Friday, December 16, 2005
Questions and a little brag
- So the places I know I'm applying for an MFA are places where I have some sort of existing social network: Vanderbilt, Wyoming, Colorado State, and at least one place in St. Louis (WashU, UMSL, or what-have-you). I'd also like to apply to a couple other places where I don't necessarily know people. What places would those of you with such experience recommend in terms of both quality of program and quality of location? I'm thinking of such places as Arizona State, maybe Johns Hopkins or Cornell, etc. Climate-wise, I'm most partial to places like Colorado and California--humidity is my worst foe, bitter cold my second worst.
- Okay, I'm trying to remember a short story I read somewhere between elementary school and high school. I think it was by a speculative fiction author. In it, a man, I think a scientist working on weapons systems for the government, gets a visit from an anti-war type stranger who subsequently gives a gun to the man's retarded son in order to illustrate the dangers of the whole weapon-development-for-government thing. This is probably at best a very loose paraphrase. Anyway, my vague recollection has not helped me Google this story. Does it sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know the author and/or title? Am I close on the plot?
- Hey, Lyle: I'm working on your "poem that contradicts itself at least twice" exercise now. I'll post a decent draft once I have one, though the poem right now is second in line. I was having a hard time thinking of what to write about for the concept, but then I realized that something else I had jotted in my notebook fit the self-contradiction concept nicely.
- The brag: I took the computerized GRE today. 720 verbal, 800 quantitative. The verbal is about what I expected, as there were a couple analogies I really didn't like any of the choices for. The quantitative is a big surprise, as I felt in the dark on a couple questions and nearly ran out of time, entering my last answer with five seconds left. We'll see how my analytical writing portion gets graded in a couple weeks.
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Wow! those scores are great!. Never having taken the GRE, or the Miller's Analogy test (I am surprisingly bad at analogies and word games like boggle and scrabble) I am impressed.
I don't know for quality, but for location, you might want to consider University of Idaho at Moscow.
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/CW/mfaprogram.html
They are really close to a lot of other schools and colleges in the area, and everything I read about them seems to point to a very pragmatic feel for the MFA. Northern Idaho is very beautiful as well.
But again, I don't know anything of quality
I don't know for quality, but for location, you might want to consider University of Idaho at Moscow.
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/CW/mfaprogram.html
They are really close to a lot of other schools and colleges in the area, and everything I read about them seems to point to a very pragmatic feel for the MFA. Northern Idaho is very beautiful as well.
But again, I don't know anything of quality
Congrats on those great GRE scores!
I’ll make a shameless plug for my MFA program even though it sounds like you are not interested in coming to the East Coast: Virginia Commonwealth University (http://www.has.vcu.edu/eng/graduate/mfa.htm). David Wojahn is the big name poet currently teaching there. Gregory Donovan and Gary Sange are the other two poets, and they are both devoted to teaching. VCU’s program is 48 credits and takes typically three years to complete. The courses are half literature and half studio (i.e., workshops). I recommend going to a MFA program that will allow you to take at least one workshop outside of your emphasis as an elective to make you a better rounded as a writer. VCU has fiction as the other major creative writing emphasis, but it also has some playwriting workshops. I don’t know the specifics about the University of Virginia’s MFA program (http://www.engl.virginia.edu/cwp/) other than it is a two-year program and that Rita Dove, Charles Wright, Greg Orr, and Ann Beattie teach here. I liked being in a three-year program at VCU, and I think two years is not enough time to substantially develop as a writer by the time you leave.
I think it may help you decide where to apply if you consider the following: 1) Do I want a three- year or two-year program? 2) How much of a mix of literature classes versus workshops do I want? 3) Who are the writer’s teaching in the program and how often do they actually teach classes? 4) What kinds of extra “experience” activities are there (e.g., a literary magazine, visiting writers series, first novel prize, etc.) 4) Does the program help you get a job afterwards or help you publish in some way? 5) What are some of the accomplishments of former students? 6) Can I contact some of the current students and ask them what they think of the program? 7) You’ll probably learn more from your fellow students than your creative writing teachers, so the more gifted your fellow students are the better. 8) Do I want to attend a program full time or part-time? 9) Do I want to be on campus or be in a low residency program like Warren Wilson? 10) What are the creative thesis requirements? 11) Finally, DO NOT attend a MFA program unless you are given a teaching assistantship or a fellowship of some kind; you do not want to take out loans for a MFA degree to pay for tuition (if you were studying law, business, or medicine, that’s a different story).
