That MFA feeling

[noon and twenty] I am preparing to apply to graduate school for creative writing within the month. I have a lot to say about this because it is surprisingly complicated and I still have a lot to do.

Firstly, I want to apply to eight to ten schools to have a lot of options. I looked at a lot of schools and comprised a list of schools that I would like to attend based on how well they fund incoming students, like me, how well their faculty writes, the future success of graduates and places that would be a nice fit for me, places that would push me as a writer, places where I would create the best stuff and get the most out of my Master of Fine Arts degree.

This list ended up being 24 schools long.

So I went back through the list and selected schools that I absolutely had to apply to, based on my own personal excitement about the program. This yielded a list of 18.

Than I asked my roommate Justin about his thoughts about narrowing the list down. He asked if I considered what it would be like to live in these places for a couple years. I hadn't. So I made a new list of graduate schools that were located in places I would actually like to live in. Justin pointed out that there are places and colleges on my list that have considerably colder, and harsher winters. Winters that made you wish you had a ton-ton to cut open and crawl inside of (they smell worse on the inside I hear). There were also places that had summers and springs that felt like the inside of a sauna for months at a time. I removed the universities of Minnesota, Alabama, and etc., from the list.

This new list was 15 schools long. Still too many. Especially since each school has a non-refundable fee of about 60 buckeroos. I then went to each program's creative writing MFA web page and researched what was required, not only for admission to the school, but what was required of me while I was there. There were a couple schools who required a lot of material from me (three short stories, a critical English essay, statement of purpose, statement of intent, personal statement, resume, etc) on top of all that their website was difficult to navigate and unclear. So, as awesome as Purdue might have been, they are too needy for me. So I removed them from the list. There was another one that was more literature based than I want to be so I got rid of that one.

It's hard work, all this research. Once I have this done however, I will start writing the things I need to apply. Personal statements and the like.

After that I fill out their online application forms and send them all my stuff, test scores, writing sample... oh the writing sample. Let me talk about that.

Some of the schools want multiple stories totaling no less than 40 pages. I had planed to send my one super-razor-sharp-polished nonfiction piece that could pass for fiction, but it is only 25 pages or so. This means I had to find another work I had written, something that isn't quite as polished, and polish that up right now. I hope a school doesn't require 3 or more short stories totaling more than 60 pages, or I am screwed and wont be applying to that school. So far, only a few have asked for two stories.

The due date for everything ranges from December 15th to January 15th. each school is different. So I want to apply to the schools with the earlier due date first.

Anyway, I had to write this down. Sometimes it streamlines my thoughts and helps me see what I still have to do.

If this doesn't make sense to you, that is alright because this was for me, and I know what I mean. ;-)

More posts to come in the near future.

Oh, the MFA feeling: Sore lower back, tired eyes from scanning pages of text about how awesome a school thinks it is, a slight headache, a little hunger, the smell of hot coffee nearby (mug number 2) and the odor of someone who forgot to shower last night after work (me).

[1:45 pm] I removed John Hopkins university from the list (now 12 schools long). The school offers a Master of Arts, not a Master of Fine arts degree. The difference is the MFA is more dedicated, requiring additional time and effort. The MA is quicker, and the university says you can apply anytime, take a class at a time, night and weekends in Washington DC, or Baltimore. I don't want quicker, I want longer, more dedicated and more difficult. This is my future life here, I want to learn as much as I can rather than get a master's degree so I can check off of some bucket list.

[2:00pm] I was ready to write off the University of Florida at Gainesville because they seemed so uppity. They talked about what is required, how most prospective students don't get in and how awesome they are. Obviously written by some english/computer science/engineer type person. Not that there is anything wrong with those kinds of people. It is just that their writing lacks the kind of flow that I would appreciate in a prospective school. Than I read the Department of Creative writing's MFA page. What a breath of fresh air that was. They get it, and renewed my interest in their program.

[2:30pm] The word "slate" is appearing a lot in the writing program's websites. In the form, "...writers have an active slate of readings and activities to do..." What's with that? Is 'slate' that cool of a word? One college website even used the British informal usage meaning 'to criticize.' really? Is there some meeting where all the ideas are shared for what to put up on the website? And one guy, maybe an intern, says, "what about using the word 'slate?' It means the same as plan, schedule, book or organize and also has some peripheral meanings having to do with color, geology, and history--as many writers first wrote with slate." And they must have responded, "Brilliant!" And promptly taken the idea as their own condemning that intern to coffee barista status indefinitely. Oh the humanity!