition and registration costs, which I covered, as I do now with my living expenses, with savings from my job in tech.
I'm at a strange point to answer this because I almost didn't do an MFA, and by the time I did, I had already written a book and signed a contract for it. I'm now in my final year of a 2-year program stretched over three years.
I almost didn't do an MFA because I had already found many of the things that people go to MFAs for: craft, community, and a self-made structure, held together by fellowships and local workshops, that helped my writing along. I was convinced, however, that an MFA would be needed if I ever wanted to teach at the university level.
Friends, down the line, told me this wasn't true. It isn't. Although I have learned, through the nitty-gritty of compensation discussions, that degrees do affect the way my pay as a teacher will be evaluated on hire at universities, you can teach writing without a degree (though jury's out on whether the requirement is that you have a published book).
After making the financial aspect work without having to take out loans, what I got most out of an MFA was time. I learned, retroactively, that the MFA is a transition space for me: one where I stepped away from my full-time job part-time and then full-time, exactly the way my career turned out. It has been a place for me to detach from the rigid structure of a 9-5 while still having an immense amount of freedom to create one that was right for my writing. I feel really, really grateful for that fact. While this may not be the way it might work for you, I found that it made a difference for me, mentally, to have that time to explore.
Thank you for this post and your work here generally. How important did you find the element of having your work critiqued? I’ve had one semester in an MFA and I’m feeling very uncertain about continuing, but while I can find excellent craft lectures and writing elsewhere, I’m not sure if opportunities to have my work critiques exist elsewhere. Thank you!
Hi Catherine! Thanks for your question.
Personally, perhaps even before attending the MFA, I'd come to place where workshopping generally with 10-12 strangers with varying tastes and sensibilities no longer served what I'm trying to do, so workshop has had pretty limited benefit for me.
Right now, I have a few trusted friends who I send work to. I respect their work and though they share some sensibilities with me, they more importantly understand the work that I'm doing and are very good and detailed readers for me.
You'll have to trust your gut on what feels right for you. An MFA does give you access to the other instructors there: is there anyone there who reads your work well with whom you'd like to work more closely with? If you can get specific feedback on your writing that seems beneficial, and the program is not costing you money, it may make a lot of sense to stay in. While you can get personal manuscript consultations with writers, you may discover that they don't read your writing well or their fees are too high for a longer-term commitment.
This was kind of where it became more convincing for me to jump on the MFA train: I was already spending money going to workshops each season or even prepared to pay for retreats. There's a more robust scholarship system on the MFA end, though you do have to be ready to commit for something longer-term, and you have to like the people who are there or at least be open to seeing what they're like to work with.
PS. When I talk about the institutional structure, I'm also talking about access to healthcare, which is a nonnegotiable part of my life and something that haunts every decision I make as an independent writer. I hope this can change soon in the US. I am deeply depressed by articles like this: https://electricliterature.com/the-health-insurance-plot-is-the-new-american-happy-ending/
I didn't do an MFA but I did get an MTS (masters in theological studies) as a kind of sideways attempt to find more time to write/pause and reassess my whole *~career~*. I spent a few (very unfulfilled and weird!) years working in publishing, and needed to find a way to pause and breathe and get away from that whole situation, which felt a little closed-in and claustrophobic, especially as someone who (in an ideal world) will also be engaging with publishing as an author eventually. (I will say though, that I learned a lot about the usually-opaque publishing process, what people were paying attention to "on the inside," and that being nice to your editorial assistants is really important, I still absolutely stan a newberry award winning children's book author that sent me like 3 nice emails and a box of caramels at the holidays)
While the MTS/theology degrees is pretty unique in that it is more or less what you make of it, and most of my professors were really into me turning in creative work (vs. academic writing, which I did do some of), I do think there's a way to find other graduate programs that are closer to your writing subjects that give you that time and space to work that Yanyi is talking about. I really loved both the constrictions and the expansions that writing on certain topics gave me (ok, the subject is sacramental theology but I really care about translation studies right now, how do I write about ritual and iterativity in a cool way while talking about food and translation and the eucharist?) I started a book draft in div school, and it allowed me not only time but the kind of roaming, circulating reading that I think really helped my writing.
My one regret is not getting pedagogical experience, mostly bc I do want to teach at the university level at some point. While I was mostly supported in grad school by my parents (they paid my rent and my tuition/university fees including healthcare, I did everything else), I also got sweet ass health insurance that allowed me to resolve a chronic health condition, which has a HUGE effect on how much I'm able to write now (turns out writing is a lot easier when you aren't in continual pain? wild)
Hi Alejandra, this last note about your healthcare and being able to take care of a chronic conditions seems like a huge win for what you gained from your program. I also like the fact that you chose another institution and the creativity you used around your assignments as constraints. Congrats on starting that draft, too. :)
Hi Yanyi- you may have covered this already, but how were you able to complete your MFA without taking out loans? I know there are fully and partially funded MFA's, but I've read Columbia's is one of the most expensive programs. Would you be willing to share a rough breakdown of how you were able to cover the costs? Thanks!
Hi Meghan! I don't go to Columbia and my very personal recommendation is to not go into debt for any kind of degree, no matter the prestige. My situation at NYU is this: half tuition one year, full tuition another year, and a stipend that roughly covers half-tuition. So the balance sheet is basically nil, with a little bit in the red because of rising tuition and registration costs, which I covered, as I do now with my living expenses, with savings from my job in tech.