I’ll make a shameless plug for my MFA program even though it sounds like you are not interested in coming to the East Coast: Virginia Commonwealth University (http://www.has.vcu.edu/eng/graduate/mfa.htm). David Wojahn is the big name poet currently teaching there. Gregory Donovan and Gary Sange are the other two poets, and they are both devoted to teaching. VCU’s program is 48 credits and takes typically three years to complete. The courses are half literature and half studio (i.e., workshops). I recommend going to a MFA program that will allow you to take at least one workshop outside of your emphasis as an elective to make you a better rounded as a writer. VCU has fiction as the other major creative writing emphasis, but it also has some playwriting workshops. I don’t know the specifics about the University of Virginia’s MFA program (http://www.engl.virginia.edu/cwp/) other than it is a two-year program and that Rita Dove, Charles Wright, Greg Orr, and Ann Beattie teach here. I liked being in a three-year program at VCU, and I think two years is not enough time to substantially develop as a writer by the time you leave.
I think it may help you decide where to apply if you consider the following: 1) Do I want a three- year or two-year program? 2) How much of a mix of literature classes versus workshops do I want? 3) Who are the writer’s teaching in the program and how often do they actually teach classes? 4) What kinds of extra “experience” activities are there (e.g., a literary magazine, visiting writers series, first novel prize, etc.) 4) Does the program help you get a job afterwards or help you publish in some way? 5) What are some of the accomplishments of former students? 6) Can I contact some of the current students and ask them what they think of the program? 7) You’ll probably learn more from your fellow students than your creative writing teachers, so the more gifted your fellow students are the better. 8) Do I want to attend a program full time or part-time? 9) Do I want to be on campus or be in a low residency program like Warren Wilson? 10) What are the creative thesis requirements? 11) Finally, DO NOT attend a MFA program unless you are given a teaching assistantship or a fellowship of some kind; you do not want to take out loans for a MFA degree to pay for tuition (if you were studying law, business, or medicine, that’s a different story).
Yes, congrats on the GRE scores. have you thought about low residency programs? or are you wanting the full deal?
lol. i'm so damn unarticulate...
lol. i'm so damn unarticulate...
Good GRE scores, Steve. Sheesh. I wouldn't sweat the analytical writing part: Just write a five-paragraph essay like they taught you in the eight grade and you ought to max it out. From what I remember in my little GRE prep book, the graders look mostly at length and structure (e.g. is there a thesis sentence in the first paragraph, do the supporting grafs have topic sentences, is there a discernable conclusion). Spell well and use a coule 25-cent words and you're in.
About the MFA: Hey, come to San Francisco State. The weather's great, the people are nice, and you get to live wherever you want. There are two professional baseball teams, two football teams, a hockey team, and a basketball team, plus arguably the world's best wine growing region just over some hills. You can get around without owning a car. There are innumerable bars. People read. And your first beer's on me.
I suppose my sales pitch would be more effective if I could say anything whatsoever about the quality of the program, but unfortunately I know nothing about it.
However, did I mention that it was 64 degrees today?
About the MFA: Hey, come to San Francisco State. The weather's great, the people are nice, and you get to live wherever you want. There are two professional baseball teams, two football teams, a hockey team, and a basketball team, plus arguably the world's best wine growing region just over some hills. You can get around without owning a car. There are innumerable bars. People read. And your first beer's on me.
I suppose my sales pitch would be more effective if I could say anything whatsoever about the quality of the program, but unfortunately I know nothing about it.
However, did I mention that it was 64 degrees today?
# posted by 
: December 19, 2005 6:32 PM
: December 19, 2005 6:32 PM
My fantasy team sucks too. And, if I recall correctly, your GRE scores are better than mine too.
I took it hungover..does that count for something?
I took it hungover..does that count for something?
Thanks for the good ideas and congratulations.
Gerald, I actually have considered VCU, mainly because of David Wojahn, whose poetry I really enjoy. Virginia I'm not so big on, as I'd prefer, if I'm going to go to a "top" program, to be in one where I like the poetry of the teachers more. Hopkins and Utah come to mind there.
Jenni, I'm not really looking into low-residency programs, though I spose I could.
Clay, SFSU is a langpo haven, so I'm not sure I'd do that well there.
Tony, hungover does count for something. I took it with my ear ringing because the fire alarm went off in the middle of my analytical writing test.
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Gerald, I actually have considered VCU, mainly because of David Wojahn, whose poetry I really enjoy. Virginia I'm not so big on, as I'd prefer, if I'm going to go to a "top" program, to be in one where I like the poetry of the teachers more. Hopkins and Utah come to mind there.
Jenni, I'm not really looking into low-residency programs, though I spose I could.
Clay, SFSU is a langpo haven, so I'm not sure I'd do that well there.
Tony, hungover does count for something. I took it with my ear ringing because the fire alarm went off in the middle of my analytical writing test.
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